Former Angels third baseman shockingly lands major league deal with NL East team

The Angels did an extreme amount of housekeeping this offseason to completely remake their roster. Some of those roster moves raised eyebrows, others were fairly obvious. Eric Wagaman's DFA was perhaps the least surprising bit of Angels news this entire offseason. No disrespect to Wagaman -- he went from getting selected in the 13th round of the 2017 MLB Draft to the Show by his age-26 season. The fact of the matter is the Angels clearly viewed him as a lower-ceiling player who did not move the needle much at the major league level.

The Marlins, unlike the Angels, are not trying to contend next season. They just gave Wagaman a major league contract, who is not necessarily an obvious major league player. Angels fans must be shocked to see a late-season addition like Wagaman likely be guaranteed a roster spot in 2025. It's good to see Wagaman collect more service time and cash a major league salary. Perhaps he even earns himself another deal post-2025. Wagaman was not regarded as part of the future of the Angels, but the Marlins will likely deploy him as a platoon third baseman in their post-Jake Burger era. Vidal Bruján was designated for assignment as a result (honestly not a bad idea for the Angels to extend him a minor league contract).

The Mission Viejo native (gosh the Angels love their hometown guys) was selected in the 2023 Rule 5 Draft. Wagaman was playing a lot of first base and outfield for the Rocket City Trash Pandas, but ended up playing mostly third base in his 18 games with the Angels in 2024. He played a lot of third for the Salt Lake Bees as well. Wagaman and Charles Leblanc are relatively synonymous players, and both were cast off this offseason. They were cast off alongside Matt Thaiss, Jordyn Adams, Davis Daniel, Jack López, Michael Stefanic, and Roansy Contreras (to name a few).

The Angels are still searching for more help from the third base position. Anthony Rendon is either on his way to a bench role or on his way out. Luis Rengifo might need to man the helm full-time, unless Perry Minasian does end up cashing in for a Eugenio Suárez. Scott Kingery and Kevin Newman were brought in, supplanting Wagaman in the meantime, and will be considerations. Either way, Wagaman was not a part of the plan.

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