Roster Moves the Angels Need to Make Before Opening Day

After a slew of roster decisions on Friday, the Angels have given a clear indication of their Opening Day position player lineup. However, there are still procedural moves to be made to shore up that roster. Plus there are still questions regarding the pitching staff that need to be addressed.

Between now and Opening Day on Thursday in Houston, the Angels will need to make a series of roster moves in order to solidify their 2026 team. Here they are.

Move Anthony Rendon and Robert Stephenson to the 60 day IL.

These are familiar transactions for the Angels as they have made them each of the last two seasons. The moves need to be made to open two roster spots for the Angels.

Anthony Rendon's career as an Angel is over and he has agreed to a five year payout of the final $38.5 million he is owed for 2026. Mostly likely Rendon never plays baseball again. He appears to be on the roster as a way of staying on the Angels insurance while he rehabilitates a hip injury that occurred while playing for the team.

Robert Stephenson was a good story in camp until he suffered a setback. He's going to visit a specialist soon but it sounds like he again damaged his ulnar collateral ligament and will miss another full season of baseball. If true, the Angels received 10 innings of work for the 3 year $33 million contract Stephenson signed. Even if he is able to rest and pitch at some point this year it likely won't be for months, so a move to the 60 day injured list will be needed.

Select the contracts of Adam Frazier and Jeimer Candelario.

After opening two roster spots, the Angels will fill them with veterans who were brought into camp on minor league deals. If you are an Angels fan looking for where the team improved this off season, second base and bench depth are obvious spots.

Frazier played his way onto the team by the midpoint of the Cactus League season. The left handed hitter is tough to strike out and plays decent defense at the keystone. Both are areas the Angels needed to improve this off season. His .432 on base percentage in the Cactus League carried him to a starting job.

Candelario is known for his bat and with good reason. The former Red blasted his way on the Angels roster by scorching ball after ball over 100 MPH off the bat and slugging a robust .630 in 18 Cactus League games.

Option Alek Manoah to the minor leagues.

Brough in to hopefully be the fifth starter, Manoah has been horrible so far this Spring. Currently sporting an ERA of 9.59 his velocity and command are both a far cry from MLB caliber. The one time star has a minor league option available, though, so he can continue to try to recapture his previous form in Salt Lake City.

Make a decision on Grayson Rodriguez.

Like Manoah, Grayson Rodriguez has a minor league option remaining. He also has a dead arm and could be placed on the injured list to start the season. His injury does not seem to be too bad but his scheduled start is a week from today and there's little to no hope he will be prepared to make it.

Alek Manoah's poor performance created a camp battle for the fifth starter's role. Once news of Rodriguez injury surfaced that meant two holes existed in the rotation. With both Ryan Johnson and Jack Kochanowicz making the team, it appear obvious Rodriguez will not be on the Opening Day roster one way or another.

Add Walbert Urena to the active roster.

I profiled Walbert Urena as a prospect to watch before camp began and he's continued to impress. the Angels brass. The release of Hunter Strickland combined with Urena being with the team in Anaheim make this move pretty obvious.

Urena's 100 mile per hour sinkers in camp caught a lot of attention. All signs point to him bringing that pitch to the Major Leagues when the season opens.