The Angels announced nearly a dozen roster moves as they prepare their Opening Day lineup. The team confirmed the signing of lefty reliever Joey Lucchesi to a one-year free agent deal. They also selected veteran infielders Adam Frazier and Jeimer Candelario onto the big league roster.
Vaughn Grissom lands on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left wrist. Pitchers Ben Joyce (shoulder inflammation), Alek Manoah (middle finger contusion), Kirby Yates (left knee inflammation), and Grayson Rodriguez (shoulder inflammation) all land on the 15-day injured list. Those five placements are retroactive to March 22.
The Angels needed to open three spots on the 40-man roster for Lucchesi, Frazier and Candelario. Two of those are procedural moves, as Anthony Rendon and Robert Stephenson have been placed on the 60-day injured list. The one roster casualty of the whole series of transactions is left-handed reliever Jayvien Sandridge, who was designated for assignment.
Most of these transactions had either been announced or strongly telegraphed by prior moves. Frazier and Candelario were each expected to break camp after offseason minor league contracts. The former is ticketed for the majority of the playing time at second base. Frazier’s left-handed bat and plus contact skills make him a rarity in a heavily right-handed lineup. He hit .281 with a .452 on-base percentage this spring but has been a below-average hitter in four consecutive seasons. Frazier ran a .267/.319/.365 slash in 459 plate appearances between the Pirates and Royals a year ago.
Candelario, 32, returns to the majors after finishing last season in Triple-A in the Yankees system. The switch-hitter turned in a meager .207/.265/.394 line while battling various injuries over a season and a half with the Reds. He popped four homers this spring but struck out 17 times in 56 plate appearances.
Primarily a corner infielder, Candelario has also gotten acclimated to second base in camp. He’ll work as a backup infielder alongside the out-of-options Oswald Peraza behind Frazier and third baseman Yoán Moncada. The Angels will only pay him the $780K league minimum while he’s on the roster. The Reds are still covering the rest of his $13MM salary after releasing him last June.
Of the injured list assignments, only the Yates move comes as a surprise. The 39-year-old righty signed a $5MM free agent deal over the winter. That was the biggest investment the Halos made in a quiet offseason. Yates was one of a handful of reclamation fliers who’ll slot into the bullpen. He had been expected to share closing work with Jordan Romano and Drew Pomeranz. That’ll be on hold for at least the first 12 days of the regular season. Yates pitched four times this spring, allowing one earned run over four innings.
Joyce is still building back from last May’s shoulder procedure. He’s throwing but didn’t get into any games this spring. He’s not ready for MLB game action but should be back relatively early in the year. It’s an encouraging sign for his health that the Angels opted to designate someone for assignment rather than place Joyce on the 60-day IL.
Grissom is out of minor league options. His injury buys the Halos a little bit of time to determine whether they want to keep him on the roster or designate him for assignment. Rodriguez and Manoah entered camp as the projected fourth and fifth starters. Their continued injury issues will draw Jack Kochanowicz and Ryan Johnson into the final two rotation spots instead.
Sandridge came over from the Yankees in a cash trade in January. The 27-year-old southpaw pitched twice before being optioned early in camp. He allowed five runs over two innings. Sandridge gave up two runs while recording two outs in his lone major league appearance, which came as a Yankee last July. In Triple-A, he posted a 4.55 ERA with huge strikeout stuff (33.1%) but too many walks (12%). The Angels have five days to trade him or try to run him through waivers.
Sooooo Walbert or no Walbert that’s what I came here to find out
Walbert was already announced to have made the team. The Lucchesi signing now makes sense with Yates going on the IL
Rearranging deck chairs on the titanic
……..after the sinking
And just like the captain Rendon abandoned ship.
This rearrangement project has been going on for three seasons. They will finally sink this year.
Aroboy Candy welcome to Anaheim sweetttt
How did Grayson R’s “dead arm” become “shoulder inflammation.” Has the diagnosis gotten worse?
Layman’s term versus doctor’s diagnosis i suppose.
I’d rather it be a shoulder problem than an elbow.
Not surprised the diagnosis changed, it often does. Just pray it doesn’t get altered further.
Rendon what a bum.
I think the Manoah’s owie can be considered a repetitive stress injury.
Im surprised he doesn’t have whiplash from all the hits whizzing past him. 5 Hr in 15 IP and an ERA north of 9 in the spring is not good
What in the world are the Angels doing playing Adam Frazier at 2B? At this point in his career — he’s 34, has played ten seasons with five different clubs (PIT twice) and produced 11.4 fWAR, most of it before he turned 30 — he can fairly be called a journeyman. There might be teams which would find that useful (the Mets might prefer him to Vidal Brujan). But all he is doing is taking playing time away from Grissom, or Moore or even Peraza, guys who might someday have value for the Angels (and if they don’t, now is the time to find out). Sure it’s conceivable that if you give Frazier 450 2026 PAs he’d outproduce any of those guys. But maybe one win? For a team that’s likely to lose +/- 90 games? There’s no semblance of a plan.
What I have been saying for months. This is a 110 loss team
Ryan Johnson might need more time to develop just sayin.
The Halos didn’t really think they would flip an outfielder for a good, healthy starting pitcher, did they?
So, MLB Trade Rumors still hates Grissom that much with the childish passive aggressive remarks as usually displayed by adolescent teenage boys. The Angels didn’t trade for him that quickly in the winter meetings just to dump him later considering his injury is related to a radical change to his swing.
Grissom has the same problem that most position players that the Angels brought in this offseason. HE CAN’T HIT MAJOR LEAGUE PITCHING
They’re gonna ruin Johnson like this. Start him in the Majors in 2025, send him down to start at A+, have him start the next season as a SP in the Majors again. Hardly shocking why this team burns through SP prospects like nobody’s business.
I really don’t understand how they operate and why they insist on rushing guys so quickly when it keeps failing. I don’t think guys need to waste away in AAA for years but at least a full season or two in the minors would help. Looking at his stats, they brought him up to the majors within the same year of making his pro debut. Why??
Dumpster fire of a franchise. Queue a Trout injury in t-minus 10 days.