Angels free-agent floundering under Perry Minasian is astounding through this context

It's easy to say that Perry Minasian should be on his last legs with the Los Angeles Angels organization. The much-maligned general manager is on an expiring contract, but there is certainly a case to be made to let him go earlier. After all, who wants to see him screw up another draft or botch another trade deadline?

Even if Minasian survives through the end of the season, the chances of him being brought back for 2027 are nonexistent. That's great news, because while there has been plenty to complain about during his reign, his recent free agency record has been particularly egregious.

From 2024 through this past offseason, Minasian has signed 13 players for a total of $113.35 million, and that group has combined to produce a grand total of 0.9 WAR.

That's a mind-numbingly poor return on investment that makes you wonder if there was any thought at all given to these signings. Most of these were cheap one-year deals, with only a handful of exceptions like Yusei Kikuchi and Robert Stephenson. Basically, in Minasian's quest to find value, he squandered a small fortune.

Another part of the problem has been his reliance on injury-prone players. The hope was that with some luck, these players could miraculously stay healthy and reclaim their former glory. Taking a chance on a guy like this once in a while is fine, but when it becomes your entire team-building strategy, you can quickly find yourself in trouble.

With Mike Trout hitting the IL, only nine Angels players have managed to stay on the active roster the entire season. The result of carrying so many ineffective and injury-plagued pieces has been a never-ending carousel of overwhelmed minor leaguers being pressed into action, with predictably poor results.

Perry Minasian's fear of spending big has actually led to more waste for the Angels

When it comes to the Halos, it's almost impossible to divorce Arte Moreno's impact from Minasian's actions. The embattled executive took over from Billy Eppler and came on board a year after the disastrous Anthony Rendon contract was signed. It's hard to say that albatross didn't inform the way Minasian has operated later in his tenure.

Moreno definitely had a role in reigning in spending, though one can imagine that with better player development and management, Los Angeles could have taken the $113.35 million on just a handful of players who could have made a greater impact than trying to paper over the myriad of holes with injured and declining veterans.

So at the end of the day, while the meddling owner definitely bears a great deal of responsibility for the club's current state, Minasian is ultimately the one who must be held to account for the barren roster, even if accountability isn't really his thing.

Making moves like signing Robert Stephenson to a three-year, $33 million deal and adding a cheap option clause if he suffered a serious elbow injury is evidence that Minasian knew that he was damaged goods. While it's possible that the Halos pick up his $2.5 million option for next year, his base three-year contract will end with the club paying him an astounding $3.3 million per inning pitched.

Yet another example is signing Alek Manoah to a major league deal when it was highly unlikely that any other club would've given him anything more than a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. The contract was only for $1.95 million, but that's $1.95 million that went directly down the drain.

You could go on and on with examples like Jordan Romano, Drew Pomeranz, Yoan Moncada, and so on and so forth. That trio alone accounts for $10 million wasted this year.

The bottom line is that, though Moreno certainly handcuffed Minasian by giving him a slim budget, Minasian's failures in other areas of team building created a situation where he has been grossly inefficient in free agency in recent years. His eventual departure won't solve all of the Angels' woes, but fans will certainly be breathing a sigh of relief.

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