Angels' biggest offseason regret adds to laundry list of reasons why Perry Minasian needs to go

Perry Minasian didn't inherit a good organization when he took over the Los Angeles Angels ahead of the 2021 season. However, as he enters his sixth season at the helm, it's hard to say that he's done anything to make it better, and it's quite possible that he's made it worse.

Minasian's first three seasons saw the Angels finish fourth, third, and fourth in the AL West, respectively. To an extent, he got a pass. Billy Eppler had left him a mess, and it was going to take time to clean it up. However, 2024 saw Los Angeles finish in the division cellar with a franchise-worst 63-99 record, and 2025 marked a second consecutive last-place finish. Things were getting worse, not better.

The biggest issue with Minasian has been a lack of vision. For many, the 2024 trade deadline was the breaking point. With Mike Trout missing all but 29 games, the big league club floundering, and the farm system devoid of talent, it seemed like leaning into a long, hard rebuild was the way to play it. Instead, the much-maligned general manager only dealt a pair of relievers on expiring contracts, holding onto veterans like Tyler Anderson and Luis Rengifo due to their multi-year control, only to watch their value turn to dust and eventually walk away for nothing.

Heading into this winter, Minasian kicked off the festivities by trading away Taylor Ward at least a year past his peak value, but then did nothing to adequately replace the power and production he provided. The way things have played out so far this season, it's looking like this will be the club's biggest regret.

Perry Minasian's failure to replace Taylor Ward's power has created an identity-less team

With a 36-homer campaign from Ward last season, the Halos finished fourth in the MLB with 226 homers. The feast-or-famine approach only yielded a 25th-ranked 673 runs, however, as the club's 27.1% strikeout rate was dead last.

Rather than take the good (the homers) and lean into it to build an identity, Minasian's Ward replacement was Josh Lowe, who, other than a brief blip of productivity in 2023, has been a well below-average big league hitter.

It's early, but the Angels are third in baseball with 18 homers, but are slugging just .360 as a team, as the strikeouts are still a critical flaw, coming at a 28% clip, which is second-worst in the majors. Lowe is a major contributor to that problem, whiffing 36.4% of the time through his first 13 games.

Rather than build a truly threatening offense, Minasian once again provided us with a boom-and-more-often bust unit. It's a continuation of the lack of intentionality he showed during the 2024-2025 offseason when he was very measured in free agency despite clinging to most of his veterans the previous trade deadline.

That 2024 trade deadline truly was the turning point. For some reason, Arte Moreno gave him a contract extension, seemingly rewarding him for not blowing things up and engaging in the rebuild that the team so clearly needed.

To be fair, Moreno is one of the toughest owners to work for, but the best GMs in the game know how to handle meddling owners, whereas Minasian seems clueless. With his contract set to expire at season's end, anything short of a miracle will result in the club moving on, and frankly, that's for the best. His inability to find a direction has gone on too long, and his failure to add a legitimate power bat this past offseason is the nail in his coffin.