LA Angels' International Signing spree more proof of total shift to pitching
When the LA Angels drafted 20 pitchers out of all 20 draft picks in the 2021 MLB Draft, it was clear that Perry Minasian wants to be aggressive when it comes to acquiring pitching.
And so far this offseason, he has been aggressive. In his short time before the MLB Lockout hit, he signed Noah Syndergaard, Aaron Loup, and Michael Lorenzen. He re-signed Raisel Iglesias too.
And I'll be honest; he should have done more than that, as plenty of other big-time free agent starting pitchers were signed away while the Angels seemed to just watch them pass by. Minasian has, however, found a way to commit to pitching beyond the few pre-lockout signings he did make this offseason.
Perry Minasian signed seven international free agent pitchers for the LA Angels over the weekend.
Perry Minasian is clearly taking this need for pitching on the LA Angels about as seriously as he can. Has he made all of the right calls? Not exactly, as like I said he still has not spent as much on free agents this offseason as he could have.
That being said, from his draft strategy, to his deadline moves to trade a couple pitchers for a plethora of prospects, and now to his international signings, Minasian clearly wants to improve the pitching as much as anyone.
The pitchers that the Halos signed were Nixon Encarnacion, Manuel Cazorla, Sadiel Baro, Marco Vega, Alejandro Rodriguez, Miguel Gomez, and David Lopez. While these signings are likely not going to have the most immediate impact on the team, they could turn out to be big plays for the Halos long-term. It's a similar strategy to how they went about the draft last year.
SOMEBODY has to pan out. There HAVE to be at least a few of these 20 draft picks and seven international signings that have to turn out to be quality guys.
If not, then the Angels are just straight up cursed. While it's possible, I like that Minasian is just going for it, and willing to find out. It's not every day that I can praise Perry on this site, but this weekend is something that was objectively encouraging to see.