Angels general manager Perry Minasian held an end-of-season pre s conference this week, with details provided by and . Though the club is wrapping up another disappointing season, Minasian expre sed confidence in what he believes to be a budding core and indicated the entire coaching staff will be returning next year. The Halos finished 2024 with a record of 63-99. Despite plenty of challenging seasons in the clubs history, that was actually their worst performance ever by a notable margin. Prior to this year, the clubs worst record was a mark of 65-95 in 1980. This years struggles continued a dreary run for the club, as they havent made the postseason since 2014, the longest active drought in the league. As far as the season goes, very frustrating from a small-picture standpoint, Minasian said. Big picture, there are a lot of things to be excited about. I believe this is the type of year that well look back at a year from now, two years from now, and say that was huge. Per Bollinger, Minasian highlighted that the Diamondbacks only won 52 games in 2021 but were in the World Series two years later, while the Royals only had 56 wins in 2023 but are in the postseason this year. Whether the Angels can mount a similar climb into contention remains to be seen. Minasian seems to be encouraged by the development of young players such as shortstop , catcher and first baseman , as well as pitchers , and . Those players all showed encouraging signs this year, to varying degrees. Neto hit 23 home runs and stole 30 bases. His defensive metrics were mixed, as he had 11 Defensive Runs Saved but -5 Outs Above Average, but he was still graded by FanGraphs as being worth 3.5 wins above replacement on the year. OHoppe provided offense around league average, with a 101 wRC+ on the year, though catchers are usually about 10 to 12% below par. His work behind the plate was also considered to be solid, leading to a 2.1 fWAR tally. Schanuels contributions were more modest. He drew walks at a strong 11.2% clip but only hit 13 homers and also had mixed reviews for his glovework, leading to 0.7 fWAR on the year. On the pitching side of things, Kochanowicz made 11 starts with a 3.99 earned run average. His 9.4% strikeout rate was well below average but he limited walks to a tiny rate of 3.8% and forced opponents to put 57% of balls in play on the ground. Soriano to sed 113 innings, which was an achievement in and of itself after he mi sed so much time due to injuries. But the results were also good, as he had a 3.42 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 59.7% ground ball rate. Ben Joyce used his triple-digit velocity to throw 34 2/3 innings with a 2.08 ERA, 23.2% strikeout rate, 9.9% walk rate and 58.9% ground ball rate. In addition to their solid results, those players are all cheap and controllable. None of those six have reached three years of service time, meaning none of them are guaranteed to qualify for arbitration this winter. Soriano could perhaps qualify as a Super Two player, depending on where the cutoff will be. He is going into the winter at two years and 121 days, which is close to where the line has been . Regardle s of which side of the border Soriano is on, each of these players can be affordably controlled through at least 2028. But even with contributions from those six, the club was still a disappointment in 2024, so improvements will be needed elsewhere. Perhaps that will come from other young players like , , , , and others, but the club will also need to make some external additions, something that Minasian is aware of. We definitely need more players, he said. Theres no secret there. Its unclear at this point what kind of resources Minasian will have at his disposal for the winter, as he said he hasnt yet discu sed the 2025 payroll with owner Arte Moreno. The club did cut back on spending in 2024, winding up in the range of $176MM per the calculations of . That was close to $40MM below the roughly $215MM they spent Jordan Nwora Jersey in 2023. RR currently pegs the club at $109MM for 2025 but thats not a complete picture of their situation. The club has 12 arbitration-eligible players, with projecting that group for a total of $37.6MM. Not every player in that group will be tendered a contract, but the Angels could be internally committed to the $140MM range already. That would leave them some wiggle room if they were willing to carry forward a similar payroll to 2024, but it remains to be seen as to whether that will be the case after a 99-lo s season. The club presumably took some revenue hits in terms of ticket sales, TV ratings and advertising in their first season of the post- era. Regardle s of how the club handles its offseason, Minasian did reveal a bit about how hes thinking about the club going forward. Notably, he wouldnt commit to being the clubs starting third baseman nor even being on the roster. When Anthony has played, he hasnt been productive, Minasian said. So hes gonna have to come in and earn it. Theres no handouts. Were starting to create some depth, where we have some versatile players that can do some different things, so the best players are gonna play, no doubt about it. When asked if Rendon would continue to have a roster spot if things dont turn around, he responded with: Thats a great question. Were going to look at everything. Were going to look at what makes the best sense for this organization. Rendons struggles with the Angels are well documented at this point. He signed a seven-year, $245MM deal with the club going into 2020 but they havent seen much return on that investment. He was good in the first year of the deal, though that was the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. Over the four seasons since then, he has frequently mi sed time due to injury and only played 205 games. As Minasian said, he hasnt done well even when on the field, having hit .231/.329/.336 for a wRC+ of 89 over those four campaigns. That includes a dismal line of .218/.307/.267 in 2024, when he only got into 57 contests. Rendon is now 34 years old, turning 35 next June, and has two years left on his deal. Hell make $38MM in each of those two years, leaving $76MM to be paid out. Its not uncommon for a club to give up on a player with an underwater contract. The Angels themselves did it not too long ago by releasing . However, while some fans may yearn for the same to happen with Rendon soon, it would be unprecedented for a club to eat this much money. The largest guarantee still owed to a player at the time of his release was when the Red Sox cut loose in July of 2017. At that point, he was still owed $18MM in each of the next two years, plus a $5MM buyout on his 2020 option. He was also still owed a little more than a third of his 2017 salary of $17MM. recently pegged the total at $48.3MM of what Sandoval was still owed when he was released, which is barely half of what Rendon is still owed. Whether the Angels want to break that record remains to be seen. They could perhaps have take over at third base, though hes also an option to be the regular at second base or perhaps serve in a utility role. Moore is a second baseman has already reached Double-A and it wouldnt be a surprise to see the club quickly promote him, since they did the same with guys like Neto, Schanuel and Dana. , acquired in the trade, had a strong year in the minors. He has reached Triple-A and can play all over the infield, though he has some time in the outfield as well. Perhaps there will come a time when the club decides it would rather dedicate playing time to those guys rather than continuing to run Rendon out onto the field. The designated hitter spot might be used by with some regularity as the club to stave off his own injury troubles. Offseason acquisitions could further crowd the roster. Rendon could put together a nice stretch of health and flip the narrative but it seems his contract is going to guarantee him any opportunities. Torrey Craig Jersey