Projected 28-Man Roster (Updated 4/6)

[Hubs]

Ward was injured in late July and missed 6 weeks, and had stretches of ups and downs throughout his playing time in May-June and late September.

Why he'll make the team:

He is the only 1st baseman on the projected roster other than Walsh. He's Right Handed, so it's a decent fill in for Walsh against super tough lefties there. Can play the OF. I think Marsh may start at AAA. I know it's not popular, but if Upton has a good spring, he's gonna play, and then one of Adell and/or Marsh sits. Ward can come off the bench and play a little 1st, a little RF or LF, a little 3rd and even C in a pinch. That's versatility this lineup needs.

He does have an option remaining.

If Upton has a terrible spring, who knows. Then you figure Marsh/Adell is in Right and Adell/Upton in left. Not really room for Ward.

But then you have the infield of Rendon, Walsh, Fletcher, a SS, and Wade. Wade doesn't have an option unlike Velazquez, Rengifo, and Rojas do. He's also eligible for arbitration. He'll be on the roster. 

With a 6 man rotation including Ohtani and an 8 man pen, that's only 12 spots for other offensive players.

Trout, Rendon, Walsh, Fletcher, Stassi, Suzuki, Wade, Upton are locks IMHO. I guess Romine could beat out Suzuki. 

You have a minimum of two other OF, a starting SS, and that leaves one spot for Ward or Thaiss. Ward is more versatile and they want Thaiss to continue catching.

 

 

 

 

[totdprods]

Totally agree @Hubs - Ward fits the needs nicely. I still think one vet bench bat would be useful but they can probably live without it, especially if they add a couple names to the pitching staff.

[IheartLA]

Upton, Trout, Ward is our best outfield until proven otherwise. Wade/Fletcher at SS/2B. 

[Angelsjunky]

43 minutes ago, IheartLA said:

Upton, Trout, Ward is our best outfield until proven otherwise. Wade/Fletcher at SS/2B. 

No.

[IheartLA]

I think this board needs to take the goggles off when it comes to Adell/Marsh, especially Adell. He's been a very bad baseball player at the big league level so far. People have written off Canning for example and have put him in a "not counting on him until proven otherwise" mindset whereas he's not too different from the two OF's this board seems to think are sure starters.

In a third of a year Ward put up a 111wrc+ and also finished 2020 very hot in September. If he stays healthy he's gonna have a better year at the plate than either Marsh/Adell. He can also play 1st base against lefties maybe. Neither him or Adell is a great defender in RF.

Marsh is a slap hitter who's strength is defense. He's not going to be playing center so how much value is his defense going to be bringing in left when his bat doesn't profile well there. Upton is in a contract year and even in his last three years his WRC+ each year was higher than Marsh albeit not by much, but he's definitely going to hit twice as many homers with equal playing time.

100% it needs to be an open competition this spring with these four but my money is on Upton/Ward outproducing Marsh/Adell as long as they're all healthy. Either way they will probably all play as I don't see any of them going through the year without injuries or struggles.

[Lou]

32 minutes ago, IheartLA said:

He's been a very bad baseball player at the big league level so far.

Last year, his OPS+ was 19 points higher than Fletcher's.

[IheartLA]

31 minutes ago, Lou said:

Last year, his OPS+ was 19 points higher than Fletcher's.

Fletcher was a very bad hitter last year, Lou you know that.

[Angelsjunky]

1 hour ago, IheartLA said:

I think this board needs to take the goggles off when it comes to Adell/Marsh, especially Adell. He's been a very bad baseball player at the big league level so far. People have written off Canning for example and have put him in a "not counting on him until proven otherwise" mindset whereas he's not too different from the two OF's this board seems to think are sure starters.

In a third of a year Ward put up a 111wrc+ and also finished 2020 very hot in September. If he stays healthy he's gonna have a better year at the plate than either Marsh/Adell. He can also play 1st base against lefties maybe. Neither him or Adell is a great defender in RF.

Marsh is a slap hitter who's strength is defense. He's not going to be playing center so how much value is his defense going to be bringing in left when his bat doesn't profile well there. Upton is in a contract year and even in his last three years his WRC+ each year was higher than Marsh albeit not by much, but he's definitely going to hit twice as many homers with equal playing time.

100% it needs to be an open competition this spring with these four but my money is on Upton/Ward outproducing Marsh/Adell as long as they're all healthy. Either way they will probably all play as I don't see any of them going through the year without injuries or struggles.

As far as Adell goes, ignore 2020: He was rushed, and hadn't even adjusted to AAA yet. If you look only at his 2021 numbers, he hit .246/.295/.408 with a 90 wRC+ in his "first" 140 PA. Not a terrible showing for a 22 year old. No reason to expect he won't continue to improve.

Brandon Marsh was a touch worse with the bat (86 wRC+), but his defense led to 1.0 WAR in 70 games. Meaning, even hitting only .254/.317/.356, Marsh was still a passable regular, on pace for 2+ WAR. As with Adell, there's no reason to think that he won't improve with more playing time.

But sure: Upton/Ward could out-produce Marsh/Adell...for a bit. Maybe even all of 2022, but certainly not much beyond that - and maybe not even all year. 

Edited March 16, 2022 by Angelsjunky

[Lou]

16 minutes ago, IheartLA said:

Fletcher was a very bad hitter last year, Lou you know that.

An OPS+ of 90 isn't great, but not awful. 

[Blarg]

Angels had another player with only an 89 OPS+ in his first year with 135 plate appearances. Probably should have traded him. 

