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2 Angels players who should see a larger role in 2025, and 2 who should not

By PJ Potter |
Los Angeles Dodgers v Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers v Los Angeles Angels / Meg Oliphant/GettyImages
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The beauty of baseball is that you never know what to expect going into a new season. Some players perform better than their initial expectations, while others struggle and cannot recover in a timely manner.

The 2024 Angels are no stranger to seeing their players not live up to a set standard, leading to an abysmal campaign that has them behind the A's in the AL West. Some guys, although undeserving, had to see an increase in their role with the club. As we look to the 2025 season, here are two players who deserve a bigger role and two players who need to take a step back.

The Angels should increase the roles of these 2 players

This one feels obvious, but the Angels need to keep the ball rolling with Caden Dana. A 20-year-old September call-up, Dana's presence on the Major League roster muddies the waters some. Perry Minasian will have to either demote or move on from Tyler Anderson, Patrick Sandoval, Griffin Canning, Jack Kochanowicz, Reid Detmers, or Jose Soriano to make room for Dana in the rotation.

Dana's the club's top prospect for a reason, which he proved when he electrified in his big-league debut. The Halos should continue trusting in his development at the highest level. If Los Angeles wants to provide any hope for their fans, keeping Dana at the MLB level can definitely help with that.

There was plenty of hype surrounding Reid Detmers coming into 2024. The southpaw registered 25 or more starts in the previous two seasons, and was seemingly building himself up to be a certified middle-of-the-rotation starter at just 24 years old. Detmers was extravagant in his first four starts this season before completely falling apart, leading to his demotion. He rediscovered himself after spending a bulk of the year in Triple-A, and was called up again at the start of September.

Detmers shocked everyone in his first start back, striking out 10 Dodgers on Sept. 3 in six innings, allowing two runs in a quality start. The talent is there, and the Angels do not need to keep him in Triple-A any longer.

LA Angels should regress the roles of these 2 players

If the Angels decide to re-sign Taylor Ward next season, it should only be for using him as a backup in the outfield. Entering Sept. 6, the 30-year-old has only produced a 1.6 bWAR in 562 plate appearances this year with 143 strikeouts. His defensive metrics are constantly in the negatives, and his walk rate has gone down in each of the last three seasons.

The Angels' outfield in 2025 will hopefully see Mike Trout playing every day alongside Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell, leaving Ward to play a couple times each week.

The other player who should not see a larger role in 2025 for Los Angeles is Carson Fulmer. The Angels signed Fulmer to a Minor League contract in May 2023 after his release from the Mariners AAA team. At 30 years old, Fulmer finally started etching out a full season in 2024 before landing on the IL in late August with right elbow inflammation. He fired far too many walks, registering a WHIP over 1.30 in 80.1 innings pitched.

Those are too many innings to give Fulmer, who had a forgettable August. He surrendered 13 runs last month across five outings, which isn't enough for the Angels to feel confident about when he returns to full health. His role with the team has been back-and-forth as well, starting in eight games while appearing in 32 total contests. Los Angeles has other pitchers to consider before handing Fulmer more innings.

Current relievers Ben Joyce, Roansy Contreras, Robert Stephenson, and maybe even Hunter Strickland should highlight the relief core going into 2025. The Angels need to shop for some relief arms, but starting with these four pitchers is a good start with Fulmer partially in mind.

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