Angels could turn Perry Minasian hire into a surprising Braves trade opportunity

Perry Minasian wasn't a particularly popular figure among Los Angeles Angels fans, failing to get the Halos beyond 77 wins in any of his six seasons at the helm of the front office. His ouster back in June was long overdue, ultimately giving way to an interim general manager (John Mozeliak) who finally brought a forward-thinking process to the organization.

However, the distaste for Minasian in Anaheim isn't necessarily echoed around the league; a baseball lifer who has held key scouting (Blue Jays) and baseball operations (Braves) roles in the past, he has a strong reputation dating back to his time before he joined the Angels. Now, he's leveraging that experience into another job, returning to Atlanta to reunite with Alex Anthopoulos.

He's taking on a key scouting role, returning to the roots that made him such a popular name in front office circles more than a decade ago. And though he won't be the one calling the shots, it isn't difficult to imagine his knowledge of the Angels' system greasing the wheels on a trade or two this offseason.

Perry Minasian's trade history should keep Angels and Braves in frequent contact this offseason

When Minasian was running the show in Anaheim, he never shied away from those with Atlanta roots. He hired former Braves coaches like Ron Washington, signed former Braves players like Travis d'Arnaud, and made an endless number of trades with his former franchise. Here's just a small, non-exhaustive list of the players who swapped sides between the two teams during Minasian's tenure as GM: Jesse Chavez, Raisel Iglesias, David Fletcher, Jimmy Herget, Griffin Canning, and Jorge Soler.

Based on that history, one would have to assume that Minasian will be vouching for a few trades with the Angels now that he himself has switched sides once again. The Braves have clear needs at shortstop (Zach Neto) and in the rotation (Reid Detmers), and they may need to replace free-agent closer Raisel Iglesias (Ben Joyce?), all of which the Halos could satisfy with someone currently on their roster.

Of course, Minasian won't be the one negotiating trades for the Braves, and it also doesn't help that we don't know who will be doing that for the Angels either. Mozeliak remains the de facto top executive in the front office, but the longer we're forced to wait for the sale of the franchise to be approved, the longer we'll have to wait for the new ownership group to bring in their own regime.

That might slow down the proceedings, but the Angels and Braves have been frequent bedfellows on the trade market for the better part of a decade. With Minasian still a part of the picture, it's only logical to expect that relationship to continue.

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