Kent Bewley's News Story Collection

On Fri, Jun 26, the Los Angeles Angels announced that they had relieved general manager Perry Minasian of his duties. Angels president of baseball operations Molly Jolly announced that she was “grateful for his dedication, insight and many contributions to our organization”. In a move to replace Minasian, the front office appointed John Mozeliak as a Baseball Operations Consultant and will serve the rest of the 2026 season as the interim general manager of the team. Mozeliak spent nearly two decades as the general manager and president of baseball operations for the St. Louis Cardinals, who won the 2011 World Series under his stewardship. Mozeliak oversaw two different eras of Cardinals baseball, with him allowing Albert Pujols to depart in free agency after the 2011 title season and Pujols ultimately signed a 10-year contract with the Angels. The ballclub in St. Louis declined following the retirements of Pujols and Yadier Molina after the 2022 season, with the Cardinals failing to make the postseason in each of Mozeliak’s final three seasons as the GM. Now Mozeliak is back in the baseball operations game and could oversee some potential trades for the Angels at the trade deadline as names such as José Soriano, Jo Adell and Reid Detmers are potential candidates to be traded away.

Minasian’s time as general manager was one where the Halos had substandard records at the ends of seasons and where an aggressive strategy of rapidly calling up drafted players occurred. Under Minasian, draft picks from the 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 drafts were among the first players to make their major league debuts from those draft classes. Detmers, Chase Silseth, Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel were fast tracked to the big league roster of the Angels due to their good performances in the minor league system and a lack of depth on the 26-man roster. Minasian’s draft picks have been slightly better than his trades, although he did receive good solid players for the present and future of the franchise in trades with teams such as the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies. Players such as Logan O’Hoppe, Jorge Soler, Sam Aldegheri and George Klassen were acquired in trades that usually didn’t pan out so well for the partners in those trades. As for his recent drafts, Minasian did well in picking four consecutive first-round picks that can potentially serve as future pillars of the team. Along with Neto and Schanuel, Minasian drafted Christian Moore with the number eight pick in the 2024 draft and starting pitcher Tyler Bremner with the second overall pick in last year’s MLB draft. A couple of good international signings inherited by Minasian include Denzer Guzman and Nelson Rada, who are looking like potential future stars on a team being built through the draft and minor league development.

Unfortunately, acquiring free agents was probably Minasian’s weakest link, as he was ultimately beholden to the whims of Angels owner Arte Moreno, who made no effort to have a big-name signing occur while Minasian was the GM. A lot of money was already being taken by Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon, who were both signed to massive contracts under previous general manager Billy Eppler. Shohei Ohtani was inked to a deal as well and reached the early peak of his powers in the first three seasons of Minasian’s tenure. But unfortunately, Perry couldn’t built a strong enough roster around the two-way Japanese superstar for the Halos to become a legitimate playoff contender. With a young and underdeveloped pitching staff along with a budding but unstable bullpen, the Angels were too reliant on Ohtani’s offensive and pitching numbers. Factoring in injuries that occurred to both Trout and Rendon, Ohtani was basically expected to carry the Angels into the playoffs. But with no seasons with a winning record above .500 since 2015 and weak finishes to each season under Ohtani post trade deadline, the Halos were setting themselves up to lose Shohei. And that they did, as Ohtani signed up the road with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who now had something they didn’t previously have in a designated hitter spot. The Halos could have traded away Shohei multiple times, but Minasian was restricted from doing so. In terms of other free agent signings done by Minasian, they have mostly been weak one-year deals to veteran knockoff hitters and has-been pitchers. But Perry did land some pitchers on multi-year contracts such as Yusei Kikuchi(who was an All-Star last season), Tyler Anderson(who spent three seasons in Anaheim and was an All-Star in 2024) and Robert Stephenson, who has basically been a lost treasure due to all the games he has missed because of severe arm ailments. This past offseason, a couple of trades executed by Minasian landed the Angels a starting pitcher with four years of team control in Grayson Rodriguez and a veteran outfielder in Josh Lowe, who until recently has spent the past month in Salt Lake City due to his poor offensive numbers. Along with random one-year deals to experienced relievers like Kirby Yates, Brent Suter and Jordan Romano(who along with Drew Pomeranz was designated for assignment) and veteran hitters such as Adam Frazier and Jose Siri, Minasian’s last free agent class was anything but impressive.

Mediocrity has morphed into burgeoning futility for the Halos, who have not had an overall season record better than 73-89 since the 2021 season. Plenty of managers have come and gone under Minasian’s tenure, as Joe Maddon, Phil Nevin, Ron Washington, Ray Montgomery and Kurt Suzuki have all held the role of manager in the past five years. With Mozeliak’s arrival should come some clarity in terms of potentially stabilizing the franchise. But Mozeliak is far from guaranteed to become the full-time general manager as he is a bit older(57 years old) than younger candidates who will more than likely do the bidding of Arte Moreno, who is under significant pressure to sell the team from agitated fans of the Angels. Mozeliak’s resumé speaks for itself in helping the Cardinals to ten postseason appearances during his tenure and leading St. Louis to six NL Central division titles. Near the end of his tenure in the Heartland, Mozeliak became less of a free agent GM and more of a build-through-the draft GM. Drafting key young players such as Masyn Winn, Jordan Walker and JJ Wetherholt who hold prominence on the Cardinals’ roster, Mozeliak indeed left his mark in St. Louis and was succeeded by a successful executive in Chaim Bloom.

Now with the Angels, Mozeliak will oversee the draft process of the team along with exploring potential trades at the trade deadline. Mozeliak will also be responsible for managing the makeup of the 26-man roster and potentially could play a role in calling up valuable minor league prospects who have yet to make their big-league debuts such as Nelson Rada, Raudi Rodriguez, and Tyler Bremner. For now, the Angels continue to sit in last place in the AL West and have kickstarted the process of searching for a new general manager with the in-season firing of Perry Minasian, whose moves in drafting key players might leave an impact for the franchise in the near future.