Angels trade deadline disaster blame game rankings

We've come to the sad reality that the LA Angels are not getting into the postseason yet again. Angels general manager, Perry Minasian, made moves that he assumed would have been good enough for a postseason run. Angels manager, Phil Nevin, thought highly of the team throughout the season.

The coaching staff has been a huge question mark as players struggle to win ball games and show improvement across the board. And the person standing it above it all, Angels owner Arte Moreno, has huge questions to answer about the club and it's future.

Everyone deserves some form of blame for the teams failures, however, some deserve more than most. Here is the list of who deserves it most, and who deserves it least after the horrible stretch after the trade deadline.

1. Perry Minasian

There was a time when the team looked promising and there was a realistic shot at the Angels looking to get into the postseason, Minasian seemed confident that his team could do it. However, the moves he made at the trade deadline were disastrous and may have cost him his job.

Arte Moreno seemed to have gave Minasian full control of the team by stepping aside and letting him make the team he wanted. Payroll went up during the off-season, Arte backed off, and Perry was allowed to trade for more depth that included Randal Grichuk, C.J. Cron, Mike Moustakas, Lucas Giolito, and Reynaldo Lopez.

The players he acquired at the deadline have not stepped up and he could have looked elsewhere to improve the team. In an article by MLB.com, it highlighted some of the key moves of the trade deadline with some warning about Giolito, as it reads "The Giolito of the last two years (26% strikeout rate, 4.44 ERA) is simply not the Giolito who received Cy Young support each year from 2019-'21 (31% strikeout rate, 3.47 ERA)"

Another acquisition Perry could have made was to acquire Jeimer Candelario from the Nationals as he is currently batting with a OPS+ of 123. The third basemen the Angels did get, Eduardo Escobar, is hitting an abysmal OPS+ of 73. Outfield was another area that needed improvement and the team could have had that with Tommy Pham, who is hitting a OPS+ of 94, better than recently acquired Randal Grichuk with a OPS+ of 51.

While Minasian isn't the one out there hitting and pitching for the team, he could have done a better job at evaluating the trade market and got better pieces. Instead, the acquisitions he did make have failed to reach expectations and that is tough considering he blew up some of the farm system for them.

2. Arte Moreno

The full rebuild needs to happen, it won't, but it should as the Angels will have to settle with mediocrity and hope for some chances at the postseason year after year. Moreno is the cause for this with his refusal to tear it all down and his refusal to spend as much as some of the bigger market teams.

Moreno had the smart idea of selling the team earlier in the off-season, before backing out and giving it another shot for the postseason. He should consider selling again if he comes up with the same plan of doing barely enough for some glimmer of hope. But for the first time, giving him the most blame does not seem logical as this was Perry's team all the way.

We have seen Arte take full control of the team before and go after big free agents once he's at the command. If Perry is let go, Arte could broker the deal with a big free agent himself without the dealing of a general manager. Or, he could try and recruit a general manager who has experience.

Either way, Moreno not getting the most blame might come as a shock, but this is the most control we have seen him give up. This was Perry's team all the way with Moreno just providing the cash. If this is Moreno's last season as owner, he went out on a dud.