Early exit from Triple-A game indicates an Angels offseason signing is heading to IL

Some major league players simply cannot catch a break, and the Angels have one of them. The oft-injured Yoán Moncada, whose losing battle with his own unavailability has caused his career to go sideways, has been battling right thumb swelling/ soreness for some time now. He needed to be removed from a game against the Rays after his first at bat. Dating back to spring training, Moncada has been missing games for the Angels left and right. Now, as Jeff Fletcher of The OC Register pointed out, help could be on the way. Moncada was removed from an Angels' game, then third baseman J.D. Davis was subsequently removed from a Salt Lake Bees' Triple-A game. That's enough of an indicator to surmise Moncada is hitting at least the 10-day injured list.

Moncada's Angels tenure has truly mirrored his entire MLB career to this point. He just simply cannot stay on the field, be it his fault or not. The Angels were able to reel him in on a one-year, $5 million deal due to his injury history. If you told a baseball fan he would sign for that amount of money a few years back, they would have called you insane. Moncada was brought in to help usher in a post-Anthony Rendon era, but he is unsurprisingly mirroring Rendon's history of causing the Angels to span third basemen in his absence. Angels' third basemen are dangerously close to becoming the MLB version of the Cleveland Browns' quarterback.

Moncada trails seven Angels players with his 8 games played over 11 total opportunities this season, and is tied with two others in Jo Adell and Tim Anderson. Other than getting on base at an above average clip, Moncada's .190/.370/.286/.656 slash line leaves little to be desired. Like with Kevin Newman and Tim Anderson, his preeminent defense at third base has made up for his subpar performance thus far at the plate.

"Just Dingers" Davis is posting solid results at the plate thus far at Triple-A, but a replacement player usually needs to prove his meddle with his glove once called up. Especially when it concerns players being promoted from hitter-friendly Salt Lake City, UT. He will most likely be a step down from Moncada defensively, make the Angels gain yet another right-handed hitter, and he is historically streaky. However, dude can put a ball into the seats like the best of them when he is seeing the ball well. He will largely platoon with Luis Rengifo and Nicky Lopez at third if he is, in fact, coming to the Big A.

J.D. Davis is not on the Angels' 40-man roster, so somebody will either need to be designated for assignment or placed on the 60-day IL. Moncada's thumb is likely not that bad, so either Sam Bachman is heading to the 60-Day or somebody like a Jack Dashwood, Jake Eder, or Michael Darrell-Hicks is getting the DFA.

More LA Angels News from Halo Hangout