Despite entering another offseason with as tricky of a spot as the year prior, Los Angeles Angels general manager Perry Minasian has a strong slate of areas to address.
Two-way star Shohei Ohtani will hit the free agent market, Mike Trout’s future is a question mark, and they recently announced they intend to decline Phil Nevin’s option for next season.
With a relatively solid, youthful group of players in the Major League ranks, the next skipper has a lot to look forward to when considering the Angels. With Nevin being the 22nd manager in club history, they’ll be in search of their third since Mike Scioscia departed following the 2018 season.
Minasian recently addressed Nevin’s status, but gave a strong endorsement of the position, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“I think this organization, if you look around, whether it’s some of the impact players we have on the roster, whether it’s the young core that’s developed over the last year or two years, whether it’s the fan base, which since I’ve been here I’ve realized is one of the most passionate and one of the better fan bases in all sports, I think it’s a very attractive job,” Minasian said. “I think it’s a job that people would love to have and relish the opportunity to have.”
The outlook might appear bleak, but having a crop of experienced second-year players is a very enticing factor. Many of them have been through the mud, having lost for a few seasons, and if the right voice is brought into the clubhouse, they could get set in the right direction.
Should the Angels consider trading Mike Trout?
Striking gold on one generational player within a 10-year block is usually enough to build a franchise around, the first of which was Mike Trout. When the Angels selected him in the first round with the 25th overall pick, it took him just two years to reach the big league level at the age of 19.
He’s since become a pillar of the organization, but the front office has failed miserably in building up the farm system, which would then allow the team to create a pathway for young, controllable players to fill out the roster.
Should the Angels trade Trout? Probably. Could the Angels trade Trout? Possibly, if the receiving team decides that gambling on a 32-year-old making a base salary of $35.45 million a season until he’s 38 would be a wise investment.
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