Angels telegraph Alek Manoah roster decision with stadium move fans are clowning

For some inexplicable reason, the Los Angeles Angels took a gamble on Alek Manoah. Manoah was once an American League Cy Young candidate with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2022, but the emphasis on that factoid is on once. In the years since, Manoah's been quite bad, resulting in the Blue Jays being desperate enough to option him to the team's rookie complex with the hope that he can figure things out. Manoah didn't pitch in the majors last season, and yet, LA was cool with giving him a big-league deal this past winter.

Making the move even stranger was the fact that Manoah entered spring training with the expectation of not only making the Angels' Opening Day roster but securing a spot in the team's starting rotation. The expectations were strong enough that Manoah is among the featured players at Angel Stadium for Opening Day.

Angels' attempt to use Alek Manoah as a marketing tool was as silly as it was misguided

In true Angels' fashion, the move has already backfired. Manoah isn't on the Halos' Opening Day roster, as a finger contusion has landed him on the 15-day IL to open the season. Manoah's only Opening Day contributions to the Angels will be...as a poster. To be fair, it's probably more than anything he would have offered the Angels had he actually been capable of taking the pitching mound.

By placing Manoah on the IL instead of simply cutting their losses, the impression from the Angels is that the starting pitcher will be allowed to return to the team once he's healthy.

The problem is that the Angels should have seen all they needed to see during spring training. Manoah was awful, giving up 16 runs in tick over 15 innings of work while walking 14 of the 76 batters he faced and giving up 5 home runs. In no world is that deserving of a major league roster, especially when the player already doesn't have the benefit of the doubt on his side.

And, to be clear, it's far from deserving of a poster at Angel Stadium on Opening Day.

While it's not like the Angels were rich with options to feature on Opening Day, including Manoah in the campaign was a hilarious way to expose just how bad their offseason was. Perhaps the joke is on us. Here we are covering this "news", because well, it's not that the Angels have provided many other reasons to be excited about the 2026 season.