The Los Angeles Angels concluded their six-week search for a new general manager Wednesday. They hired the former Atlanta Braves assistant general manager Perry Minasian. He’ll assume the role last held by Billy Eppler prior to his departure at the conclusion of the 2020 regular season. The 40-year-old first-time GM inherits a team that finished below .500 for the fifth straight season and outside the playoff picture for their sixth consecutive year.
Who is Perry?
Minasian’s hiring by the Angels is a Cinderella story of sorts. The former batboy rose the ranks of Major League Baseball front offices. He shot up to the position of assistant to Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos the past three seasons. The son of the former Texas Rangers clubhouse manager started his career at 18-years old working in the Arlington clubhouse. Manasian then moved on to the scouting role in Toronto in 2009. A year later he was promoted to the organization’s scouting director and became a trusted asset to then Blue Jays GM Anthopoulos.
The decision to hire Minasian as the franchise’s 13th general manager involved an exhaustive search of candidates that included, among others, Angels’ longtime television voice Victor Rojas. Early this week it was discovered the Angels had reduced their search to five candidates with Minasian listed along with Arizona assistant GMs Jared Porter and Amiel Sawdaye, Cubs senior vice president Jason McLeod, and Seattle assistant general manager Justin Hollander as a finalist for the position.
Who is Still There
Like Billy Eppler before him, Minasian will be driving the day-to-day operations under a very involved owner in Arte Moreno. The organization has committed ten more years to Mike Trout and looks to advance into a decade that returns the Angels to World Series champions. The pieces are in place to build a winner for manager Joe Maddon and pitching coach Mickey Callaway. The puzzle isn’t complete yet. Prized free-agent starting pitcher Trevor Bauer will certainly be one of the new manager’s first challenges. If the Angels can secure Bauer or another top free-agent starting pitcher it will get the club’s somewhat estranged fanbase in the rookie general manager’s corner.
Starting pitchers Dylan Bundy and Andrew Heaney are heading into their free-agent seasons. Controllable arms Shohei Ohtani and Griffin Canning have both been susceptible to elbow injuries. Minasian will look to add top-of-the-rotation starters and strengthen a bullpen that has lacked a consistent closer for many years. Top outfield prospects Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh will join Trout in the outfield for the coming years and majority of the next decade adding to an already potent lineup featuring additional controllable weapons Ohtani, Anthony Rendon, David Fletcher, and Jared Walsh.
What’s Next
Now, the work begins for a new Angels executive hired to return a franchise to the perennial playoff juggernaut they were in the first decade of this century. A period in which the Halos captured their first World Series title a now distant eighteen years ago. Wednesday’s hiring is a big step was toward making the Twenties a ten-year era of success for Mike Trout’s ballclub.
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Main Credit Image: Embed from Getty Images
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