How the Angels Roster Moves Reshape the Pitching Staff after Yusei Kikuchi's Injury

Heading into the season an injury to Yusei Kikuchi seemed to be one the Angels could not easily absorb. The Japanese veteran was expected to be the leader of a young Angels rotation and one of their few reliable sources of quality innings. The Angels announced last night that Kikuchi will be sidelined for multiple weeks as he deals with a shoulder issue and the Angels rotation is now lacking an obvious starter.

With a hole in the rotation and a bullpen that has been an absolute disaster, the Angels made a series of roster moves that reshape the pitching staff. Here is how they will impact the Angels roster.

Kirby Yates will be the closer.

Yates was activated from the injured list prior to today's game. He has yet to pitch in the regular season and posted pedestrian results in the Cactus League. As a veteran who was assured of a big league roster spot his Spring Training results mattered less than his preparation.

Like many pitchers in the league, Kirby Yates enjoyed the best season of his career under the tutelage of Angels pitching coach Mike Maddux. The hope is Yates and Maddux can rework that magic and stabilize what has been a horrible back end of the Angels bullpen.

Alek Manoah is the new long reliever.

Signed to a one year deal this off season, Manoah showed up to Spring Training with an inside track to a spot in the Opening Day rotation. His performances in the Cactus League were outright dreadful and opened up a competition for the rotation.

It was revealed that he lost a fingernail on his pitching hand that was inhibiting his ability to throw the ball. Given time off to regrow the fingernail and get back to game strength he was brought up to the big league club to be the long reliever.

Manoah has one rehab start at the A ball level and it did not go well. In 4.1 innings he allowed 6 runs (5 earned) . He did manage to get through 87 pitches without getting injured, though.

Sam Aldegheri was sent to AAA leaving a rotation spot open.

With the Angels having an off day tomorrow they will not need to replace him in the rotation until May 12th in Cleveland. Adding the extra bullpen arm to a unit that has both failed and been overused makes sense for the next week.

However, when that spot rolls back around Aldegehri will not be the fill in. MLB rules require a player optioned to the minors to stay there for 15 days. Perhaps he can be brought back up for a start later this month when the Angels need to fill the spot again.

The options for a fifth starter are not inspiring.

Given the off day following the Cleveland series, the Angels might opt for a bullpen game on the 12th. Jose Soriano would be on the hill the night prior and Walbert Urena is on tap for the finale. If the Angels get decent length from Soriano they coud roll the dice that Urena gives them another quality start like he provided today.

However, if the Angels want to add a starter Caden Dana is the most obvious candidate. He has an unimpressive ERA of 6.75 in 16 innings for Salt Lake. The Pacific Coast League is a nightmare for pitchers but Dana is not helping himself by giving up 3 home runs.

With Alek Manoah already on the big league roster he could serve as the starter if he is rested.

Mitch Farris pitched 4 solid innings on Monday against Chicago and looks to be a better option than Manoah.

A wild card here is George Klassen who has been really impressive in his last couple of AAA starts. Klassen is the Angels best combination of upside and nearly MLB ready but he did not fare well in his two starts at the beginning of the season.

Overall, the Angels bullpen looks better today than it did last week.

Adding Jose Fermin and Kirby Yates should improve the bullpen. If those two along with Sam Bachman can be decent that should push guys like Ryan Zeferjahn into lower leverage roles. Farris, Manoah, and Brent Suter can each go multiple innings.

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