Ron Washington publicly begs the Angels to provide him some bullpen upgrades

The news that Ben Joyce was going to miss the rest of the 2025 season is making Angels fans face an uncomfortable reality after the team's encouraging beginning to the campaign -- the Halos are not going to come close to competing given how atrocious the bullpen has looked all year.

Heading into the year, the expectations for Joyce were sky-high and many pundits actually lauded the Angels relievers as the best asset they had. Joyce was supposed to learn how to solidify himself as the Angels' closer of the future from Kenley Jansen and completely baffle opposing hitters with his otherworldly stuff as a set-up man. Well, without him, the relievers have completely tanked and there is virtually no optimism for them getting better anytime soon.

MLB.com's Andrés Soto passed along this quote from the Angels skipper regarding Joyce's prolonged absence: “Well, we got this far without him, so we’re going to have to figure it out,”Ron Washington said. “Hopefully, the people up top that make the decisions continue to look around and get us some help. I know we’re supposed to get [Robert] Stephenson back at some point this year, but it’d be nice if they can find us some more help.”

Angels sideline reporter Erica Weston continued Washington's quote in a reply on X: "The full quote included Wash saying that that conversation is ongoing, and happening all the time. 'I just made a statement, I wasn’t saying he needs to go out and do that.'”

Ron Washington publicly begs Perry Minasian to provide the Angels a better bullpen

Washington essentially tried to walk back his quote immediately after providing it, and it's not the first time he's done so. Remember when he asked the team to bring in "real baseball players" last year, then the next day attempted to clarify what he meant? Washington is an emotional manager who is prone to speaking his mind, even if it's not necessarily how he should handle a situation publicly. Can you blame him for this cry for help? Look at what he has to watch on a nightly basis from his relievers:

Minasian is definitely trying to upgrade the bullpen, most recently he signed Buck Farmer to a minor league deal. Before that, he brought on Héctor Neris, Touki Toussaint, Hunter Strickland and Carl Edwards Jr. to MiLB deals and they were brought up almost immediately. During the offseason he signed Connor Brogdon, Victor González, Shaun Anderson, Dakota Hudson and traded for Ian Anderson. He's tried prospects like Michael Darrell-Hicks, Caden Dana, Víctor Mederos, Jose Fermin, Ryan Johnson and Garrett McDaniels. He's claimed Jake Eder, Michael Petersen and Geraldo Perdomo off waivers. Nothing's working. These fliers he's taken are just not panning out whatsoever.

So, to Wash's point of Minasian finding him more help, Minasian is trying to do so. He's just not doing so adequately. Whether or not Wash meant that he needs to go out and do that, fans sure as heck believe he needs to. Wash knows it too, but he's being as diplomatic as he possibly can given the league-worst bullpen.

More LA Angels News from Halo Hangout