WicketMaiden

Honestly, it's hard to assess because a lot of his moves are wait-and-see types of moves. We didn't go all-in on a TOR arm, but we've gone down the throw-the-whole-budget-at-one-guy offseason before. Multiple times. So far it has never worked. Maybe spreading the money around will end up being the better decision, but it comes down to whether Minasian and his crew (and Maddon, apparently) have the ability to spot enough undervalued talent to make it work. Generally, guys who aren't viewed as high value commodities by the league are viewed that way for a reason.
I don't believe we're a WS contender, but with what appears to be an uneasy crown at the top of the AL West, there may be room for the Angels to sneak in and win it. It's still Spring for another day - gotta keep my optimist hat on at least till Thursday. 

Grades are all relative. I'm sure if the Angels blew their wad on Bauer, everyone would love the off-season and give Minasian an A across the board. 
I'd say that Minasian came in with a plan and executed it. Whatever grade you want to say that is, is your discretion. 
1. He wanted to build his front office and a rapport with the coaching staff.
2. With the budget provided, he wanted to make improvements across the board, and not simply in one area. 
3. He didn't want to deplete the farm system. No sacrificing their future for the present.
4. Minasian wanted to spend money, without gambling the future of the organization on large contacts. He used smaller contacts to fit current needs. Allow money to come off the books, prospects to develop and then spend available funds to meet future needs. Financial sustainability, not spending money you don't have.
5. Whatever acquisitions he brought in, they needed to fit the culture Maddon is creating.
And again he did all that. The front office has some really intelligent men analyzing everything right now. Minasian added Shohei, Cobb and Quintana, without sacrificing Barria, Sandoval, Rodriguez or Detmers. He put Iglesias at SS and Fowler in RF for next to nothing. And the bullpen has been completely rebuilt. Do we have any holdovers from last year vin key roles? Maybe Mayers, that's it. 
Mission Accomplished. 
Now let's see if it works.

Hard to grade him now but I’m not really sure what he would have needed to do to get an A+ grade from some people. I think it’s disingenuous to give any grades if an A was impossible to achieve (and save an A+ for pulling a fast one on another GM like the Blue Jays trading Vernon Wells for Mike Napoli without eating money)
He didn’t petition the commissioner to make the Angels exempt from the luxury tax and he didn’t convince Pujols to retire.
Bauer signed for too much and the aces that ended up getting traded would have completely obliterated our farm system. Was he supposed to convince them to take less money and lesser packages?
The Iglesias’ acquisitions look like bright spots that don’t hamper the future but the pitching, especially the bullpen, was still lacking. He really turned it around in the past week by adding 5 bullpen arms. We really just need 2 to be above average.
I’d like a better RF than Fowler but with Adell, Marsh, and Adams knocking on the door, we can’t really do anything besides a stopgap for now. Ozuna, Brantley, or Pederson wouldn’t have been much better.
The biggest negative I can see is potentially not extending Bundy or tying up Quintana beyond this year. 
What I like the most is that there is decent depth between the 26 man roster and the alternate site. Bullpens usually rely on guys having a good year so the extra arms give a better chance at having a good bullpen this season. I know that’s the Eppler strategy that didn’t work but at least we aren’t using the strategy of reclamation projects with high spin and velocity dips that ended up being a sign their elbows were going to explode.
Perry really needs the opportunity to go through a draft and international signing period to add to the farm. We had some good drafts in the last few years but a lot of talent is in the low minors. Without a season last year, we missed the chance for them to build their value which hurts the overall rating. It would be dumb to trade away those guys when they’re only going to get more valuable.
I’m probably too optimistic but I’m not sure what he really could have done better without tying up too much money or trading away too many prospects. 

Lagares has been hitting the ball really well and producing some of the best contact of his career.  Not sure the exact changes he has made, but we do see players who emerge and improve against the odds (i.e., being an older player).  Lagares is very good defensively, so if he can produce decent offense, he's an upgrade over Fowler, IMO.

