Angels News: Number retirement controversy, Angels sign reliever, Minasian Q&A

The Los Angeles Angels finally get to play games that matter as Opening Day is finally here. While there is a chance that LA's first game of 2024 is impacted by the rainy weather in the northeast, it is really refreshing to have actual baseball to talk about instead of continuing to speculate on who will be on the Angels' Opening Day roster.

However, one story about the Angels' past did just pop up again right before the start of the 2024 season as The Athletic posted a very interesting article on the Angels' reluctance to retire Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson's uniform numbers despite the fact that they rank among the most productive Angels players of all time. To both players' credit, they have been very gracious about the whole ordeal with Anderson taking the stance that only those who are also in Cooperstown being worthy of having their numbers retired.

Still, both Salmon and Anderson were such a big part of the Angels' success including with the 2002 title team. With just five players having their numbers retired by the team, this feels like a situation that the organization should rectify by retiring their numbers just as thanks for what they brought to the team when they needed them the most.

Angels News: LA signs reliever Angel Felipe to minor league deal

Say what you want to about general manager Perry Minasian, but he does at least seem to be a guy that is always looking to improve the roster at it's fringes regardless of the timing. With Opening Day just hours away, the Angels went out shopping in the bargain bin and came away with former Oakland reliever Angel Felipe on a minor league deal.

Fans shouldn't expect to see Felipe in the Angels' bullpen anytime soon, though. Felipe just had Tommy John surgery and won't pitch at all this season. However, Felipe racked up strikeouts in the minor leagues and while he walked way too many batters in his first look at the big leagues, he could end up being a steal assuming his rehab goes well.

Angels News: Perry Minasian tried to explain Angels' quiet offseason

It is often the case that fans of any team will rake the front office over the coals when they think that the team didn't do enough during the offseason. This is especially true with the Angels when not only were they largely quiet, but they lost Shohei Ohtani in free agency and are set to open the 2024 season with a payroll $41 million lower than last year's payroll. In an interview with The Athletic, general manager Perry Minasian decided to fall on the sword and explain the team's thought process.

Minasian talked at length about the fact that he is the one making the decisions to sign or not sign a player and that many of their decisions came down to the fact that they really like some of their internal options. He also talked about big contracts in particular being a problem because once the money gets to a certain point, the team simply has to be right and the guys that were available had too many questions to take that leap.

One has to take Minasian's comments with a grain of salt given that everyone knows that owner Arte Moreno is certainly operating as a constraint despite Mike Trout's repeated overtures to get the team to add more talent. However, it was at least refreshing for Minasian to go on the record even if it was only to jump in front of the bus.

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