What the Chris Taylor signing has meant for the rest of the Angels' position players

The Los Angeles Angels now have three games under their belt with Chris Taylor on their roster, and fans are starting to get a grip on how Ron Washington will deploy the batting order and positioning. The utility player's addition, coupled with Mike Trout's hopefully imminent return, have caused some players to lose either their jobs or playing time. So, let's dive into how the Angels plan to utilize their players moving forward.

What the Chris Taylor signing has meant for the rest of the Angels' position players

Taylor told the media that he is going to play about four or five times a week, and he did start in every one of the three games the Angels lost at home to the New York Yankees. The corresponding move for bringing in Taylor for the major league roster was optioning down Kyren Paris and designating Shaun Anderson for assignment off the 40-man roster (he was recently re-signed to a MiLB deal).

The players whose playing time and roster spots are now in peril are Luis Rengifo, Matthew Lugo, Jo Adell and Kevin Newman. Here's how the Angels looked defensively with Taylor against NYY:

5/26: Taylor CF, Adell RF, Newman 2B, Lugo and Rengifo benched (Rengifo pinch hit for Newman)
5/27: Taylor LF, Lugo CF, Adell RF, Rengifo 2B, Newman benched
5/28: Taylor CF, Rengifo 2B, Lugo, Adell, Newman benched...Tim Anderson DFA'd, Scott Kingery promoted

Taylor seems like he will be the Angels' every day centerfielder since Paris was sent down, Lugo does not seem to have the coaches' trust and Adell has been moved to right field for good. So much for Mike Trout's successor as the team's every-day centerfielder! Adell last played centerfield on May 7th.

Yes, the outfield will heavily feature Taylor Ward in left, Taylor in center and Trout in right. It appears likely that Lugo will be optioned back down to Triple-A when Trout returns. The Angels want Lugo to play every day and get more centerfield experience, which he will not when Trout comes back and Taylor and Kingery now on the team, and also they do not want to lose an asset. Adell has been atrocious this season, but Lugo has come back down to earth offensively and is still raw in the outfield...which is to be expected given that he was an every day infielder not that long ago in Boston's farm system. Lugo being sent down would leave Kingery as the team's only other centerfielder to spell Taylor in the one to two games a week he does not play.

Even though Taylor was taking reps in the infield with Washington and Ryan Goins when he joined the squad, it appears the Angels will roll with Rengifo, Newman and Kingery at second base...unless they finally want to play the Christian Moore card. Washington has a more pressing need for Taylor's skill-set in the outfield than at second base.

That being said, there is definitely a scenario where Kingery hits similarly to how he did in Salt Lake, and Taylor and he switch off between center and second base full-time. That would leave Rengifo and Newman as full-time bench players, which is fair since they have been downright awful all season.

When Trout returns, he will likely DH more which will mean, Adell, Jorge Soler and he will all platoon in right field. Washington does not want Soler to play defense all that much for obvious reasons, he does not want to overtax Trout's legs for obvious reasons and he does not want to play Adell much for obvious reasons (Adell is slashing .194/.261/.361/.622).

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