Whenever any team finds success, other organizations try to emulate it. With the Atlanta Braves establishing what appears to be a model for sustainable success, a number of teams have tried to copy the Braves' moves to lock up young players, their roster-building practices, and even their analytics processes and draft strategies. However, no organization has more blatantly (and unsuccessfully) leaned into trying to copy the Braves as the Angels have.
Some similarities were always going to happen. Angels general manager Perry Minasian was in the Braves' front office until he left for LA before the 2021 season. It would have been silly for him to not carry forward some of the lessons he learned in Atlanta.
However, the Angels have gone a bit overboard when it comes to trying to replicate what the Braves have done and, according to a column from Sam Blum at The Athletic, the Angels copying Atlanta is not working and isn't going to work unless some fundamental changes are made.
Angels attempts to replicate Braves' success merely mask ugly truth about their organization
When you think about it, what the Angels are doing is pretty funny. Not only has LA made a number of trades with the Alex Anthopoulos-led Braves since Minasian took over, but he also made a point to go out and hire beloved Braves coach Ron Washington to manage the Angels. Washington then promptly brought Eric Young Sr. (another Braves coach) to join his staff. The Angels attempts to be "Atlanta West" seem to go further than that as, in Blum's column, former Angels manager Joe Maddon was quoted as saying that a lot of the changes Minasian implemented came down to, "A lot of things were related to ‘We did it this way with the Braves.’”
The problem is that it is incredibly difficult to do things the way the Braves did during their rebuild. Atlanta had to hit on multiple draft picks, international free agents, signing, and trades to create the core that has carried them since 2018. The Angels have acquired some interesting prospects and players, but Mike Trout is really the only guy on that roster that can be considered a true cornerstone right now and he can't stay healthy.
On top of that is the elephant in the room is that Arte Moreno owns the Angels and that is a problem. Liberty Media has had their faults as owners, but they have given Anthopoulos the resources and freedom to build a winning product. The Angels have certainly spent some money, but a large portion of those resources went to just a couple players and one of them is the ghost of Anthony Rendon. Moreno's influence on the Angels' decision-making continues to hamstring the organization from his unwillingness to invest in real modern player development infrastructure and his dislike in spending any appreciable money on pitching.
As long as the Braves continue to win, other organizations are going to try and emulate them. Their coaches are going to be sought after by other teams and their practices are going to be dissected for others' use. Unfortunately for the Angels, it does appear as though their attempts to be the West Coast Braves were doomed from the start.