Welcome aboard to the newest Angel, Alek Manhoah. Perry Minasian continued his pattern of signing former Braves today, picking up a hurler who spent about 15 minutes in Atlanta.
This is a Major League deal with a very low salary of $1.95 million. That is a reflection of both Manoah’s former pedigree and his recent performance and injury issues. Back in 2022, Alek was a rising star posting a 6 WAR season for Toronto. It has been all downhill since, and he failed to appear in an MLB game last season.
As a buy low opportunity, this is one. And it might work. However, if the Angels have any prayer of competing in 2026, Perry Minasian needs to add to the rotation. Grayson Rodriguez and Alek Manoah were amazing in 2022 but this is no longer 2022 and both have major injury risk.
Stay tuned for more Angels off season coverage.
😆 😆 💪 💪
Was a beauty when it was BRAND NEW!!!!
I am typically very critical of the front office brass, but I like what we’ve done so far this off-season. Are there a few guys I’d make a big bet on? Perhaps. But a few more of these that have the potential to payoff big is what I’d keep looking for.
Maybe Maddox can get the best out of these guys
Most likely won’t…..LOL!!!!
This is playing at the $5 blackjack table. I like it. Even if things turn bad you lose like $100.
Or you can walk away with $300, which in this context is akin to Manoah turning into a flippable asset at the deadline. Zero downside here.
Our rotation has 3 clear question marks at this juncture. Too many people are assuming that Detmers will be a decent starter next season. I remain completely unconvinced, though I understand the rationale to give it one more shot.
They should sign about 2-3 more like this and have them compete with the AAA guys whom themselves are major question marks.
How bad does this franchise need Bremner to perform up to his draft position? I’d say lots.
Exactly. This is the type of thing we should be doing. DO NOT go for it. Go for… a little bit.
These are the dumpster dive meals I can stomach.
A relatively youngish player that had somewhat recent levels of high performance.
This is a smart roll of the dice. Him having options is the chef’s kiss.
It’s only a million dollars, and he has minor league options available. We’ve certainly signed worse players to larger contracts.
I don’t hate this. Alek Manoah we FILTHY a while ago and got derailed. They want to see if they can fix him, they can do it in SLC if they need to, and he costs as much as Mike Trout’s left foot. It’s the kind of low stakes gamble I want the team taking.
Hopefully saved off the Angels from coughing up a compensation pick with Gallen
We don’t need draft picks. Not when you are busy reloading hard like we do.
Yes baby.
F’ Them Picks?
The hitting equivalent of this would be picking up Rendon if he decides to play again in 2026. How is this a good move for pitching? Lots of guys were good 3 years ago before they lost it via arm issues or other reasons.
Clearly. Exactly like Rendon. Very good.
Minasian trying to pull an inside straight in a last ditch effort to hold his job with these two pitcher signings.
ATL must not have liked the medical picture on Manoah if they gave up on him with two years still on the clock. In his AAA rehab starts he had lost 2-3 mph on his heater and showed typical TJ-rehab wildness, though some of this is to be expected. He had shoulder issues as well before going under the knife, so maybe the Braves simply were not at all optimistic on his ’26 outlook.
Yup. I wouldn’t pay much to see if he bounces back. Thankfully, we aren’t paying much to see if he can bounce back.
I support both the Rodriguez and Manoah signings, provided the front office doesn’t think they’re done with the rotation. They need a couple healthy inning-eaters to complement this duo, even if they’re low-ceiling backend guys on similarly cheap contracts.
I think you have to go into spring training assuming you’ll get less than half a season of innings pitched from either player, and that might be optimistic.
At that price I dont see much downside other than the fact that he will probably pitch more big league games than he deserves to. Would love to have the miracle bounceback in our uniform that eluded more productive organizations but odds are he just looks like what we’d get out of one of our AA or AAA guys.
But again, at that cost who cares. If they want to compete they need lightning to strike multiple times so might as well search for it.
If Perry thinks of this as a depth signing/lottery ticket, then this is fine, if he’s thinking of him as being pencilled into the starting rotation, then we have a problem. The upside is probably there and if he pans out, then he can be retained for another year through arbitration.
My best guess is that this turns into nothing, but at least it’s cheap.
Build a cheap rotation ✅️
Arte overspends on Bregman + Bellinger 🔜
Manoah still has options remaining. I would like to add another starter and have Manoah begin the season in AAA.
Or add another starter and push Manoah to the bullpen as a long reliever. It’s not like Detmers and Grayson are going to go deep into games and Soriano is a bit of a wild card.
The bottom three Schulman listed above are all kind of rickety.
Wouldn’t mind that either. The unreliability factor you mentioned is why I’d prefer to keep him stretched out in the minors. Either way we agree another SP is needed
We’ve already written off 2026. Perry’s task is not to win but to find 26 men who can be classified as major leaguers
You just summed up this entire organization in one sentence.
Yes, they try to find 26 passable guys but it takes 40 to actually win in this league. Hence the revolving waiver claims and lack of winning.
Funny they signed him after trading away Taylor Ward
I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Although Ward doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would hold a grudge.
I do. Taylor Ward was traded to the O’s on November 18th. Alex Manoah was not released by the Braves until November 21st. Perry could have traded for Manoah with his BFF AA before the 21st, However, that would have been stupid since he would have lost his leverage to non-tender him a contract and forced then to go through arbitration.
Once promising player that has lost some shine and sent down to the minors at some point? Yep, sounds like an Angel signing.
I think he went clear down to A ball. I hope Maddux can work some magic.
I’m hoping he’s more Noah Syndergaard than Matt Harvey.
Harvey had a much better track record than Manoah recently. It wasn’t three consecutive years of bad pitching for him I don’t think.
It was. You can just Google it and there it is. Harvey sucking and missing time for three years before we got him….
Yeah, but Harvey knew how to party.
And apparently how to score Oxy and pass turn around to teammates.