I'd actually give Billy Eppler a better grade for this offseason than Minasian so far. A lions-share of what will drive the club this year is what Billy put together - acquisitions like Bundy, Ohtani, Rendon, and Upton - and the farm that Billy refused to deal from, even though he very well could have in the last year or two in a knee-jerk move to save his job. 
All Minasian has really done is 1) fill in the fringes with mostly role players and 2) not fuck up (or take advantage of) what prospect capital Billy built. I can't get too excited about guys like Cobb, Fowler, Suzuki or even Jose Iglesias yet. I really like the Raisel trade, but only because it cost us literally nothing somehow (sorry Leo Rivas fans) and Quintana, because I think he'll be durable if not decent. I actually think he won't be as good as many here hope, but still solid. I also think Maddon is pulling a ton of these strings so far, so also difficult to credit Perry too much yet. 
With that said...Perry has a chance to absolutely crush Billy where Billy failed most. Finding good vet stopgaps. If Jose Iglesias, Cobb, Fowler, Lagares, Cishek, Watson can pull that off, then Perry vaults way, way up, but I can't say I'm more excited about Cobb, Jose Iglesias, Suzuki or Fowler than I was at any point than guys like Teheran, Maybin, Castro or Kinsler. 
So...
Rotation: D mostly due to the fact that I think our best pitchers are already here, and I'm not sold on Quintana and Cobb being any better than #4-#5 at best.
Bullpen: B- because Iglesias looks like a steal, otherwise this is a C+.
Lineup: C+ because at the end of it, I don't think Iglesias does much more than Simmons. Lagares might be the big catch, ironically. 
Farm: B mostly because he didn't trade it away to pieces, and because we only lost Jahmai Jones and Jose Soriano and neither were huge losses. I also think we may see a surprise guy like Kean Wong, Yordi Rosario, Jhonathan Diaz, Ibandel Isabel, or Hansel Rodriguez, one of his low-key minor league deals, become a good prospect.

C+ from me.

Too early to grade new acquisitions, but I'll give a current grade based on ST performances. 
Rotation - Optimistic C+ - Year after year the Angels have struggled heavily here. Giving a "C+" is a passing grade but solid performance will raise it to a "B+" if Quintana maintains the durability he's always shown and Angels strike gold again with Cobb having another Bundy-like change. Also, Ohtani can COMPLETELY change how this rotation looks. Mr. Blister Boy. 
Bull-Pen - C- then B within 24hrs - Perry has done a great job with finding arms. It remains to be seen if they are quality arms, but he's shown early that he can find the players rather than just sticking young guys Barria and Peters out there to fill a void. Also cool seeing C-Rod get a chance. Dude has a nasty fastball. 
Line-up - B+ - The lineup is stacked (again), but what I really like about this is the depth pieces behind the starters. Minasian brought a BUNCH of players in to compete for spots. That's something we haven't seen in awhile. Lagares has been incredible, plus his glove is a must. 
Farm - C - It is what it is. Though, it was nice seeing Minasian revamp the roster without dealing any notable prospects. Only downfall was losing Soriano in Rule 5, but hopefully he gets returned at some point during the season since he's coming back from TJ.
Overall - C+

It's too early for me to assign grades, but I think by far the biggest changes/additions he has made is to the infrastructure of the FO.  He has imported a lot of very good talent and, hopefully, built a player-development team in place that will help BOTH MLB players and minor league players/prospects develop and achieve better outcomes than they would have otherwise.

Making a one off Wild Card game isn't enough. They need to legitimately make the playoffs. Anything less will be a disappointment. I'd also add they need to win at least one. 

What has to happen, in this 2021 season, for you to consider it a success?  My poll is based on the team's overall performance, but if there's other things you want to touch on, such as specific performances for certain players and prospects, feel free to touch on that in your replies.  Basically, I'm just trying to get a sense of what everyone expects from the team, as well as what they would consider a disappointment.

I like what I've seen from Minasian so far. He seems to be a bit more interested in raising the floor rather than catching lightening in a waiver-wire bottle to raise the ceiling. My report card:
Rotation - B minus - No ace acquired, but solid arms that should keep us in games without relying on the luck of the gods to hold their limbs together or re-kindle their youth.
Bull-Pen - B plus - Got a legit Closer (A real one), and some solid late pick-ups creating lots of potential variation from the pen. Got some depth too.
Line-up - B minus -  Lagares is a nice late inning replacement, Fowler isn't great in RF but may hold his own (and I put that one down to JM), Iglesias was a great pick-up and Suzuki looks solid.
Farm - C - didn't really add to it, didn't blow it up either. 
Overall - B minus. 
 

OK, I'm calling out @cals as Mickey Callaway. The name, the opinions, the defence of the indefensible, yes, I see it now. 

I like what I've seen from Minasian so far. He seems to be a bit more interested in raising the floor rather than catching lightening in a waiver-wire bottle to raise the ceiling. My report card:
Rotation - B minus - No ace acquired, but solid arms that should keep us in games without relying on the luck of the gods to hold their limbs together or re-kindle their youth.
Bull-Pen - B plus - Got a legit Closer (A real one), and some solid late pick-ups creating lots of potential variation from the pen. Got some depth too.
Line-up - B minus -  Lagares is a nice late inning replacement, Fowler isn't great in RF but may hold his own (and I put that one down to JM), Iglesias was a great pick-up and Suzuki looks solid.
Farm - C - didn't really add to it, didn't blow it up either. 
Overall - B minus. 
 

OK, I'm calling out @cals as Mickey Callaway. The name, the opinions, the defence of the indefensible, yes, I see it now. 

