8 Angels players who aren’t long for 40-man roster (and their replacements)

After clearing space on their 40-man roster recently, the Angels should slide in at exactly 40 when Brandon Drury, Matt Moore, Kevin Pillar, and Hunter Strickland become free agents. In fact, they possess a few players who should remain on the 60-day injured list for a while longer as they continue their rehab process. Those players: Robert Stephenson and Patrick Sandoval. That would slide them in at 38.

The players who should be ready to go for Spring Training (at some point, potentially not at the very beginning) and will be re-added to the 40-man: Mike Trout, José Soriano, Luis Rengifo, Jo Adell, and Kelvin Caceres. Trout, Soriano, Rengifo, and Adell should be locked in for the Opening Day roster, barring an offseason trade including Rengifo and/or Adell, and Caceres will likely begin the season in AAA Salt Lake, or maybe even AA Rocket City.

The fringe 40-man position players: Kyren Paris, Eric Wagaman, Bryce Teodosio, Gustavo Campero, and....Anthony Rendon. It would be relatively surprising to see the Angels let go of any of their 40-man pitchers, but the most likely candidates to be DFA'd from that group are Kenny Rosenberg, Ryan Miller, Guillo Zuñiga, Hans Crouse, and maybe even Caceres if his rehab continues to stall. Rhett Bollinger and Sam Blum both reported that the Angels will likely retain both José Suarez and Griffin Canning, even with potential outs on both those up-and-down pitchers. The club has until 11/22 to tender contracts to their arbitration-eligible players.

The Angels have myriad 40-man options and will be active this offseason

The Angels will likely want to bring back Strickland, as he was a solid, steady reinforcement for their shaky bullpen last season. That's not a lock, however. They also will undoubtedly add Matthew Lugo (their no. 12 prospect) to their 40-man roster, who was the main piece they received in return for Luis García. They also need space for Rule-5 Draft picks they want to add. That draft takes place during the Winter Meetings, and, of course, any free agent they want to ink to a deal.

They have decisions to make on adding any of Brett Kerry, Eric Torres, Nick Jones, Mason Erla, Ryan Costeiu, Kenyon Yovan and Hayden Seig to the 40-man roster or risk losing them in the Rule-5 Draft. The most likely candidate of that group is Erla, despite great flashes from Torres (the Angels' 2022 MiLB Pitcher of the Year), Jones, Kerry, and Yovan in the past. Despite previous injury problems, Erla was able to make it through a full season at AA Rocket City pitching out of the bullpen, and posted a very impressive 3.35 xFIP. Additionally, the Angels might want to elevate other impressive MiLB pitchers to the 40-man, like Christian Moore, Michael Darrell-Hicks, Luke Murphy, Samy Natera Jr., Chris Cortez, or Ryan Johnson if they wow the coaching staff during MLB Spring Training.

A prediction: the Angels waive Paris, Wagaman, Teodosio, Campero, and two pitchers who clear waivers and return to the club. Rendon struggles in Spring Training and they mercifully cut him loose. They do not bring back Drury or Moore, and Pillar retires. They resign Strickland to a major league deal. Christian Moore cracks the MLB roster out of Spring Training and starts at 2B, they add a 3B either via free agency (Yoán Moncada, perhaps?) or a trade. Rengifo moves to a utility role between 2B/3B and perhaps LF. They add Lugo and Erla to the 40-man, but begin the season in AAA. Kerry, Torres, Jones, Costeiu, Yovan, and Seig go unprotected in the Rule-5 Draft but do not get selected and return to the Angels' AAA or AA teams.