Angels announce 2020 roster: Five biggest takeaways

Angels Roster Takeaways: Jo Adell left off MLB roster

Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way quickly. Jo Adell has been left off the roster and is headed to Long Beach to start the season.

The Angels’ top prospect and the number three prospect in the entire game, Adell has made quite the impression in summer camp. He has regularly been among the top hitters in camp, and his hustle and performance weren’t lost on Joe Maddon either.

“I just like the energy, I like his attitude,” Maddon said. “That’s what we need. That kind of energy is going to make everybody else around him better, and I appreciate it.” (via MLB.com)

However, there was little to no chance that Adell would break camp with the team. With the league still operating under the previous collective bargaining agreement, it was always likely that the Angels were going to have to manipulate Adell’s service time.

The only question was how long the Angels would need to play the game. With the season shortened to just 60 days, Adell only needs to stay in the minor leagues for seven days. It seemed like a foregone conclusion that the team would surrender a week of their top prospect for an extra year of contractual control.

ZiPS seems to be the most bullish on how much Adell will play for the Angels in 2020, estimating the rookie will appear in 51 games. In the ensuing 227 plate appearances, they project him to his a solid .273/.326/.450 with eight home runs, a 106 wRC+, and a 1.0 fWAR.

Of course, his playing time will all be determined on how well Brian Goodwin does in 2020 and the ability for Justin Upton to stay healthy this season. If an opportunity arises after the first week of the season, Adell could make his long-awaited debut.

Angels Roster Takeaways: Patrick Sandoval makes the starting rotation

Patrick Sandoval was late to camp due to a COVID-19 diagnosis and then subsequently didn’t arrive until there was just a little over a week remaining of summer. The assumption was that he wouldn’t have the time to be ready to start the team on the active roster.

I guess we were wrong.

When the initial roster was released on Thursday, not only had Sandoval made the initial 30-man group, but he had also managed to show he was ready to be named the Angels’ sixth starter. In the process, he managed to beat out both Felix Pena and Jaime Barria in the process. The former will return to the bullpen and the latter was subsequently left off the active roster.

For Sandoval, he apparently raced to the inside track on Wednesday, when he drew the final exhibition start against the Padres. Despite giving up five runs in three innings of work with only a single strike-out, Maddon liked what he saw from Sandoval.

“I’m a big fan. I like his stuff. You saw fastball, curveball, slider and a really good changeup. He’s a little bit behind and he’s trying to play catch up and try to impress and all those different kinds of things. But from a talent-wise as a scout, you’re looking for guys like that all the time. I like him. I like his stuff.”

Sandoval got off to a slow start during his rookie season but finished on a roll. In his final six starts, he managed a 3.68 ERA and held opposing hitters to a .173/.292/.360 batting line. Coupled with a 9.6 K/9 at the MLB level (and 14.4 in the minors), Sandoval has as much potential as any Angels’ pitching prospect.

Sandoval will likely make his first start at home, when the Angels host the Seattle Mariners on July 29th.

Angels Roster Takeaways: Anthony Rendon to avoid injured list

As we learned on Wednesday, Anthony Rendon will not be ready to play for the Angels on Friday due to a lingering oblique issue. While oblique issues can linger and often are unpredictable in terms of timeline, the Angels are hopeful that Rendon will not miss much more than a few days.

That confidence showed on Thursday when the team announced the active roster and Rendon was firmly entrenched on it. This would indicate that he will not be forced to spend time on the injured list.

That’s good news for the Angels, as they spent a lot of money (7-years, $245 million) to make Rendon a centerpiece of their lineup around Mike Trout. Instead, they’ll be short the All-Star for at least the opener in Oakland, and perhaps a few more games depending on how he heals.

It will be disappointing to lose him for even a few games considering the shortened season, there is still a long-game to play here. Trout’s wife is due to give birth on August 3rd, and he will undoubtedly miss time to attend the birth and be with his wife and son for a few days following. It will be important to have Rendon healthy and in the lineup during that time.

The Angels have the pieces to plug and play in order to ensure Rendon is healthy. During his absence, David Fletcher is expected to draw the start at third, with Matt Thaiss available as a back-up at both corner infield positions.

Angels Roster Takeaways: Taylor Ward makes the roster

As I eluded to earlier, Joe Maddon is a manager that greatly values flexibility on his roster. We saw it for years with guys like Ben Zobrist, Sean Rodriguez, and more.

Could Taylor Ward be the next super-utility piece for Maddon?

Ward’s inclusion on the roster was a bit of a surprise, in that the Angels already had a fairly full outfield with Trout, Brian Goodwin, Justin Upton, and Michael Hermosillo already holding down spots and top prospect Jo Adell lingering on the periphery. That would seem to be an uphill battle for Ward on this year’s roster, especially after two disappointing seasons under his belt.

In parts of two major league seasons, Ward has appeared in 60 games and put up an uninspiring .181/.256/.333 batting line. While he has shown power in the minors, he has yet to tap into that in the major leagues and has been prone to strikeouts (39.1%).

However, the aforementioned flexibility plays a big part here, and Ward’s ability to not only play the outfield but also don the catching gear certainly played a big part in his inclusion. The Angels are currently carrying just two catchers, Max Stassi and Jason Castro, so Ward will serve as a third catcher in a season where that will be incredibly valued.

Ward’s initial inclusion seems to play into the team’s busy opening schedule. The Angels play ten-straight days to start the season and have only two off days through the end of August. However, as the season moves on, and off days become more plentiful, Ward’s roster spot feels like a vulnerable one when the rosters have to shrink to 28 and 26 players respectively.

Angels Roster Takeaways: Julio Teheran and Luis Rengifo to start on IL

At this stage, we already know that Anthony Rendon will avoid the injured list, and Patrick Sandoval, despite his late start, will immediately join the Angels rotation. However, not all Angels were blessed to make it through summer camp unscathed.

Like Sandoval, Julio Teheran was a late arrival to camp due to a coronavirus diagnosis. However, he took a bit longer to satisfy the two-consecutive negative tests needed to be admitted to camp and as such, was unable to appear in any intrasquad games or scrimmages. As such, the Angels have opted to keep him on the 10-day injured list to start the year.

Teheran will presumably use the extra time to get back in line with the rest of his team. He’ll likely need a week or so of the season to ramp up before he can be plugged into the rotation. At that time, he’ll replace either Sandoval or Matt Andriese in the rotation.

Like Teheran, Luis Rengifo will also begin the season on the injured list. While he reported late as well, his inclusion on the list is due to a lingering hamstring injury, suffered in his first few days in camp.

By having Teheran and Rengifo on the IL, transferring Justin Anderson (Tommy John surgery) to the 45-day IL, and previously outrighting Jacob Rhame, the Angels opened up a few spots on the active roster. They used those on Tuesday by promoting Jared Walsh, Ryan Buchter, and Hermosillo, and selecting the contracts of Hoby Milner and Jacob Barnes.

What do you think of the Angels’ initial 30-man roster? Did they leave off anyone you were hoping would make the team?