[mmc]

Management/ownership looking at this team as currently assembled and thinking it's good enough to compete for a playoff spot is unbelievably negligent.  Particularly when you consider that our window could very well slam shut in 2 years if Ohtani leaves and Rendon and Trout start to seriously decline.  Really not sure what the hell the endgame is here.

[Revad]

There’s always the lottery.

[mmc]

Wong and Valdez can be added to Group A, lot of depth being added there since the lockout, too bad we can't say the same for the actual roster...

[Tank]

5 hours ago, Blarg said:

Angels had another player with only an 89 OPS+ in his first year with 135 plate appearances. Probably should have traded him. 

 dirty al gallagher? chico ruiz? alex johnson?

[mmc]

Add Duffy now too

[totdprods]

On 3/15/2022 at 1:36 PM, totdprods said:

The corners and catcher need a viable safety net
Locking in a vet bench bat who can spot 1B/3B if Rendon's injury is balk or Walsh struggles against lefties seems like a top priority. Same applied to catcher before Suzuki and Romine were added.

Check that off the list now.

[Angelsjunky]

I'm updating right now but can't get Fangraphs Roster Resource to load, so can't double-check a couple things.

I changed "Defaults" to "Likely Candidates" - meaning, those are the guys who are most likely to fill out the 26-man roster, but not 100% locks.

I added Duffy as a lock - I just don't see him not making the major league roster. I switched Adell and Marsh to Likely Candidates and added Ward, as it remains to be seen how that plays out. I still think Adell and Marsh make the major league club, but it isn't inconceivable one starts in AAA and waits for the tires to fall off of Upton.

By my accounting, there are 17 locks with 9 spots to be determined: four relievers, one starter, and 4 position players, possibly two infielders and two outfielders.

[Angelsjunky]

The guy with the short straw seems to be Matt Thaiss. It is hard to see a path for him to get major league playing time, unless several catchers get injured at once and/or Walsh and Ward go down. He's probably hoping for a trade at this point, but is a nice depth guy.

[AngelsLakersFan]

13 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

The guy with the short straw seems to be Matt Thaiss. It is hard to see a path for him to get major league playing time, unless several catchers get injured at once and/or Walsh and Ward go down. He's probably hoping for a trade at this point, but is a nice depth guy.

I mean, if Thaiss shows he can be at least a passable catcher there is no one on the roster today who will hold him back.

[UndertheHalo]

19 hours ago, IheartLA said:

I think this board needs to take the goggles off when it comes to Adell/Marsh, especially Adell. He's been a very bad baseball player at the big league level so far. People have written off Canning for example and have put him in a "not counting on him until proven otherwise" mindset whereas he's not too different from the two OF's this board seems to think are sure starters.

In a third of a year Ward put up a 111wrc+ and also finished 2020 very hot in September. If he stays healthy he's gonna have a better year at the plate than either Marsh/Adell. He can also play 1st base against lefties maybe. Neither him or Adell is a great defender in RF.

Marsh is a slap hitter who's strength is defense. He's not going to be playing center so how much value is his defense going to be bringing in left when his bat doesn't profile well there. Upton is in a contract year and even in his last three years his WRC+ each year was higher than Marsh albeit not by much, but he's definitely going to hit twice as many homers with equal playing time.

100% it needs to be an open competition this spring with these four but my money is on Upton/Ward outproducing Marsh/Adell as long as they're all healthy. Either way they will probably all play as I don't see any of them going through the year without injuries or struggles.

This is all completely reasonable.  Angelsland is very high on Marsh in particular and Adell because of the upside because we have to be.  The Angels have to get one of them to be a major league regular.  If they both flop we’re fucked.  Also.  Would be a nice cap off to a nearly completely failed half decade of development.  

Edited March 17, 2022 by UndertheHalo

[Jason]

3 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

This is all completely reasonable.  Angelsland is very high on Marsh in particular and Adell because of the upside because we have to be.  The Angels have to get one of them to be a major league regular.  If they both flop we’re fucked.  Also.  Would be a nice cap of to a nearly completely failed half decade of development.  

At least Marsh has a cool beard 

[UndertheHalo]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

At least Marsh has a cool beard 

The beard is big league quality. 

[totdprods]

44 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

The guy with the short straw seems to be Matt Thaiss. It is hard to see a path for him to get major league playing time, unless several catchers get injured at once and/or Walsh and Ward go down. He's probably hoping for a trade at this point, but is a nice depth guy.

I don’t see it that way at all.

Thaiss should be in SLC and the everyday catcher for the season down there. Get him all of the innings possible working there with our young arms like Detmers and Bachman. 

Stassi is a FA after this year and while we should expect the Angels will try to re-sign him or bring in another, it would behoove the Angels (and Thaiss) to get a full season of acclimating to everyday catcher in the event he is an internal option for 2023.

[Angelsjunky]

13 minutes ago, totdprods said:

I don’t see it that way at all.

Thaiss should be in SLC and the everyday catcher for the season down there. Get him all of the innings possible working there with our young arms like Detmers and Bachman. 

Stassi is a FA after this year and while we should expect the Angels will try to re-sign him or bring in another, it would behoove the Angels (and Thaiss) to get a full season of acclimating to everyday catcher in the event he is an internal option for 2023.

Alright, fair enough. I'm mostly thinking of this year. I could easily see a scenario where, come year's end, he's played very few games in the big leagues. But yeah, I suppose the focus this year should be seeing how he can (re)develop as a catcher, as that is his path forward with the Angels. If they don't like how he develops, his best path could be elsewhere as a platoon 1B/OF type. 

[Angelsjunky]

Updated with Bradley, which gives the bullpen five locks and three open spots.