Angels scapegoats: 1 to fire, 1 to put on the hot seat, 1 to be patient with

LA Angels general manager Perry Minasian deserves more patience

Perry Minasian was given a very clear task. That task was making a playoff team while staying under the luxury tax. While the Angels are not in playoff positioning, I don't think Minasian is the reason why.

The Angels had a good rotation last season and brought in Tyler Anderson to fortify it. Anderson has been a massive disappointment, but anyone who predicted he'd have an ERA well over 5.00 through the month of May would be lying after the season he just had. He was given just $13 million annually which isn't a ton, so the Angels weren't expecting a repeat of his great season, but it was unrealistic to expect this steep of a drop-off.

Minasian has made the lineup deeper than it's been in years. Additions of Hunter Renfroe, Gio Urshela, and Brandon Drury have all paid dividends and have done wonders in lengthening the Angels lineup.

In the bullpen, after a horrific offseason in 2021, Minasian brought in both Carlos Estevez and Matt Moore who have been excellent. Even Chris Devenski and Jacob Webb on Minor League deals have made an impact.

When looking at the trades Minasian made at the 2022 trade deadline, two of the three have been massive successes. Logan O'Hoppe looks like the catcher of the future while Mickey Moniak has had some great moments this season.

When looking at draft picks Zach Neto looks like a franchise shortstop while arms like Ben Joyce, Chase Silseth, and Sam Bachman among others have made an impression.

Minasian has fielded what I believe should be a competitive ball club and has done a tremendous job drafting and developing young talent very quickly. He's far and away better than Billy Eppler and doesn't deserve to lose his job after building up what the Angels have from virtually nothing outside of Trout and Ohtani.