Angels: Three options for an expanded roster

When Major League Baseball closed its doors due to the coronavirus, manager Joe Maddon was still deciding who should make the Angels 26-man active roster. If the season eventually returns, he will have three extra selections to make.

Major League Baseball and the Players Association reached an agreement this week on how to proceed through a complex situation that has delayed the start of the 2020 season. On a laundry list of logistical issues to sort out, the two sides had to consider how a condensed schedule should impact roster sizes. As part of the agreement, MLB will allow teams to carry an extra three players, 29 in total, for at least the first month of the season, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.

Roster sizes were already set to expand an additional player from the traditional 25-man limit this season. Under the new rules that allowed 26-man active rosters, teams could design their depth charts while carrying a maximum of 13 major league pitchers. There is no word on whether there would be a similar limitation on pitchers under the 29-man rule; however, it would seem the spirit of the decision to expand rosters for the first month of the season is to give hurlers more time to build up pitching strength, likely after a shortened Spring Training.

How do expanded rosters impact the Angels? Who should Joe Maddon and general manager Billy Eppler select for the three extra spots? Let’s take a look.

Pitching Depth

Assuming the expanded rosters allow teams to carry more than 13 pitchers, the most obvious area to take advantage of additional roster spots would be on the pitching staff.

If the season starts in early June, theoretically, the Angels would have a healthy Shohei Ohtani ready to take the mound. They could also see the return of starter Griffin Canning. That said, both pitchers will most certainly be on strict innings limitations, as they would have been anyway coming back from injury, and especially following what will probably be an abbreviated second Spring Training period.

Joe Maddon will need extra middle relief men who can get outs early in games while saving the back of his bullpen for high leverage situations. I would expect that if the starting rotation turns into Andrew Heaney, Julio Teheran, and Dylan Bundy, along with Ohtani and Ganning, we could see starters Patrick Sandoval and Matt Andriese as candidates to fill the extra roster spots.

This would allow the Halos to use a 6-man rotation during the first month of the season as the starters build up length in their arms. Andriese gives the coaching staff options as a reliever, spot starter, or long relief man. He entered camp looking to make the starting rotation and pitched well during the spring, allowing only one run over nine innings of work.

The Angels recently optioned several pitchers to the minors who could suddenly find themselves back with the big club under expanded rosters. Most notably, left-handed reliever Ryan Buchter, whose send down was a bit of a surprise to begin with. Jose Quijada is another option from the group of players recently optioned. Between Buchter and Quijada, it would seem to make sense to carry at least one of them on the active roster, as they are the two primary lefties for an otherwise right-handed heavy bullpen.

Another Catching

It is believed that when the baseball season returns, teams will pick up on their original 2020 schedule, potentially adding games in October, or even November. Another way they could make up lost games is by playing doubleheaders, perhaps as often as twice per week. More games in a tighter timeframe means catching duties become more arduous. A third catcher could be required.

The Angels were set to begin the season with newly-acquired Jason Castro handling the majority of reps behind the plate, with Max Stassi acting as his back-up and potential right-handed replacement. Anthony Bemboom was optioned to Triple-A earlier in the spring, but he could find himself back with the Angels given the new situation.

Bemboom played in 25 games last season between Tampa Bay and Anaheim (sorry, I still have trouble saying Los Angeles). His short time in the majors was unspectacular, to say the least. He hit an anemic .130, drawing only one walk in 54 plate appearances. However, Bemboom wouldn’t be on the club to swing the bat. He offers an extra catching mitt on the bench to spell Castro and Stassi and give the manager more flexibility in managing lineups during doubleheaders.