Angels News: 2 players are in, 3 are out in latest roster shake up

The Angels, like they do most years, are rapidly swapping players in and out as they grasp for some semblance of depth around their stars. They continue to face the tall task of building a team that is ripe around the margins with players who can provide value in some fashion, no matter how small the role.

The most notable of Perry Minasian's latest transactions is Tim Anderson being designated for assignment. Anderson was one of many fliers Minasian took this offseason in his quest to fill out a roster around his young core. Despite being signed to a minor league deal following a horrendous 2024 season with the Miami Marlins, the Angels selected Anderson's contract for the Opening Day roster. With the Marlins, he played in 65 games and posted a .214/.237/.226/.463 slash line which included a dreadful .013 ISO and a 68:7 K:BB.

The former All-Star played in less than half the amount of games this year with the Halos than he appeared in last season with the Marlins. Anderson actually led the team in defensive fWAR before his DFA, and he did have better overall numbers than his counterpart in Kevin Newman. However, Newman is no slouch on defense himself and does provide more positional versatility than Anderson.

Speaking of positional versatility -- taking Anderson's spot on the team is Scott Kingery, another offseason flier taken by Perry Minasian. Unlike Anderson, Kingery was on the 40-man roster for much of spring training and many expected him to take the final spot on the Opening Day roster. He started off camp strong, but tailed off and found himself getting DFA'd. Kingery cleared waivers and returned to the organization. He has been with Triple-A Salt Lake all season, and posted a .373/.418/.578 slash line while showing off his prowess as a utility man.

In other news, Robert Stephenson is finally on the Angels' active roster. He is essentially the ace up the Angels' sleeve that they get to play at long last, as he is the highest priced reliever on the payroll who will be pressed upon heavily to stabilize the league's worst bullpen. In order to activate Stephenson off the 60-day injured list, the Angels demoted Jake Eder to Triple-A and designated Chuckie Robinson for assignment.

Eder walked two batters in a single inning of relief against the Yankees yesterday before his demotion. Robinson was in Anaheim for an incredibly brief period of time serving as Logan O'Hoppe insurance. Now that O'Hoppe is deemed ready to participate in games, instead of needing time on the 7-day injured list, Robinson's services were no longer needed. If Robinson does get claimed off waivers by another team, the Angels will look to Sebastián Rivero as their emergency catcher.

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