LA Angels DFA another first-round pick to accommodate Rule 5 roster shuffle

The Angels had some decisions to make ahead of the deadline for protecting players for December's Rule-5 Draft, and they took an interesting route. Soon after they designated their 2016 first round pick, Matt Thaiss, for assignment, they DFA'd their 2018 first round pick. Jordyn Adams' Angels career is now in limbo, as well as Eric Wagaman's, as they opted to bring on Matthew Lugo and Jack Dashwood instead. The Angels chose to risk Adams and Wagaman's futures ahead of Lugo and Dashwood's.

Jordyn Adams, like Matt Thaiss, is a player who other teams will likely look to bring in and maximize the undeniable potential. His sprint speed was in the 98th percentile, but it has not translated to elite baserunning or OAA. After a litany of injuries to their outfielders the past couple of seasons, Adams received some playing time in the bigs but could not stand out. Wagaman is a 27-year-old, former 13th round pick who actually did flash some potential in a limited sample size last season. In 18 games, Wagaman posted a top-tier exit velocity while playing a priority position for the Angels (third base).

Matthew Lugo has played a handful of minor league games at third base in the past, and could take Wagaman's place as their emergency third baseman. It was widely reported that Lugo was a lock to make the Angels' 40-man roster, and could debut as early as next season. While Lugo was moved to the outfield last season with the Red Sox, the Angels could try and carve out a path for Lugo in their less competitive infield. The Kevin Newman signing will supplement the Angels' 2B/3B/SS needs for now, but Lugo could help them later in the season in terms of depth options.

Jack Dashwood only pitched 10 innings last year, but played well in the Arizona Fall League (just like Niko Kavadas and Samy Natera Jr.). He has a super interesting delivery, where he has a T-Rex arm-like delivery that is super whippy and explosive. His velocity ticked up, and has a great ability to deploy a cutter/slider/sweeper combination. He could be an option to eat up multiple innings of relief next season for a bullpen that needs more options right now.

The Angels opted to keep Dashwood and Lugo over a plethora of intriguing prospects who previously had some cache like Ryan Costeiu, Adrian Placencia, Werner Blakely, Mason Erla, Luke Murphy, Nick Jones. Arol Vera, Brett Kerry, Kenyon Yovan, Hayden Seig, Jadiel Sanchez, Alexander Ramirez, and David Calabrese,