4 Angels players who are dragging the team down this year

The Angels currently find themselves in last place in the American League West, and desperately need a series win against the Athletics this week in order to spring themselves back into some semblance of playoff contention. The team has experienced a massive amount of turnover, mostly in the bullpen, given their poor league ranks in nearly every run production and run prevention statistical categories. Perry Minasian is on the record as to saying that he wants to put together the best roster possible, no matter one's background, contract, etc., and he needs to make difficult decisions moving forward with the players who are not pulling their weight on this below-.500 team.

The Angels are aiming to make the playoffs. They have a few should-be key contributors who need to turn their games around soon, or else Minasian will show them the door/Ron Washington will send them to the bench more often than he already is.

4 Angels players who are dragging the team down this year

Luis Rengifo

Man, what a bummer Rengifo's been this season. His most notable moment was getting benched for not knowing how many outs there were, which feels right given how laughably bad he has been in the field. Rengifo can technically play both third and second base, but has shown zero range or value in the infield whatsoever. It's a contract year for Rengifo, which normally brings the best out of a player, but his expiring deal is closer to getting cut than dealt as of now.

What's worse is that Rengifo used to be fun to watch at the plate, but not anymore. It's been a massive struggle for him this season. His vaunted bat-to-ball skills have been much diminished, and he is not playing like the table-setter this lineup needs. Rengifo is not controlling the strike zone -- he is not drawing walks and chasing far too much. He's hitting .218 for the season and just .179 in May.

The Angels might pivot to playing the far-better defensive infielders they have on the roster in Tim Anderson and/or Kevin Newman if Rengifo's bat keeps stalling. They could get Christian Moore, Scott Kingery or even Carter Kieboom ready if he needs to be expelled from the team altogether.

Jo Adell

When Mike Trout returns from his injury, the Angels will likely send Kyren Paris to Triple-A to get him more game reps. However, Ron Washington has talked at length about how Paris has not lost his confidence and therefore will keep trying to find him playing time. If the Angels were serious about not altering Paris' confidence via a demotion, they could keep him on the active roster when Trout come back and finally cut ties with the Jo Show.

Adell cannot consistently hit for enough power to make up for his myriad deficiencies as a player. Yes, he has the tools of a 20+ home run hitter every year, but he has always been better in theory than in actuality. Like he has for his whole career, Adell whiffs, strikes out and chases outside the strike zone way too much. He does not walk or square up a baseball nearly enough for his skill-set. His SLG is even below the league average, and that's about all he offers.

The 26-year-old is just not aging well -- his sprint speed and arm strength are exactly average, and those are his best tools outside of his theoretical raw power. His range and arm value from the outfield are comically low this season, which is especially humiliating given that the Angels had faith that he would be the Trout replacement out there.

Given Paris' ability to filter into both centerfield and second base, the Angels might need to keep his positional versatility around and cast Adell off in the next month.

Kyle Hendricks

Hendricks is averaging three earned runs allowed per game, the worst mark of the team's pitching staff. He has a 5.18 ERA, 5.45 FIP and 15.8% Miss% -- all the worst marks of the Angels' five starting pitchers. Hendricks has not received a whole lot of run support in his starts this season -- only José Soriano has received fewer runs per start than The Professor -- but his 1-5 record feels more indicative of his performance than misleading.

The Angels' fifth starter has been better this month, but has still been average at best. Hendricks has allowed one home run in seven of his eight starts this season and has not struck out more than five batters in any of his starts (Hendricks only has one start this season where he struck out five batters). Striking guys out is not really his game, Hendricks relies more on limiting free passes and avoiding barrels. Well, a BB% in the 39th percentile is not going to fly for a pitcher like Hendricks.

It's a shame Reid Detmers has been brutal this year, and has not forced the Angels evaluators to flip him into the rotation and Hendricks to long relief.

Brock Burke

One member of the Angels bullpen needed to be included on this list, and Burke seems to be the most appropriate. One could make the case for Ben Joyce, given how his unavailability this year is a massive blow to the unit. You could easily make the case for Detmers as well, but given the stark difference in role importance it feels that Burke is more culpable for the Angels' inability to close out games.

It was expected that the Angels' southpaw would be an above average back-end reliever for them, but he has proven to be one of the more unreliable arms they have. Burke's rough season is represented by his -0.3 fWAR, which is tied with Kenley Jansen and Garrett McDaniels for the worst mark on the team. In the month of May, Burke has an abysmal 4.05 K/9 and actually has walked more batters (and allowed more hits) than he's struck out.

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