OC Register: Angels leave Jo Adell off Opening Day roster to tighten up his defense

[AngelsWin.com]

The future isn’t here quite yet.

When the Angels released their Opening Day 30-man roster Thursday, Jo Adell was not on it. One of the top prospects in all of baseball, Adell apparently still has a few things to iron out in his game.

General manager Billy Eppler said he had a “productive” conversation with Adell, which the 21-year-old apparently acknowledged what he needs to work on.

The clear deficiency in his brief look in Angels summer camp was defense, as Adell had a few gaffes in right field. Eppler acknowledged that the sun at the time of day when the Angels played some of their intrasquad games didn’t help, but nonetheless it’s an area Adell needs to improve.

“I did tell Jo, ‘Your bat, in my opinion, was was even more impressive than I thought it was in Tempe,’” Eppler said. “But for Joe (Maddon) and myself, we need every aspect of the game to be consistent. Because I did tell him, ‘When your time comes, you’re coming to play. You’re not going to come up here and sit the bench. So, we need to be able to know that all sides of it, all aspects of the game, on offense, defense, base running are completely tightened up. Because we’re gonna count on you when you come, man.’”

Here’s the #Angels opening day roster. Anthony Rendon is on it (not the IL). Jo Adell is not. pic.twitter.com/5Cj9EO1RhQ

— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) July 23, 2020

Adell will work out with the Angels reserve players in Long Beach, allowing Eppler plenty of easy access to get over and check on his progress.

“I challenged him. ‘Force me to make the call,’” Eppler said. “I’m open-minded to grabbing anyone I think can help.”

Asked if he expects Adell to be in the majors at some point during this 60-game season, Eppler said: “I never put timetables on anybody. Jo will dictate that. Clearly I’m open-minded to it.”

Under current rules, if Adell is down for at least six days, he will not accrue a full year of service time this year, which could give the Angels an extra year before free agency. However, the collective bargaining agreement expires after 2021, so there’s no guarantee that would remain the rule when Adell is approaching free agency.

RENDON AVOIDS THE IL

Although Anthony Rendon is expected to miss at least the first couple games with oblique tightness, the Angels opted against putting him on the injured list to start the season. If they did that, he’d have to miss at least the first seven games of the season.

“Anthony expressed yesterday that he felt a lot better than he had last couple days, so that was encouraging,” Eppler said.

Eppler said Rendon may be able to get some live batting practice as soon as Friday.

“Then we’ll see from how many days of that he needs and how he feels the next day,” Eppler said. “It’s appropriately titled day-to-day.”

OHTANI UPDATE

Eppler said Shohei Ohtani will not have any innings limits this season. The shortened season means, even if Ohtani pitches the Angels deep into the playoffs, he wouldn’t reach an innings total that would concern the team in his first season after Tommy John surgery, Eppler said.

Eppler also said he remains open, eventually, to loosening the restrictions that have led the Angels to give Ohtani the day off before and after he pitches.

“I’m still open-minded to it,” Eppler said. “It just depends on recovery and what that feels like to him on a day-in and day-out basis.”

ALSO

Eppler said there should be no need for Trout to be quarantined after he returns from the birth of his child because the Angels will be able to test him for the coronavirus often. As long as he continues to test negative, he could play. …

The Angels added non-roster relievers Jacob Barnes and Hoby Milner to their roster. …

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The Angels three-man taxi squad for the series in Oakland will be catcher Anthony Bemboom, reliever Luke Bard and infielder Elliot Soto. Those players will travel with the team, but won’t be on the roster. The purpose of the taxi squad is to allow teams to have easily accessible replacement players, rather than coordinating commercial travel from the alternate training site. …

Patrick Sandoval made the roster as the Angels’ sixth starter, despite missing the start of camp after a bout with the coronavirus. Sandoval threw just three innings in his final exhibition outing Wednesday. Eppler said they liked his stuff this summer and last year, and the expanded roster allows them to cover for a starter who is beginning the season with less durability than the others. …

Eppler said everything went as planned with Justin Anderson’s Tommy John surgery Wednesday.

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[Chuck]

Sounds like Adell blew a shot at making the roster. If he would have demonstrated solid defense I don't see why they'd leave him off the roster without a minor league season. 

[PattyD22]

6 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Sounds like Adell blew a shot at making the roster. If he would have demonstrated solid defense I don't see why they'd leave him off the roster without a minor league season. 

Let me translate what Eppler is telling Adell.  
 

“We just want to have an extra year of club control over you Jo.”  Oh, and work on catching some fly balls also.

[Bronson]

8 minutes ago, PattyD22 said:

Let me translate what Eppler is telling Adell.  
 

“We just want to have an extra year of club control over you Jo.”  Oh, and work on catching some fly balls also.

Honestly it was probably both of those equally.

