3 Angels players who'll survive on the roster past the trade deadline, but shouldn't

The Angels have so many holes on their roster that have led to them being under .500 in late-July, and they do not have the adequate depth to replace them. The team's least important players are being thrust into starring roles due to injuries to position players like Jorge Soler, Christian Moore, Chris Taylor, plus pitchers like Robert Stephenson, Ben Joyce and Hunter Strickland. One would think that the Angels would go out and get competent pieces to surround their best players, but no trade of any significance has been made to round out the roster. The Angels are likely going to sell major leaguers in the next couple of days, rather than bring anyone in to right this wrong.

Players like Taylor Ward, Kenley Jansen, Yoán Moncada and Luis Rengifo are on the trade block, and if they are dealt it means that even more should-be bench players and minor leaguers will be forced into prominent roles. Fans desperately want to see the team beef up, and not have to watch the familiar faces they have seen be unproductive anymore. Don't get your hopes up, people.

The Angels could easily option or DFA Gustavo Campero, Scott Kingery, Ryan Zeferjahn, José Quijada and Carson Fulmer, so those guys might be gone at some point after the deadline. These next three are probably going to stick around for the foreseeable future, however.

3 Angels players who'll survive on the roster past the trade deadline, but shouldn't

Kevin Newman

Angels fans want nothing more than to see Newman off their team. He has played in just 55 out of 107 possible games, which is just 10 more than the long-gone Kyren Paris.

When the Angels signed Newman to a major league deal with a 2026 club option in the offseason, fans knew he was a light-hitting utility man who added value simply because he could fill in for Zach Neto during the first month of the season. Newman somehow has been worse for the Angels than he has previously in his unheralded hitting career. At the big league level from 2018-2024, Newman slashed a pedestrian .262/.305/.360/.665 for the Pirates, Reds and Diamondbacks. Last year with the Snakes, Newman had close to a career year at the plate with a .278/.311/.375/.686 slash line. In his first year in Anaheim, Newman is posting a brutal .205/.212/.277/.489 with a .071 ISO, 0.9% BB% (!!) and .213 wOBA.

Yes, Newman clubbed a two-run home run off Jacob deGrom in his last game played. That highlight simply does not overshadow his all-around terrible production on the season, however.

Tyler Anderson

Anderson has a 5.19 FIP and 1.41 WHIP, the third worst marks on the Angels behind Ryan Zeferjahn and Kochanowicz. His 4.41 ERA is only better than Zeferjahn, Kyle Hendricks and Kochanowicz's. He's allowed the most home runs on the team. Tyler Anderson is just not that good anymore.

Anderson does not seem good enough for another team to trade for him, and not bad enough for the Angels to remove the long-tenured veteran from their roster. In a perfect world, Perry Minasian would get something back for Anderson but it's a dubious prospect to believe that a team would give up an asset for him as a rental at this point. The Angels are so desperate for pitching they re-called Jack Kochanowicz despite the fact that he should be with Triple-A the rest of the way. Anderson does not appear to be going anywhere.

Lamonte Wade Jr.

Wade Jr. seems like a player the team could axe off the roster if he continues to struggle, but he is theoretically better than Campero and Kingery. Nobody knows what exactly Jorge Soler's timeline to return is, so the Angels need to keep starting Wade Jr. out of desperation more than anything else.

The lights have been too bright for Late Night Lamonte with the Angels. In the 31-year-old's first 30 games with the Halos, he is slashing .169/.260/.215/.476. With the Giants he slashed .167/.275/.271/.546. The grounds are there for an Angels DFA as his numbers were somehow better with San Francisco, the team that DFA'd him, but he somehow still seems like the best option to start every day in right field. If only Mike Trout could still play the field...

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