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

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...

Bullpen (8) - Ben Joyce, Brock Burke, Ryan Zeferjahn, José Quijada, Garrett McDaniels, Jack Kochanowicz, [insert two external relievers here]

DFA: José Suarez

MiLB: Chase Silseth, Sam Bachman, Hans Crouse, Samy Natera Jr., Jack Dashwood, Kelvin Caceres, Connor Brogdon, Victor González

Injured List: Robert Stephenson

Two fun competitions to watch in spring training will be Detmers vs. Kochanowicz for the fifth starter job, and McDaniels vs. Silseth vs. Bachman for ~one available bullpen job. The Angels will undoubtedly want to give Kochanowicz and Detmers major league roster spots, it just depends on who is the starter and who is the reliever. Given that Detmers is the longest tenured Angels starter they have, they will likely opt for him in the rotation and Kochanowicz as the long reliever; i.e. what they did with José Soriano last season.

Assuming the Angels add two veteran relievers, Detmers starts, and Kochanowicz goes to the bullpen, the last remaining bullpen spot should go to Garrett McDaniels. McDaniels has a 60-grade fastball, a 50-grade slider, stands 6'2, and just had his healthiest season in pro ball. More importantly, the Angels will want to retain the asset, as they will likely lose McDaniels if they do not keep him on the major league roster. If they do not keep him on the roster, they offer him back to the Dodgers. They have a track record of bringing their players they lost in the Rule-5 Draft back once offered. Silseth still has a MiLB option left and Bachman has two, plus they are both making their way back from injury. So, it looks like it could come down to José Suarez or McDaniels. They likely lose Suarez via waivers, but it's more likely they lose McDaniels.

An interesting wrinkle for the Angels is who they decide to promote to the 40-man roster once they place Robert Stephenson on the 60-Day IL at the beginning of spring training. In a little over a week, the Angels will likely give that open spot to a free agent reliever.

Catchers (2) - Logan O'Hoppe & Travis d'Arnaud

MiLB: Chuckie Robinson, Sebastián Rivero

*Yawns* well, this is boring. The only real discussion point here is how they platoon the two catchers. Given how well O'Hoppe hits right-handed pitching and d'Arnaud hits left-handed pitching, that is an easy solution there. That would mean O'Hoppe plays more often than d'Arnaud, which is undoubtedly the plan. Unless Kikuchi starts making personal catcher demands, Ron Washington should prioritize their offensive splits given how it would optimize the lineup.

Infielders (6) - Nolan Schanuel, Luis Rengifo, Kevin Newman, Anthony Rendon, Scott Kingery, Niko Kavadas

MiLB: Christian Moore, Matthew Lugo, Ryan Noda, Kyren Paris, Carter Kieboom, J.D. Davis, Tim Anderson

Injured List: Zach Neto

It is not yet known whether Neto will begin the season on the 10, 15, or 60-Day Injured List. There has been zero transparency in that regard. All Angels fans and staffers know is that the lineup and infield sure do look more formidable with him in it. Without him...yeesh.

Schanuel, Newman, and Rengifo are locks for Opening Day. Where it gets interesting is the Rendon, Kingery, Kavadas group, as the Angels have a multitude of internal options who could supplant any of those three. It honestly seems like Kavadas has the best case for the Opening Day roster of those three, given that the Angels do not have a left-handed power hitter in the entire organization other than him. Ryan Noda plays better defense, but Kavadas' AFL performance and overall raw-power make him the more enticing and necessary bench option/back-up first baseman.

The fun outcome here is the Angels going for Moore and Lugo over Rendon and Kingery. Moore would slot in as the every day second baseman, and Rengifo as the third baseman. Lugo could take Kingery's role as the right-handed utility player off the bench, who can filter into either the infield or outfield. The more likely outcome is the Angels send Moore and Lugo back to the minors for seasoning. Kingery over Moore and Lugo makes sense, since Kingery has more positional versatility and does not need to play every day. Rendon over Moore and Lugo makes far less sense, but the Angels probably will not want to eat his money just yet.

Outfielders (5) - Mike Trout, Taylor Ward, Jorge Soler, Jo Adell, Mickey Moniak

MiLB: Gustavo Campero, Bryce Teodosio, Nelson Rada

A very cut-and-dry group. The one question, a big one, is...WHERE IS MIKE TROUT GOING TO PLAY?!?! The Angels' lack of transparency over Neto's injury and Trout's position in 2025 is infuriating. It seems like they will just pencil him into centerfield, which is fine for next year. However, the more you think about, the more you realize that they seriously need to start filtering him into a corner spot.

The Angels need to prepare for the last six years of Trout's contract given how things have gone three out of the past four years. Proactively finding a bona fide centerfielder (how about a Luis Robert Jr. or Bryan Reynolds trade?), moving Trout to left, and Ward to right field would be incredibly advisable given the eventual inevitability that Trout is no longer who he once was.

Projected lineups

vs. RHP
1. Soler—DH
2. Trout—8
3. Schanuel*—3
4. Ward—7
5. O’Hoppe—2
6. Rengifo**—4
7. Rendon—5
8. Newman—6
9. Moniak*—9
Bench: Adell, Kingery, d’Arnaud, Kavadas*
* -- left-handed hitter
** -- switch-hitter

vs. LHP
1. Soler—DH
2. Trout—8
3. Ward—7
4. d'Arnaud—2
5. Rengifo**—4
6. Adell—9
7. Rendon—5
8. Schanuel*—3
9. Newman—6
Bench: Moniak*, Kingery, O'Hoppe, Kavadas*
* -- left-handed hitter
** -- switch-hitter

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