Angels cut bait on slugging first baseman in giant year-end roster shuffle

Perhaps the biggest win Perry Minasian has under his belt as Angels general manager is his fleecing of the Boston Red Sox during the 2024 trade deadline. Minasian dealt his set-up man in Luis García to the Sox in exchange for four promising prospects. García was objectively horrible for the Red Sox, Minasian got him back at the 2025 trade deadline and he has been nothing less than stellar since coming over from the Washington Nationals. Ryan Zeferjahn and Matthew Lugo have been contributors this season, although Zeferjahn was a below average reliever all year and is now on the injured list.

The biggest X-factor of the trade was Niko Kavadas, as the first baseman came over from Boston and flashed some positives with the Angels at both the MLB and MiLB level before dominating the Arizona Fall League. Like most power-first position players, he posted great stats in the Pacific Coast League but struggled mightily in a massive try-out when Nolan Schanuel went down with an injury. Kavadas was platooning with Oswald Peraza at first in Schanuel's absence, but Kavadas played so poorly that Minasian decided to designate him for assignment a little over a year after trading for him. Kavadas was effectively replaced on the depth chart with Logan Davidson. Kavadas is an intriguing waiver claim for other organizations given his elite power tool and age, so only time will tell if he will remain in the Angels organization or be plucked by somebody else.

Angels cut bait on slugging first baseman in giant year-end roster shuffle

Adding insult to injury, DFAing Kavadas was simply for incredibly short-term moves of adding Chad Wallach and Connor Brogdon back to the 40-man roster. Both Wallach and Brogdon do not figure to even be with the organization next year, which tells you what the Halos thought of the soon-to-be 27-year-old Kavadas. Wallach was brought back to replace Travis d'Arnaud, who was placed on the 7-day concussion IL. Brogdon was brought back to replace Andrew Chafin, who was placed on the 15-day IL with triceps inflammation. It appears as if the southpaw's season, and potentially Angels career, is over after pitching awfully well post-trade deadline.

In other news, Denzer Guzman is the latest top Angels prospect to receive some big league reps. Guzman and Christian Moore were promoted, and Scott Kingery was DFA'd and Matthew Lugo was optioned down. Guzman was tied to the hip of Nelson Rada all season, as the two were sent to Double-A after spring training and then to Triple-A at the beginning of August. However, the Angels tied "Guzie" to Moore with the latest promotion and left Rada with the Salt Lake Bees.

Guzman has a path to playing time right now given Zach Neto's hand injury that has kept him out of games since Thursday. If Neto does return soon, which he should by all accounts, the Angels could play Guzman (and Moore) over impending free agents in Yoán Moncada and Luis Rengifo. Moncada is now nursing another injury, this one in the form of soreness in his left ankle. Rengifo was already benched in back-to-back games in favor of Moore, so the writing is on the wall -- the Angels are skewing young right now, and maybe heading into 2026, so veterans beware. The youth movement has arrived!

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