Ranking the American League West's front offices by competence

If you want to find something to get Los Angeles Angels fans really mad, just mention the name Arte Moreno. The Angels owner has done a whole bunch of things to frustrate a fan base that is starved for some winning seasons.

One move Moreno has gotten much better feedback than others was hiring Perry Minasian to head up the Angels front office. Minasian replaced Billy Eppler who Angels fans are thrilled to see elsewhere. Minasian has done a lot of good, but as we saw at the deadline, a lot of bad as well.

How does this Angels front office rank compared to the rest of the AL West?

5) Oakland Athletics

This is rather obvious, but anytime your team is 42-96, your team is likely going to be at the bottom of any front office ranking. This isn't to say Oakland GM David Forst is to blame for all of their struggles as Oakland's ownership situation is just as bad if not worse than the Angels, but he hasn't done himself many favors.

The A's were in the postseason just three years ago and were ten games over .500 in 2021, but won just 60 games last season and will win even fewer this season. They had to tear everything down partly due to ownership, but the trades they made have mostly been horrible.

The A's and Braves have made two key trades with each other in the last two offseasons, sending Matt Olson and Sean Murphy to Atlanta in the process. Trading away those homegrown stars, while unfortunate, isn't even why the trades are so bad. The returns were just so weak, and you knew it at the time.

Shea Langeliers was the main piece of the Olson trade, and he has a .653 OPS as the A's primary catcher. Cristian Pache was another huge part of it, and he was DFA'd. The Murphy trade looks a bit better with Esteury Ruiz showing value, but even then, the A's didn't get the second best player in the trade as the Brewers somehow stole William Contreras.

The A's have made a slew of trades in the last couple of years, giving away multiple all-stars in the process, and they have a grand total of two top-100 prospects right now. Neither of those prospects were acquired in the trades. The A's are historically bad now, and don't appear to be heading toward being any better anytime soon.