3 LA Angels players who won't be on the roster by August 1

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August 1 is a date that all 30 teams, good and bad, have circled on their calendars. It's the date of the MLB Trade Deadline. All 30 teams likely won't be trading, but they'll all be active and the rumors will be swirling everywhere. The Los Angeles Angels, will hope to quiet any Shohei Ohtani rumors by playing good baseball for the next week.

The Angels are in a difficult position as to whether they should be buying or selling. If they buy they have plenty of areas to improve on and if they sell, they have plenty of players to trade away. Regardless, come August 2, expect this roster to look different.

With the roster expected to look different regardless of the situation, the Angels have three players who won't be on their roster. They might not be traded, but lasting on the roster through August 1 seems unlikely.

1) Gerardo Reyes won't be on the LA Angels roster by August 1

The Angels have middle relief issues. They're comfortable with Carlos Estevez and Matt Moore late in games, but the bridge to get to them has been an issue all year. We thought they sured it up with some young pitchers but Sam Bachman and Ben Joyce are both on the IL and Jose Soriano has struggled a bit of late.

Gerardo Reyes replaced Chris Devenski on the roster as the veteran landed on the IL. Reyes has pitched pretty well in AAA this season but it simply hasn't translated to the big league level.

Since his recall he's made two appearances and has allowed one run in each of them. He's gone 3.2 innings total and thankfully hasn't lost the Angels any games yet. This season he's made four MLB appearances and has allowed runs in all four in his 5.2 innings of work. That's not great.

Reyes has good stuff but often has shaky command. MLB hitters can time a fastball, he has to get all of his pitches over for strikes in good locations. Reyes is a reliever with options and considering the fact that he threw 35 pitches last night, it wouldn't be a shocker to see him get sent down today.

2) Michael Stefanic won't be on the LA Angels roster by August 1

This isn't necessarily Michael Stefanic's fault, but it's hard to envision him on the roster past August 1. He's played pretty well since his recall, recording two hits in eight at-bats including a walk-off hit against the Yankees, but he hasn't played since that Yankees series. In fact, he hasn't played a complete game since his recall.

Stefanic being sent down comes down to opportunity. Whether it's justified or not, Luis Rengifo is the primary second baseman with Brandon Drury out. With Drury expected to be back fairly soon, he'll reclaim that spot. That moves Rengifo to a bench role with Mike Moustakas at third, Zach Neto at short, and Trey Cabbage at first most nights. Against southpaws you can expect Rengifo to replace Cabbage with Drury sliding over to first base.

As bad of a hitter as Andrew Velazquez is, his defense and base running has come in handy off the bench. The Angels will likely keep him on the team in a reserve role making Stefanic the odd-man out.

Again, it isn't necessarily fair. I'd love to see Stefanic, a guy who's destroyed minor league pitching this year, get a consistent run of playing time. That's just not how the game works. Maybe if the Angels shake up the roster it can work out for him.

3) Tucker Davidson won't be on the LA Angels roster by August 1

I honestly have no idea how he's lasted this long, but especially now that Jaime Barria is back in the bullpen, there's just no need for Tucker Davidson to be taking up a roster spot.

The 27-year-old pitched well enough to make the team out of Spring Training and pitched well in April, but since then, has barely been used and when used, has been ineffective.

Davidson ended the month of April with a 2.40 ERA in six appearances. He even delivered a scoreless inning in his first May appearance. Since then, it's been mostly bad.

He's made just 11 appearances since May 6. In those appearances he has a 10.91 ERA in 15.2 innings pitched. That ERA is skewed a bit from a rough seven-run appearance, but even if you take that out he has a 7.50 ERA in 10 outings. He's supposed to be a long reliever yet he's gone two innings or more just three times since May.

Angels starting pitchers have been better of late at getting deeper in games lessening the need for a long man. With Barria available out of the bullpen, the Angels now have two long relievers. And one is way better than the other.

I get that Davidson is out of options and is all the Angels have left from the Raisel Iglesias trade. Those things shouldn't matter. If you're trying to win, you can't have a guy who is barely used and boasts a 6.54 ERA wasting a roster spot in your bullpen.

Shohei Ohtani has more starts than Davidson has appearances out of the bullpen. Davidson has been here all year. That tells the story right there. He has a 6.15 ERA in 35 MLB appearances. I promise you, letting go is justified. If he succeeds elsewhere so be it.

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