The seeds of Alek Manoah's arrival in Anaheim were planted immediately after the Blue Jays DFA'ed their one-time Cy Young finalist in late September, after he lost the entire regular season to a UCL surgery.
Before he was hired by the Angels, GM Perry Minasian was Toronto's director of pro scouting. Although he and Manoah didn't overlap (Manoah was drafted two years after Minasian's departure), picking Manoah up on waivers felt like a Minasian-esque move.
He was ultimately claimed off of waivers by the Braves instead, which let Angels fans breathe a sigh of relief.