ANAHEIM — As Perry Minasian described his feelings about the state of the Angels building toward 2025, he often had to interrupt himself with disclaimers, so as not to get too far from the reality that they did just suffer the most losses in franchise history.
While the 63-99 record looks to many like a colossal failure, the Angels’ general manager has no problem seeing through the rubble to the bright spots.
“As far as the season goes, very frustrating from a small-picture standpoint,” Minasian said. “Big picture, there are a lot of things to be excited about. I believe this is the type of year that we’ll look back at a year from now, two years from now, and say that was huge.”
Minasian, who last month received a two-year contract extension, said the development of everyday players like shortstop Zach Neto, catcher Logan O’Hoppe and first baseman Nolan Schanuel and pitchers like José Soriano and Ben Joyce have provided the Angels with a young core they didn’t previously have.
He said the recent significant year-to-year jumps made by the Arizona Diamondbacks and Kansas City Royals can be replicated by the Angels.
“For this organization to do that, we needed to have a young core to build around,” said Minasian, who just completed his fourth season as the GM. “And I believe in this young core. We finally have it. It’s really exciting to watch.”
Angels fans have a right to be skeptical. The team has not made the playoffs since 2014, the longest current drought in MLB. They haven’t had a winning season since 2015.
Injuries have blown holes in the roster, exposing a lack of depth. Young players who seemed to show promise have taken steps backward.
As for the former, one of the biggest issues with the Angels’ recent failures is having Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon miss so many games.
Minasian said they will discuss Trout spending more time at DH or moving to a corner outfield spot.
“Something needs to change,” Minasian said. “Doing the same thing over and over hasn’t worked. So what exactly that plan is is yet to be determined. We’ll continue to talk about it.”
As for Rendon, Minasian made it clear that the third baseman not only needs to find a way to stay healthy, but to perform better.
“When Anthony has played, he hasn’t been productive,” Minasian said. “So he’s gonna have to come in and earn it. There’s no handouts. We’re starting to create some depth, where we have some versatile players that can do some different things, so the best players are gonna play, no doubt about it.”
Minasian also opened the door a crack for a roster without Rendon, who has two years left on his $245 million deal. When asked flatly why they would keep a player who has had Rendon’s injuries and declining performance, Minasian said: “That’s a great question. We’re going to look at everything. We’re going to look at what makes the best sense for this organization.”
Minasian made it clear that the Angels aren’t simply going to hope for better health and internal improvement to be better.
“We definitely need more players,” he said. “There’s no secret there.”
He added that he’s open to adding everywhere on the field. He said they are set with Neto, O’Hoppe and Schanuel at their positions, and also comfortable with Taylor Ward in left field.
“With that being said, we’re going to take a look at the rest of the spots and see what’s out there and what makes us better,” he said.
That, of course, will probably require some money.
Owner Arte Moreno cut payroll by about $40 million from 2023 to 2024. Minasian said he’s not yet certain what the payroll will be going into 2025.
“I haven’t had those conversations with ownership yet,” Minasian said. “I will. All I can tell you is this is a motivated group. They’ve invested in this club.”
Moreno declined a request to publicly address the state of the franchise and the plans for the future. He last spoke at the start of spring training.
The Angels currently have commitments for about $124 million toward the luxury tax, which starts at $241 million in 2025. That does not include the Angels’ 12 arbitration-eligible players. They made a combined $23.5 million in 2024.
While the Angels will have plenty of decisions to make with their roster, they have already decided to maintain the status quo with Manager Ron Washington and his coaches.
“He was perfect, for me,” Minasian said of Washington. “Obviously, we want to win more games. But as far as what my vision for that spot needed to be, first and foremost, accountability is No. 1. And creating accountability in that room. Creating expectations in that room. Creating a work ethic in that room. Teaching, from a game standpoint, from situation to situation. That’s for our staff too.”
Minasian said he wanted to keep all the coaches because “continuity is really important to me.”
The lack of turnover in those positions might be surprising to many who aren’t looking beyond the fact that the Angels just lost 99 games.
Minasian, however, is choosing to look deeper than that, and he’s urging fans to do the same.
“For our fans, the ones that have been following us over the last three years and have gone through what we’ve gone through the last three years, I wouldn’t jump off the bandwagon now,” he said. “This team is going to improve. It’s going to be an exciting team to watch going forward. Again, I wouldn’t jump off a bandwagon now.”
NOTES
The Angels are still awaiting more test results on Neto’s right shoulder, which cost him the final few games of the regular season, but they aren’t expecting it to be anything that would prevent a normal offseason. …
Right-hander Andrew Wantz, who had elbow surgery this season, is not expected to be ready for the start of spring training. Left-hander Patrick and right-hander Robert Stephenson, who each had Tommy John surgery, are the only other players whose surgeries will impact next season. …
Right-hander Chase Silseth, who had surgery in August, is still expected to be 100% at the start of spring training. “He’ll be full go, ready to compete for a rotation spot,” Minasian said.