OC Register: Angels GM Perry Minasian declines to address Shohei Ohtani negotiations

[AngelsWin.com]

Watching a player walk out the door to take the largest contract in the history of sports didn’t move Perry Minasian from his often-repeated stance of declining to discuss negotiations.

A day after Shohei Ohtani was introduced by the Dodgers, the Angels general manager would not shed any light on how close the Angels came to keeping the two-way star before he agreed to a heavily deferred $700-million deal with the Dodgers.

“I’m not going to get into specifics,” Minasian said on a video conference Friday. “I understand the question. When it comes to negotiations, it’s not something that we make public. I’ve got a great relationship with (agent Nez Balelo), a great relationship with Sho. The organization has a great relationship with both. And we congratulate them and we wish him nothing but the best.”

A day earlier, Balelo said after Ohtani’s Dodger Stadium news conference that he kept in touch with the Angels throughout the negotiating process, up until the very end.

“The Angels had every opportunity,” Balelo said. “And we had every opportunity. But at the end, it just wasn’t going to work.”

A source confirmed Friday that Balelo gave the Angels a chance to match the Dodgers’ offer, and the Angels declined. It’s possible that even if they had matched the offer, Ohtani still might have gone to the Dodgers, because he said repeatedly in his press conference that winning was his top priority.

San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said Wednesday that they were willing to match the offer, but Ohtani still picked the Dodgers.

The Angels’ failure to reach an agreement with Ohtani – expected by almost everyone throughout the industry – brought back a discussion about their decision not to trade him when they had opportunities over the past two years.

The Angels were clearly out of the race at the trade deadline in 2022, but they opted to hold on to Ohtani to try to win in 2023 and re-sign him. This season, the Angels were 3½ games out of a playoff spot July 26, when they swung a trade for pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López. That deal indicated they were going to try to contend, eliminating the option of trading Ohtani.

The plan failed. The Angels were three games back when the deadline arrived Aug. 2, but they proceeded to lose seven consecutive games and fall out of race.

“We were playing really good baseball,” Minasian said Friday. “We definitely had a chance to compete the rest of the way. It didn’t work out. There’s zero regrets. We felt like we had a really good team. It just didn’t work. From an injury standpoint, we didn’t have guys return that we thought we would. We didn’t perform like we thought we would. With that being said, we took a chance on trying to win and I have no regrets.”

Now, the Angels are going to try to win again, this time without Ohtani.

Minasian reiterated Friday that owner Arte Moreno is committed financially to improving the roster over the rest of the winter.

The Angels are currently about $70 million below the first luxury tax threshold, according to FanGraphs, with a handful of marquee players still available on the market.

Without mentioning any specific players, Minasian acknowledged that pitching is a focus.

“It’s definitely a priority,” he said. “Whether it’s rotation or bullpen, I think we can use help in both areas.”

So far this offseason, the Angels have added three relievers on major-league deals: right-handers Luis Garcia and Adam Cimber and left-hander Adam Kolarek.

Minasian also addressed last week’s trade, in which the Angels sent infielder David Fletcher and catcher Max Stassi to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for first baseman Evan White and left-hander Tyler Thomas.

The move saved some money toward their 2024 payroll, while clearing roster spots of two players they believed to be surplus.

White has been injured for much of his career, one of the reasons he has never lived up to the promise the saw the Seattle Mariners saw when they signed him to a six-year, $24-million deal before his major-league debut.

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“Evan White we feel really good about,” Minasian said. “He’s healthy for the first time in a long time, which was very attractive. The deal gave us some financial flexibility, which will allow us to pursue some other players.”

By moving Stassi – whom the Braves then flipped to the Chicago White Sox – the Angels are prepared to go again with the relatively inexperienced duo of Logan O’Hoppe and Matt Thaiss behind the plate. One of the issues with the Angels’ pitching last season was the lack of an experienced catcher.

“They made strides,” Minasian said. “I believe they were a lot better in September than they were in April and May. We feel really good about the catching spot.”

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[BTH]

1 hour ago, AngelsWin.com said:

“They made strides,” Minasian said. “I believe they were a lot better in September than they were in April and May. We feel really good about the catching spot.”

Did he reiterate that they aren’t looking to add at the catching position? Or did he change his stance?

Just wondering if they’re going with Thaiss as the backup or if they’re leaving the door open to add a veteran backup?

[Swordsman78]

Not that it bothers me anymore, but Angel mgmt seems to be pretty dismissive of their fan base.  Almost like the fans are irrelevant.

[UndertheHalo]

[REDneck]

Did he also decline to address his or his owners ineptitude?

If so, where did he lay the blame?

Edited December 16, 2023 by REDneck

[tdawg87]

I mean tbf what exactly is he supposed to say?

[Jay]

[jsnpritchett]

23 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

I mean tbf what exactly is he supposed to say?

[REDneck]

1 hour ago, UndertheHalo said:

Is he smelling his own farts in this pic? 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2023 by REDneck

[SoCalDucksFan]

Oh, so Now, pitching is a focus and priority?  Sure.  And their catching improved from Really lousy to only mildly lousy, so Yay?  Reading this article and the blah, blah, blah from Perry should tell you all you need to know about what the Angels aren’t going to do, and where they’ll finish in the standings next season.

[Stradling]

14 hours ago, Swordsman78 said:

Not that it bothers me anymore, but Angel mgmt seems to be pretty dismissive of their fan base.  Almost like the fans are irrelevant.

Well in their defense you are irrelevant. 

[Ron Mexico]

[Taylor]

Arte removed Perry's tongue.

A GM is meant to be seen, not heard.

[Taylor]

14 minutes ago, Ron Mexico said:

He's 100% right.

[Angelsfan1984]

Not a chance that Sam Blum is getting a Christmas card this year from arte or perry. 

[Taylor]

4 minutes ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

Not a chance that Sam Blum is getting a Christmas card this year from arte or perry. 

He's Jewish.

[Angelsfan1984]

6 minutes ago, Taylor said:

He's Jewish.

Well then they wont get reported to HR. They can just say they were honoring his religious beliefs! Win/win

[T.G.]

We get it

Arte sucks. The last 10 years have sucked. 

The only thing that doesn't suck is AW.

[Taylor]

1 hour ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

Well then they wont get reported to HR. They can just say they were honoring his religious beliefs! Win/win

If they don't send him a Hanukkah card, are they indirectly supporting Hamas?

I'm just asking questions here.

[Duren, Duren]

A little more about the money issue. 

https://www.tsn.ca/mlb/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-got-creative-with-700-million-deal-but-both-sides-still-have-some-risk-1.2049703

No interest on the deferred money will save the Dodgers billions. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

4 hours ago, SoCalDucksFan said:

Oh, so Now, pitching is a focus and priority?  Sure.  And their catching improved from Really lousy to only mildly lousy, so Yay?  Reading this article and the blah, blah, blah from Perry should tell you all you need to know about what the Angels aren’t going to do, and where they’ll finish in the standings next season.

lol, it almost sounds like they arent going to do much of anything at all.

[Dtwncbad]

3 hours ago, Ron Mexico said:

Bitter Blum basically complaining again that the Angels don’t tell him anything.

[Stradling]

20 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

Bitter Blum basically complaining again that the Angels don’t tell him anything.

But Taylor…

[Taylor]

3 hours ago, Stradling said:

But Taylor…

[Angels 1961]

Just because no plan has been talked to fans does not mean Arte does not have a plan.