Angels News: Corresponding 40-man moves for Jansen and Moncada, LAA keeps recent DFA

There were some shake-ups on the Angels' 40-man roster, as the recent signings of both Yoán Moncada and Kenley Jansen necessitated corresponding roster moves. One was a lock to occur, and one became a lock after some shocking -- yet also not shocking whatsoever -- developments.

It was widely reported that Robert Stephenson was heading back to the 60-Day Injured List at the outset of spring training, as he is aiming an early-July return. He spent the entirety of 2024 on the 60-Day due to a Tommy John surgery he underwent following his three-year, $33 million deal in free agency. That freed up one spot. It was unclear how the Angels would open up the other spot, and nobody suspected it would involve Anthony Rendon...until it was announced on February 12th that he would require surgery on his left hip.

Yes, Rendon's heading to the 60-Day Injured List. In fact, Arte Moreno spilled the beans that "he’s obviously not going to play this year” in a recent interview. The Angels are historically vague when discussing players' injuries and their timeline to return to the field, and Perry Minasian solely said Rendon was going to be out "long-term" following the news. Well, Moreno is known to not be the front office's best friend, and it appears he is going rogue once more by breaking the news himself.

In a twist of irony, Stephenson is opening up a 40-man spot for Jansen and Rendon is opening up a 40-man spot for Moncada. Moncada was already usurping Rendon's spot as the starting third baseman, but many believed Rendon would filter into third from time-to-time if he broke camp with the big league team. Stephenson was given a giant sum of money as far as reliever's salaries go, but the Angels clearly needed to add another back-end reliever given his long absence. Who knows how he will look once he returns? Who knows if he can even return -- as post-TJ setbacks happen more often than you'd wish.

Perhaps these on-the-nose roster transactions could foreshadow some sort of turn-around for the Angels heading into 2025? The Angels certainly had a lot of eggs in the Rendon and Stephenson basket, and their 2024 seasons (or lack thereof) very much helped sink the Angels' ship. Moncada and Jansen are not the sturdiest players, but here's hoping that they are far more available than Rendon and Stephenson have been throughout their Angels' tenure.

In huge news, the Angels are retaining Kelvin Cáceres after he cleared waivers

The most under-the-radar transaction the Angels made recently (perhaps the entire offseason) was claiming Michael Petersen off waivers. After the 30-year-old reliever from the United Kingdom was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays to make room for Max Scherzer, the Angels added him to the 40-man roster and subsequently waived Kelvin Cáceres. DFAing a once-promising young arm like Cáceres can cause some anxiety amongst fans, as typically they get snatched up by another club. Well, it's time to celebrate! Cáceres is back! He cleared waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake, per the club.

It's still generally perplexing and slightly dismaying, that another team did not take a flier on Cáceres given his age and stuff. On the surface, it seemed like waiving Cáceres over some other players on the 40-man was not the right move. Players like Gustavo Campero, José Suarez, and maybe even Kyren Paris or Jack Dashwood seemed less likely to clear waivers. When Cáceres is right, he looks like a future closer.

Perhaps the 25-year-old's lat strain that caused him to miss all of last season scared teams off? It will be interesting to monitor his workload and see where he's at physically this spring training. All Angels fans should know is that the team retained an asset. That is the name of the game when you're emerging from a 99-loss season. Welcome back, Kelvin!

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