I like what I've seen from Minasian so far. He seems to be a bit more interested in raising the floor rather than catching lightening in a waiver-wire bottle to raise the ceiling. My report card:
Rotation - B minus - No ace acquired, but solid arms that should keep us in games without relying on the luck of the gods to hold their limbs together or re-kindle their youth.
Bull-Pen - B plus - Got a legit Closer (A real one), and some solid late pick-ups creating lots of potential variation from the pen. Got some depth too.
Line-up - B minus -  Lagares is a nice late inning replacement, Fowler isn't great in RF but may hold his own (and I put that one down to JM), Iglesias was a great pick-up and Suzuki looks solid.
Farm - C - didn't really add to it, didn't blow it up either. 
Overall - B minus. 
 

Happy with these acquisitions.
Looks like minasian has boxed clever and played the long game waiting for the fallout from elsewhere and then hoovered up at bargain prices.
Or am I being too complimentary 🤔

A great many pitchers have had TJS and never receive the all skepticism Ohtani is getting coming back from his TJS.

Writers who fabricate quotes or plagiarise other people's work are very few and very far between, and those that do try it are unceremoniously dumped from the profession with their reputations in tatters. Sports writer is a great gig and like all great jobs the competition is fierce, far too fierce for 'lame ass fake writers' to make a living at it by making stuff up. Ask a 100 finance guys if they want to be sportswriters. Then ask a 100 sportswriters if they want to be finance guys. Which career do you think supports more lame ass employees getting away with doing a sub-standard job?
It's not like Twitter or a message board comment that can be waved away or laughed off as out of context, when a writer writes something under their byline their reputation (and their possibility of future earnings) is on the line, and fabricating quotes is simply anathema to any writer or reporter hoping for a future career. 
 

Snowflake.

Yes, agreed. Baseball is very, very hard, with a far more refined skill set that most other big sports.
Back to HR. I did a bit of research to get my numbers down. As I'm sure you know, the baseball of the first couple decades of the two major leagues (beginning in 1901) was very different, based on speed and line-drives. From 1901-19, only three players hit more than 20 HR: Babe Ruth (29 in 1919), Gavvy Cravath (24 in 1915), and Frank Schulte (21 in 1911). One could argue that it was Cravath who was the first true power-hitter, leading the majors three years in a row from 1913 to 1915 with 19, 19, 24. Only 12 players hit 15 or more HR in a season in those first 19 years of the two leagues.
Then in 1919 Ruth broke Cravath's record by hitting 29 (although Ned Williamson had hit 27 in 1884, but that was before the "major league era" of 1901 on). But that 29 just seemed like a high but not impossible total. Ruth demolished his own record a year later with 54, utterly changing baseball. What was so shocking is that no one else hit even 20 (Sisler was second with 19).
Contrary to popular opinion it wasn't only the "dead ball," but Ruth's upper-cut swing which began to catch on in 1921. Ruth led the majors again with 59, but five other players hit over 20 HR, with Ken Williams and Bob Meusel hitting 24 each, George Kelly and Tilly Walker 23 each, and Rogers Hornsby hitting 21.
But it wasn't like everyone started hitting tons of HR right after Ruth did - the 20s were really a transition era. Rogers Hornsby was the first non-Ruthian to hit over 40 HR, taking the crown from Ruth with 42 HR in 1922 (Ruth was injured, playing only 110 games), following by Ken Williams with 39, Tilly Walker with 37, then Ruth with 35.
But it wasn't until 1929 that home runs really exploded - even before that, only a handful of guys were hitting 20+ HR a year, but in '29 fully ten players hit 30 or more, and sixteen hit 20+. From that point on, power hitters have been a plentiful.
What I find interesting is that while the major league leader has fluctuated over time--usually in the 40s, but sometimes in the 30s and occasionally jumping into the 50s--the median has gradually risen. As I said, in the Dead Ball Era the median (meaning, the typical regular) hit about 2-3 HR a year, and oftentimes inside the park homers. This went up slowly in the 20s, but was still below 10, finally reaching that number in 1930. It continued to rise slowly, reaching around 15 by the mid-50s and, while fluctuating a bit, holding around that range until the mid-90s when it jumped to around 20 in the Roid Era. It fell back a bit post-Roid to the 17-19 range from 2010-13 down to 14 in 2014. But in 2016 it jumped to a historical high of 22, 23 in 2017, 20 in 2018, and another high of 25 in 2019.
Anyhow, who knows what 2021 will bring, but I imagine the goal is to bring it back down to the 15-19 range. But if history tells us anything, we'll still be seeing guys lead the lead regularly with 45+ HR. My hope is that Trout sneaks in a 50 HR season in the next few years.
 

I'm calling the police.

This is an offensive comment.
(EDIT: Maybe my response was too strong. I shouldn't be offended. But I do think it's ridiculous to suggest that a professional writer for Baseball America is fabricating quotes like some high school kid at the school paper.)

Angels 30/30 segment highlights!

Jonathan Mayo breaks down the Angels' farm system
March 25, 2021

Snowflake.

Snowflake.

Snowflake.