5 important LA Angels roster decisions to be made after disappointing season

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The Los Angeles Angels just wrapped up another disappointing season, going 73-89 for a second consecutive year. The winless season drought and postseason drought continued, and there really is no clear end in sight.

As the Angels head into this offseason, a ton of questions need to be answered. What's happening in the front office? Who will the new manager be? What will the roster look like?

The roster has some certainties. Zach Neto will be the team's shortstop. Nolan Schanuel slots in at first. Logan O'Hoppe behind the plate. While some things are solidifed, other parts of the roster have questions that Perry Minasian must answer this offseason.

1) What's the plan if Shohei Ohtani stays or goes?

This is the most obvious roster question of all. What happens if Shohei Ohtani either decides to re-sign or depart? Hopefully the Angels are coming up with plans for both scenarios.

If Ohtani stays, it won't be to rebuild. The Angels will once again try to win now. Does that mean they're going to go all in on free agency and add another monstrous deal alongside Ohtani? Does it mean more top prospects are on the trade block as the Angels attempt to win in 2024? How exactly do the Angels plan on building a roster Ohtani can get behind and believe is capable of winning now and in the future?

If Ohtani leaves, what's the plan then? The Angels have won 73 games in each of the last two seasons despite historic outputs from Shohei. They haven't finished with a winning record once with Ohtani in the fold. Does this mean the Angels will actually rebuild? Or will they try and offset the loss by trying to sign other star free agents with the money they were going to use for Shohei.

Whether Ohtani stays or goes is completely out of their control. They can be as confident as they want that he'll stay, but they need plans for both scenarios.

2) Where does Jo Adell fit on this roster?

Jo Adell was once a blue chip prospect selected in the first round and deemed as one of the future outfielders they were going to put alongside Mike Trout. Obviously, Adell has come nowhere close to living up to the hype.

Despite playing in only 178 MLB games, Adell is already out of options. This means he cannot be sent down to the minors without clearing waivers. In other words, if Adell is not traded, he's going to be on the Angels roster.

With that being said, where exactly does Adell fit? As long as these three outfielders stay with the club, Taylor Ward, Mike Trout, and Mickey Moniak are the three starting outfielders. Ward and Trout both have injury concerns and Moniak has horrific numbers against lefties, but when healthy and against right-handed pitching, that's the trio the Angels will run out there most often. With that being said, where does Adell fit?

An easy spot for Adell to play would be as Moniak's platoon partner and the team's fourth outfielder, but that still only puts Adell in the lineup a couple times a week. The last thing the 24-year-old needs is inconsistent playing time. Surely there will be an injury in the outfield that opens up some regular time for Adell, but that can't be promised.

Trading Adell for some pitching help has been something the Angels have had the chance to do for years, but they have yet to pull the trigger. At this point, it's on them to find a meaningful role for the young outfielder to give him one final chance to prove he belongs.

3) Do the Angels trust Mickey Moniak to play every day?

The Adell dilemma leads into this next question. Do the Angels trust Mickey Moniak to play every day? That answer is a bit complicated.

The Angels know Moniak factors into the equation against righties, because he's simply too good not to. He had an .866 OPS against right-handers this past season, making him practically an all-star against them. That's all fine and well, but his .548 OPS against lefties is very hard to rationalize.

Do the Angels trust Moniak enough to run him out there against lefties and hope he improves? They presumably don't want him to be limited to being just a platoon option for his entire career, but they also don't want to weaken their lineup against lefties. This all goes back to what their priority is. If the team is able to keep Shohei, the chances of Moniak getting many reps against lefties are slim. If they don't and are fine rebuilding, there's no reason not to give him the chance to see if he can hit lefties.

4) Is Luis Rengifo a starter?

Luis Rengifo had himself a rollercoaster of a 2023 season. He was absolutely brutal in the first half to the point where many fans (myself included) wanted him gone. He was getting fairly consistent at-bats and was providing nothing offensively or defensively. All of a sudden, the second half came and Rengifo was a different player.

In the second half of the season, Rengifo slashed .318/.374/.587 with 11 home runs and 29 RBI in 50 appearances. 50 games is not a super small sample, and Rengifo was among the best hitters in the game in that time. It would've been nice to see him finish out his season and potentially improve even more on those numbers, but he got bitten by the same injury bug that virtually everyone on this team did.

If the Angels decide Rengifo can play every day, where does he fit in? He's primarily an infielder, but the four spots are taken by Nolan Schanuel, Brandon Drury, Zach Neto, and Anthony Rendon. Of course, the Angels can't rely on Anthony Rendon to stay healthy or productive, but as long as he is healthy he's the third baseman.

The outfield is full as well with Ward, Trout. Moniak, and Adell there. Rengifo could DH or play the field while someone else DH's if Ohtani leaves, but then that means the Angels aren't making any upgrades to a lineup that finished in the middle of the pack in scoring even with Ohtani putting up historic numbers.

Rengifo deserves the chance to build off his absurdly good second half, but where does he even fit? That's another question Perry has to have the answer to.

5) Who's the fifth starter?

Even if Shohei Ohtani returns to the Angels this offseason, he will not be pitching in the 2024 season after undergoing surgery. This means the Angels in all likelihood will return to a five-man rotation for the 2024 season, which should be awesome to see. Instead of finding six quality starters, they only need five. The question here is who will the five be?

Assuming no trades are made, we know that Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers, and Griffin Canning will take up three of the five spots. Even if he doesn't deserve it, it's very likely that Tyler Anderson will also have a rotation spot. The Angels signed him to the contract they did for a reason and it's hard to see them giving up on him being a starter after just one year (even if they should). What about that fifth spot?

The Angels have a plethora of options for the fifth starter spot. Chase Silseth makes the most sense based on how he performed in the second half, but he doesn't have much MLB experience. Jose Suarez has the most experience but he was horrific when last seen as a starter. Kenny Rosenberg finished strong but has even less experience than Silseth. Davis Daniel is another pitcher that could be promising but is more raw than anyone on this list.

Of course, there's the option of signing a starter, and that's what I believe the Angels should be doing. This rotation was subpar even with Shohei and will be even worse (unless they make a move) with him not pitching.

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