LA Angels 2025 Opening Day roster projection 1.0: Way-too-early 26-man predictions

Colorado Rockies v Los Angeles Angels
Colorado Rockies v Los Angeles Angels | Aaron Doster/GettyImages
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Say what you will about the Angels' long stretch of dormancy in free agency, the current roster surely looks more promising than it did a year ago today. The Angels, in their first season since Shohei Ohtani left, rolled out an Opening Day roster that included Aaron Hicks, Miguel Sanó, José Cisnero, Adam Cimber, and Guillo Zuñiga. The Angels certainly have plenty of holes left to address (we'll get to those shortly), but the talent infusion is still greater now than it was last offseason.

The Angels will improve upon their franchise nadir in 2024 simply by their free agent signings of Yusei Kikuchi, Travis d'Arnaud, and their trade for Jorge Soler. Certainly the team will win more games if Mike Trout can play in, say, half of them next year, rather than just 29.

The Angels have plenty of maneuvers they can pull roster-building-wise, whether through clever internal moves or more additions late in the offseason. With spring training right around the corner, the team has some decisions to make. So, as the roster is currently constructed (save for one position group), who would make the lineup card on Opening Day as a member of the Los Angeles Angels?

Way-too-early Opening Day roster projection for the Los Angeles Angels

Starting Rotation (5) - Yusei Kikuchi, José Soriano, Tyler Anderson, Kyle Hendricks, Reid Detmers

MiLB: Caden Dana, Sam Aldegheri, Víctor Mederos, Dakota Hudson, George Klassen

Angels fans should be clamoring for the Angels debut of Yusei Kikuchi, which should occur on Opening Day. Kikuchi could use a bona fide no. 2 starter backing him up, but Soriano will have to do for now. He would make Angels fans much more comfortable as a no. 3 or 4 (ideally), but has the potential to pitch like a front-end guy.

Anderson and Hendricks will likely follow Kikuchi and Soriano. The Angels they will be relying on Anderson to replicate his fine 2024 season, unless they decide to trade his expiring contract for reinforcements elsewhere. Hendricks was basically guaranteed a spot in the rotation after he was signed by Perry Minasian.

Detmers over Kochanowicz? Let's dive deeper...

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