You could make the argument that plenty of front offices in baseball are feeling the heat for 365 days a year on a 24/7 basis, but let’s shelve that argument for the moment.
Jayson Stark of The Athletic polled MLB executives from both leagues on the front offices that would be feeling the heat the most, and while the Angels weren’t featured front and center, they did make the list in a most unusual way.
Managers weren’t featured exclusively as the ones feeling the heat, but rookie Angles manager Kurt Suzuki somehow got five hot-seat votes before managing his first big league game.
“The Angels’ manager is a lame duck before he manages a game,” quipped one NL exec.
The next Angels name that came up was almost automatic. GM Perry Minasian inspires eye-rolls from both fans and fellow executives, and the fact that Minasian is in the last year of this deal drew a dark take on his situation.
“Working for Arte Moreno, with his impossible expectations, would have me sleeping with one eye open,” said one voter.
It’s not hard to figure out what this is about. Even after an offseason of constant roster churn, the Angels’ roster is still a mess. The team signed a conga line of retread veterans and pitchers with an injury history, but that the end of the day the roster is still full of holes, and no one really knows how or even if any of this is going to get fixed.
The litany of problems is familiar by now. The Angels basically have half a starting rotation with Yusei Kikuchi and Jose Soriano leading the way, and to remedy the situation the Halos traded for Baltimore Orioles starter Grayson Rodriguez, who’s basically one of those injury reclamation projects.
The Angels also forgot to fill the hole left by the player they traded, left fielder Taylor Ward, and they also have a significant defensive hole in center field that’s apparently going to be filled by Mike Trout, who spent most of the last season as the DH due to his balky knees.
Their second baseman is likely to be a second-year player, Christian Moore, who comes with an incredibly high strikeout rate. Over at third, the Angels will start the ever-underachieving Yoan Moncada, who was signed mostly because he’ll play for just $4 million.
We could go on, but it would be too depressing. Moreno still hasn’t spoken out about any of this, and Minasian continues to say wacky things with no relationship to reality every time he gets near a mic, so we’ll just wish Suzuki the best and congratulate him for leading the list of managers who got votes in this poll.