Ruined Relief: How Bullpen Failures Led to Perry Minasian's Firing

Death, taxes, and the Angels bullpen blowing leads. Perry Minasian's tenure as Angels general manager is filled with a litany of bullpen failures that have cost the team both wins and over $135 million in free agent contracts; most of which were wasted money.

Year after year Minasian would throw money at the bullpen and use draft picks on college relievers he hoped to fast track to the big leagues. Neither strategy worked and ultimately that failure cost Minasian his job.

Perry Minasian spent $135.5 million on relievers that combined to produce -0.6 WAR.

It is difficult to make the Anthony Rendon contract look like a decent deal for the Angels. However, when compared to Minasian's bullpen signings the Rendon contract looks like a bargain. The oft injured Rendon did provide 3.8 bWAR of value to the Angels for his $245 million. That is a very prohibitive $64.47 million per WAR but the guy was a net positive when on the field.

But Rendon was not injured as often as Robert Stephenson who collected $33 million for 12 innings of work over three years. Stephenson did produce 0.2 bWAR though, which means he was not bad by Perry Minasian standards.

Aaron Loup and Ryan Tepera combined to haul in $31 million and produce -1.7 WAR, Jordan Romano and Drew Pomeranz are collecting $8 million this season and produced 0 WAR before being released.

The only reason Minasian's collective bullpen signings only put up -0.6 WAR is the fact he did hit on two signings: Raisel Iglesias and Carlos Esteves. Those two accounted for all of the positive value on Perry's ledger but were also traded in pure salary dumps once the team was out of contention. Perry does deserve some credit for obtaining the talented George Klassen in the Esteves trade, though.

Perry Minasian wasted over $74 million in dead money on relievers.

Sep 19, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Los Angeles Angels relief pitcher Robert Stephenson (24) pitches in the seventh inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Year after year Minasian would sign free agent relievers, see their performance crater, then release them while still under contract. Ultimately, the Angels ate $74 million on players who produced negative value with most being released prior to their contracts playing to full term.

Aaron Loup was signed for $17 million, produced -1.5 WAR and was released.

Ryan Tepera was signed for $14 million, produced -0.2 and was let go early while sporting an ERA of 7.20.

Alex Claudio was signed for $1.1 million, managed -0.4 WAR in half a season, and was released.

Jordan Romano and and Drew Pomeranz are both off the Angels roster and are pulling in a combined $8 million. They produced a collective 0 WAR.

The entire Robert Stephenson contract has to be considered a waste of money. Signed after a brilliant half season with the Rays, Stephenson was unlikely to repeat his success here and was already a gamble. Add in multiple injuries and the contract ranks as the worst of Minasian's reliever signings.

Spending big money for bad results gets you fired.

The Angels needing to spend money on relievers each year is due to Minasian's failure to draft talent. In over 60 arms selected in the draft, including many pure relievers, only Sam Bachman and Chase Silseth are home grown contributing members of the bullpen.

In overall ERA, the Angels bullpen has ranked in the bottom half of the league every year under Minasian except 2022. In the last three years the team has ranked 29th, 16th, and 28th with the 2026 squad sitting at 29th.

When an executive spends a large amount of resources on one specific unit and gets negative value as a return on those investments, that executive loses his job. Perry Minasian was fired this week and his failure to create a decent bullpen is a major reason why.

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