Yusei Kikuchi's return should immediately trigger another Angels' move

It would just be the Los Angeles Angels' luck that Yusei Kikuchi, a pitcher whose best attribute was his durability, would get hurt and miss the majority of the 2026 season as the team scrambled to find competent starting pitching. Shoulder inflammation has kept Kikuchi out since April 29, but that's all about the change following his latest rehab start on August 15.

The southpaw's numbers over his four rehab outings have been wild. He's thrown 12⅔ innings, allowing an eye-popping 22 hits, five homers, and 22 earned runs, but also striking out an equally astonishing 24 batters in that time frame.

Kikuchi believes, despite the alarming results, that he's ready to return to the starting rotation. The Angels are weighing keeping him down for another outing. He's reached 80 pitches and is sufficiently stretched out; sending him back out of another minor league start would be more about knocking off the rust and sharpening his effectiveness rather than preparing his arm for a return.

One way or another, the 35-year-old will be back up soon, and that creates a roster conundrum. Sort of. Somebody has to get the boot from the rotation. It obviously won't be Reid Detmers or Walbert Ureña, and George Klassen has looked much better in the two starts he's made since being recalled from Salt Lake earlier this month. That leaves Ryan Johnson or Grayson Rodriguez as the odd man out.

From there, the choice should be clear. Grayson Rodriguez has got to go. It's an unfortunate development for the 26-year-old right-hander, but it's an even more unfortunate situation for the team.

Angels' offseason trade shouldn't save Grayson Rodriguez's spot once Yusei Kikuchi returns

Both Johnson and Rodriguez have struggled mightily this year, with the former holding a 6.41 ERA and the latter posting an even more ghastly 7.17 mark. By this mark alone, it would seem that either hurler is worthy of a demotion, especially since they both have options.

There's more to consider, though. Rodriguez is incredibly injury-prone. The former Baltimore Oriole has never made more than 23 starts or thrown more than 122 innings in a season, as recurring lat injuries and other maladies have derailed him. He missed all of 2025 with a lat strain followed by an elbow injury, and then has landed on the IL twice since arriving in Anaheim with shoulder inflammation and lower back issues.

While he has historically pitched better than he has this year when healthy, he's nowhere close to being an established ace. In fact, the most certain thing about him is that you can't count on him to avoid the IL.

Compare that with Johnson, and you start to see a different story. The prize the Halos received for losing Shohei Ohtani in free agency, Johnson has also battled illness and injuries this season. However, he's battled an even greater foe throughout his young career: the Angels themselves.

Johnson is the most egregious example of Los Angeles's mismanagement of pitcher development. He began his professional career by being thrown directly into the fire as a high-leverage reliever without ever throwing a minor league pitch. When that didn't work, the Angels sent him to High-A to work as a starter.

Since then, he's bounced back and forth between the minors and the majors, the rotation and the bullpen, and even different roles within the bullpen. How can the 24-year-old possibly develop when what is being asked of him is constantly changing?

That's the real difference. We have a pretty firm idea of what Rodriguez is, and it isn't great. Johnson, on the other hand, still has potential that is worth exploring.

If Perry Minasian were still around, there might be temptation to stick with Rodriguez in hopes of justifying the Taylor Ward trade. Of course, the Angels could have gotten much more for Ward had they traded him at either the 2025 or 2024 trade deadlines, but even last offseason, they should have been able to extract a better return than Rodriguez.

Fortunately, John Mozeliak is here and doesn't have the same motivation to save face. His job is to clean up the messes of the past, so demoting Rodriguez should be no problem. The Angels need to focus on their future, and Johnson might be a part of that. It's unlikely that Rodriguez ever will, making the choice clear.

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