LA Angels hint at finishing slugger's comeback with latest Opening Day roster choices

The chances that this former All-Star slugger will complete his comeback to the big leagues just got a whole lot better.

Eric Cole

Cincinnati Reds v Los Angeles Angels / Chris Coduto/GettyImages

The Los Angeles Angels had a complex set of roster decisions that they had to make in the lead up to Opening Day. In addition to just figuring out who is even worthy of inclusion on the Opening Day roster, they are also having to work around a 40-man roster light on guys with minor league options crafting back-up plans for guys like Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon, who have dealt with injuries in recent years, seemingly out of thin air.

Across the league Friday, teams started making sweeping cuts to their spring training rosters, which brought many roster battles into focus finally. The Angels were no different, as they cut four players from big league camp Friday afternoon.

Noticeably absent from the wave of cuts is a former All-Star that is looking to make his return to the big leagues.

The Angels optioned Livan Soto and they also sent down Willie Calhoun, Caleb Hamilton and Cole Fontenelle.

The Soto move increases the chances of Miguel Sanó making the team. Ehire Adrianza is also still here.
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) March 22, 2024

LA Angels News: Miguel Sano survives latest wave of spring training roster cuts

The Angels' latest moves provide a ton of clarity as to their plans early in the 2024 season. Livan Soto was in the running to be a back-up infielder out of camp, especially with Michael Stefanic and Luis Rengifo dealing with injuries, but it looks like LA's preference is to give Ehire Adrianza (who manager Ron Washington is very familiar with from his days with the Braves) a shot at the job.

Hamilton and Fontenelle never realistically had a shot at making the team out of camp, but Calhoun not making the cut is the biggest domino to fall here. Despite the fact that he put up a very reasonable .754 OPS this spring, Calhoun did not make the grade, which seemingly opens the door for Miguel Sano to make the team after the Angels signed him to a minor-league deal right before the start of spring training.

Sano's .695 OPS and unsightly .186 batting average this spring leave something to be desired, but he still has tremendous pop in his bat and showed up to spring training in great shape. Whether those physical gains will translate to on-the-field gains remains to be seen, but he clearly has shown the Angels enough to the point where they at least want to keep him in camp for a little longer. Nothing is certain until the roster is set, but Sano's chances of making the team just increased exponentially.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.