Atlanta Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos is one of the kings of saying a lot about nothing. He comes across as down-to-earth and understanding of fans' perspectives, but Anthopoulos never gives away what he doesn't want to to the media. Unfortunately, former Braves executive and current Angels general manager Perry Minasian did not quite learn that skill.
Leaving the Braves to run the Angels' front office certainly was risky given owner Arte Moreno's history, but GM positions are few and far between and Minasian jumped at the best opportunity that presented itself. While LA certainly has some things going for them from a personnel perspective, Minasian's tenure with the team has been anything but smooth.
Now, after several years of struggling to make any progress or gain any traction, Minasian is understandably dealing with a fair bit of criticism for his performance as general manager. However, when asked to grade his own performance as GM, Minasian's response lacked the accountability that many were looking for out of him.
Former Braves exec Perry Minasian is losing the faith of Angels fans after seasons of ineptitude
Minasian has found out that it is a very different situation being in charge of a team compared to working as a front office assistant. While Minasian was considered one of Anthopoulos' top lieutenants when he was with the Braves and given some very real responsibilities, what he didn't have to do in that job is face questions from the media as to his decision-making. Unfortunately, that is one area that, after four seasons on the job, that Minasian has yet to figure out.
Ignoring for the moment that the criticisms of the Angels' front office are largely correct, the questions Minasian faced were an opportunity to put his own skin in the game and acknowledge some mistakes and chart a path forward. Instead, after being asked why he couldn't assess his own job performance after skirting the question the first time, he said, "That would be a question for somebody else.”
That may have sounded clever in his head, but it did not come across well to those wanting answers for why the Angels have yet to take a step forward under Minasian. While it certainly wasn't fun to endure, the Braves are lucky to have a guy like Anthopoulos who will answer questions from the media even when things are not going well. He isn't going to give away his deeper insights into personnel decisions and he keeps everyone on their toes, but Anthopoulos isn't ever going to come across as snarky and disingenuous as Minasian is at the moment.
Perhaps Minasian should have taken more lessons from his former Braves boss. Unfortunately, based on how things are going for the Angels, those lessons will probably come too late.