The Anaheim Angels fired general manager Perry Minasian yesterday afternoon. John Mozeliak, former long-time general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, has been brought in as a consultant and, per the Angels press release, will be overseeing the baseball operations side of things while the team looks for a new general manager.
The timing of this move is odd, given that the MLB Draft is just two weeks away, though oddness and unusual decisions has been the hallmark of the Angels under owner Arte Moreno. Minasian was hired to replace Billy Eppler, who was the general manager for the Angels from 2015-20. Eppler replaced Jerry DiPoto, who is currently the president of baseball operations with the Seattle Mariners, having taken over for the infamous Jack Z in Seattle after the 2015 season.
Minasian was in the final year of his contract, and there’s already speculation that the Angels will, in a cost saving move, wait until after a new collective bargaining agreement is reached to hire a permanent replacement. The expectation is that there will be another lockout, and given Moreno’s proclivities, the thinking is that he will not want to have to pay a top baseball executive to be executiving while the lockout is going on. First year manager Kurt Suzuki only received a one year deal, with speculation being that this was motivated by a similar desire. Mozeliak reportedly being expected to stay with the organization “through the end of this calendar year” would seem to support the notion that a permanent replacement won’t come until there’s a new CBA.
Minasian got his start with the Rangers, as his father, Zack Minasian the Elder, was the team’s longtime clubhouse manager. Perry and his brothers, Rudy, Zack the Younger, and Calvin were bat boys and clubhouse assistants for the Rangers growing up. Perry was a scout for the Rangers for a number of years before working for the Toronto Blue Jays and the Atlanta Braves. Zack is the general manager of the San Francisco Giants under president of baseball operations Buster Posey. Calvin is the Braves’ clubhouse manager. Rudy is the black sheep of the family, as he’s a lawyer, something all of us here feel is an unsavory and embarrassing profession.
Mozeliak was the general manager and then president of baseball operations of the St. Louis Cardinals from 2007 through 2025, although his departure was under odd circumstances, as Chaim Bloom was hired as an advisor prior to the 2025 season, with it being announced at the time he would take over for Mozeliak after the 2025 season. The Cardinals had won 71 and 83 games the previous two seasons, missing the playoffs both years, and there was some sense at the time that the team needed to move on from the Mozeliak era. Bloom was, per ESPN at the time the hiring was announced, “tasked with reenergizing the team” in the player development department.
The Angels’ last winning season was in 2015, they’ve not won more than 77 games since 2018, and they’ve made the playoffs just once since getting coming two wins away from advancing to the World Series in 2009. After an offseason where the team’s strategy seemed to be to acquire players that were either good a few years ago, or were seen as good prospects a few years ago, but were neither when the Angels scooped them up, Anaheim is currently tied with the Kansas City Royals for the worst record in the American League.
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