Former MLB General Manager Says Angels Hired Perry Minasian for Unusual Reason

Angels general manager Perry Minasian speaks to the media during the MLB General Manager's Meetings at Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa on Nov. 7, 2023. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Angels will miss the postseason for the 11th consecutive season in 2025. Their consecutive series sweeps at the hands of the Seattle Mariners and Milwaukee Brewers offered a measure of the gap between the Angels and two teams who will participate in the postseason. It's a big one.

That is not the future vision fans were sold when Perry Minasian was introduced as the 14th general manager in team history on Nov. 12, 2020.

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“This is not a five-to-seven year rebuild," Minasian said at his introductory press conference. "This is going to be a competitive club.”

Five years later, the Angels are straining the definition of "competitive." Minasian's quote was unearthed on Twitter/X this week by @BeyondTheHalo, and former New York Mets general manager Zack Scott seized on it.

Only the Nats and Rockies have a worse run margin.

I had a friend who was a candidate in their last GM process, and I told him they'll give the job to the person willing to say what the owners wanted to hear.

Be honest and set their expectations appropriately that the Angels… https://t.co/bPBFbIexlj

— Zack Scott (@ZackScottSports) September 19, 2025

"Only the Nats and Rockies have a worse run margin (than the Angels)," Scott noted. "I had a friend who was a candidate in their last GM process, and I told him they'll give the job to the person willing to say what the owners wanted to hear."

"Be honest and set their expectations appropriately that the Angels weren't ready to compete, or tell them they can win now and risk setting unrealistic expectations," Scott continued. "This video supports my theory that they went with someone who told them what they wanted to hear."

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Maybe Scott's friend offered too bleak an assessment of the Angels' future. Maybe not. Either way, it's clear the Angels are in a worse spot now than they were five years ago — despite plenty facets of their rebuilding effort going right.

The emergence of Jo Adell, Zach Neto, and Nolan Schanuel to complement two other former first-round draft picks, Mike Trout and Taylor Ward, has given the Angels an enviable core of homegrown talent in their everyday lineup.

But the rebuild hasn't yielded a single reliable homegrown starting pitcher, despite the Angels hiring a new pitching coach (Barry Enright), assistant pitching coach (Sal Fasano), and bullpen coach (Steve Karsay) under Minasian.

The Angels enter play Saturday with a 4.90 ERA as a group, 28th in MLB. That marks the continuation of a disturbing trend line that's seen the Angels go from ninth in MLB in ERA in 2022, to 23rd in 2023, to 26th in 2024.

The Angels' Achilles heel — developing starting pitchers — has remained unchanged since Minasian was hired. That isn't necessarily the GM's fault.

ESPN national reporter Jeff Passan recently opined that owner Arte Moreno is "constantly trying to recapture something from a bygone era." Apparently, that includes the days when a five-man rotation consisting mostly of free agents was enough to carry a team into the postseason.

The standings should serve as proof of concept that an organizational rebuild required more time, effort, and/or resources than Moreno, or Minasian, or both, were willing to concede five years ago.

For more Angels news, head over to Angels on SI.