Angels surprisingly release former first overall pick after brutal spring training

When it was announced that Mike Trout was set to move from centerfield to right field, Angels fans knew that they have two internal candidates who were in line to take over for the future first ballot Hall of Famer. Well, one of those centerfield stalwarts is gone now, as the Angels released Mickey Moniak from the roster. Moniak, who was acquired by the Angels in a trade for Noah Syndergaard in 2022, never really found his footing with the team. Like Jo Adell, Moniak underwhelmed mightily at the plate this spring, and is now a roster casualty due to several relatively unproven, thus cheaper, players outplaying him in camp.

Moniak has two fatal flaws in his game -- his durability and his ability to hit left-handed pitching. He played in 124 games last season, by far the most in his career. The Angels' original plan for deploying their two new centerfielders had to be for Adell to face every left-hander and the occasional right-handed pitcher, while Moniak would play less by only seeing right-handers. Moniak was seemingly going to be on thin ice all season, given that he was undoubtedly the fifth outfielder, but the Angels saw it fit to cut him now. His rough spring did him in, as he posted a .173/.224/.346/.570 slash line.

Moniak's legacy is an unfortunate one given that he was drafted first overall in 2016. He is viewed as one of the poorer selections because of his paltry on-field contributions throughout his career. The first round of the draft is pretty rough, so at least Moniak was not selected in front of anybody who is a bona fide superstar. The Angels are parting ways with the first pick from 2016, but are retaining the third pick in Ian Anderson.

With Moniak gone, the Angels' already thin group of centerfielders is even thinner. It appears they will use Adell as the primary centerfielder, and spell him from time-to-time with either Matthew Lugo or Kyren Paris. Lugo never played centerfield during camp, only left field, so Paris could be the guy to take Moniak's place. Neither Lugo or Paris are natural centerfielders, they are both converted infielders. Trout could still be filtered into centerfield despite the plan being for him to primarily play right.

How much money will Angels save after surprising Mickey Moniak release?

ESPN's Jeff Passan's tweet about Moniak might illuminate the true reasoning for the release -- the Angels want to save money. Sure, guys like Kyren Paris and Matthew Lugo outplayed him, but it always comes down to money with the ownership group. They are saving precisely $1,516,029.03 by severing ties with Moniak. With Arte Moreno, you never know if that will be reinvested into the team or if he is simply trying to not be as far in the red as he currently is.

Given that Moniak's arbitration salary was only partially guaranteed, he cannot bask in his win over the team in arbitration this winter. Moniak's release so close to the season will likely cause him to only sign a minor league deal so he can get his footing back under him.

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