[Chuck]

13 minutes ago, PattyD22 said:

Let me translate what Eppler is telling Adell.  
 

“We just want to have an extra year of club control over you Jo.”  Oh, and work on catching some fly balls also.

Definitely could be. He probably took one bad route in the outfield and dropped a ball once in practice. 

[Bronson]

The only thing I’m afraid of... players aren’t stupid and don’t like shit like that. 
 

Remember how happy Trout was we didn’t do shit like that to him. I hope Adell doesn’t take it personally.

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

Definitely could be. He probably took one bad route in the outfield and dropped a ball once in practice. 

My understanding is he was not great defensively, at least reading the tweets from the inter squad games on day games.  

[eligrba]

23 minutes ago, Stradling said:

My understanding is he was not great defensively, at least reading the tweets from the inter squad games on day games.  

This...

The Angels have never made a prospect wait because of service time concerns. Why would they start now?

[Stradling]

Here is the way I look at it.  Eppler said when Adell comes up he will be a starter.  So instead of thinking of it as Hermosillo or Ward instead of Adell it really comes down to they thought they were better equipped to win early on with Goodwin.  Yes I think the year of club control had an impact on that decision, but at the same time, it isn’t like he is a finished product.  

[Claude]

3 hours ago, Bronson said:

Honestly it was probably both of those equally.

And veteran outfielder Brian Goodwin is a much better option in a 60 game season. 

[bloodbrother]

Defense couldn't be worse than Upton's, and for that matter it's not like Goodwin is good defensively either. This is just them taking advantage of CBA with service time manipulation. Every team does it.

[Fish Oil]

I'll not speculate on motives behind the decision to send him down (?) but the Angels gave him a chance to force his way onto the roster and he didn't do it. It's on him as well as the team.

[Stradling]

24 minutes ago, bloodbrother said:

Defense couldn't be worse than Upton's, and for that matter it's not like Goodwin is good defensively either. This is just them taking advantage of CBA with service time manipulation. Every team does it.

And yea he could be worse than a Upton defensively and strike out more than him, which is a lot. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

He's not clearly the best option out of the gate so it's pretty easily defensible for the team.

[DCAngelsFan]

5 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

He's not clearly the best option out of the gate so it's pretty easily defensible for the team.

I think that's true - he shown his talent, but there's some polish needed.  

But having made that non-move, they're going to leave him there awhile  - bringing him up for game 7 wouldn't be a good look.  

 

[Jeff Fletcher]

5 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Definitely could be. He probably took one bad route in the outfield and dropped a ball once in practice. 

No. He had 4-5 bad moments out there in a couple weeks. 

[Chuck]

1 minute ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

No. He had 4-5 bad moments out there in a couple weeks. 

I figured that, I was mostly being facetious. I trust Joe Maddon and Billy Eppler! 

[Jeff Fletcher]

I know a lot of people are cynical and think it’s about service time, and I will probably never be able to convince them otherwise (and I certainly can’t read Billy Eppler’s mind so maybe it is service time) but....

*They could have done it with Ohtani and didn’t. 
 

*Adell wasn’t great at AAA last year. 
 

*Brian Goodwin is a decent player and is coming off his best season. Also, the other RF now is David Fletcher. So the bar Adell needs to clear is that. You sure he can do that right now?

*Adell did make a bunch of mistakes in the OF.

*There is going to be a new CBA and I am certain the rules are going to change with regard to this issue, so it’s kind of dumb to manipulate service time when you don’t know the rules you’re trying to manipulate. 
 

*This whole issue is easily avoided by just signing the guy to an extension. If you’re sure he’s gonna be a star, you can usually get him for cheap just by guaranteeing the money up front.

[Dtwncbad]

I am not going to say he didn’t have 4 or 5 bad moments in the OF.  But I will say it’s a little hard to fully believe this is legitimately the only (or even primary) reason he isn’t on the mlb roster.

But I also don’t really need to know why he isn’t on the roster.  Whatever.  He will be here when he gets here.

[yvangelfan]

After he tightens his defense, let's trade him for a decent pitcher.

[Taylor]

11 hours ago, Dtwncbad said:

I am not going to say he didn’t have 4 or 5 bad moments in the OF.  But I will say it’s a little hard to fully believe this is legitimately the only (or even primary) reason he isn’t on the mlb roster.

But I also don’t really need to know why he isn’t on the roster.  Whatever.  He will be here when he gets here.

Or you could just read and accept what Jeff Fletcher said, since he knows more than any of us on this subject.

[Lou]

22 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Or you could just read and accept what Jeff Fletcher said, since he knows more than any of us on this subject.

[Stradling]

I think I’d trade Adell for May. 

[Angels 1961]

19 hours ago, Stradling said:

My understanding is he was not great defensively, at least reading the tweets from the inter squad games on day games.  

intra

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, Angels 1961 said:

intra

Yes