These players might make the Opening Day roster, but certainly won’t be with the team all season

The Los Angeles Angels will enter the 2024 season with drastically lower expectations. They might go out and sign a high-end free agent or even two, but they lost Shohei Ohtani. Losing the MVP is an extremely tough pill to swallow, and no matter how much they say they’re ready to win without him, it’s really hard to believe it when they couldn’t win with him.

The Angels were a team that some expected to either make or come closr to making the playoffs. They obviously had some of the best star power in the league with Ohtani and Mike Trout, and did what many believed would be a nice job adding pieces around them like Brandon Drury, Tyler Anderson, Hunter Renfroe, and Carlos Estevez to name a few. We know the Angels fell well short of their goals, and their goals for this season should be different.

This should be treated as a bit of an evaluation year for the Angels. They should see what they have with their young players, figuring out who is worth keeping around for the long haul and who is not. The Angels hope to be competitive, but competing in the difficult AL West is not going to be easy. Some players they count on will perform well, but others might start the year in the majors and not last the whole season.

1) Adam Kolarek

The first move the Angels made this offseason was a bit of a puzzler, signing Adam Kolarek to a one-year deal. Kolarek has been good in the past and has always been great at getting left-handed hitters out, but the Angels guaranteeing him a MLB deal is what was surprising here.

The southpaw made just five MLB appearances in totality in 2023 and has made just 30 since the start of the 2021 campaign. The reason for that is he simply hasn’t been effective in this timespan, posting a 4.87 ERA in the last three years combined. With the three-batter rule in place, Kolarek isn’t as good of a fit in a bullpen as he’s had a ton of trouble getting right-handed hitters out. He’s good to go against a lefty, but if a righty is due up after, that’s trouble.

Adding Kolarek for depth purposes would’ve been fine, but that’s not really what this is. The reason why, is because the Angels guaranteed him a MLB deal and he’s out of options. The team cannot do what they’ll likely do with Zach Plesac, which is essentially give him a tad more than the league minimum and keep him in the minors as depth, since he’s out of options.

The Kolarek deal is similar to the one the Angels gave Brett Phillips. A MLB deal to a player who’s a fringe MLB player at best, but since he’s out of options they won’t DFA him before the season starts. It’s a decent enough add because this bullpen has no other lefties other than Jose Suarez, but it’s hard to see Kolarek lasting the whole season unless he can suddenly get righties out.

2) Jose Suarez

Jose Suarez is a player who really should be traded before the season begins, but in the event that he is not dealt, it’s hard to see him not make the Opening Day roster. He absolutely should not be considered after how abysmal he was this past season, but Suarez will likely earn a spot on the roster. Whether it’s in the rotation or bullpen remains to be seen, but there are a couple of reasons he’s likely a roster lock if he’s not traded.

First, the Angels opted to keep him past the non-tender deadline. The Angels will be paying him arbitration, meaning Suarez will make more than the league minimum. They clearly saw value in keeping him around, so they won’t rush to get rid of him even if the fanbase wants them to.

Second, he’s another player out of options. Suarez isn’t a player the Angels are going to want to DFA without him at least struggling more this season first. Again, not necessarily what I’d do, but it’s the reality of the situation.

For now, the likely role for Suarez is he’s the team’s long reliever. He’ll likely have a chance to battle with Chase Silseth (assuming they don’t add another starter) for the team’s fifth starter role, but the best fit is him serving as the team’s long man.

Bottom line here is that the Angels will field offers for Suarez. There has been reported interest. If there’s no deal, he’s going to make the team. His performance will dictate how long his stay is. Assuming he struggles again, it’s hard to see him lasting the entire season.

3) Jo Adell

This is the year where Jo Adell has to show he belongs. He has yet to do that in his four MLB seasons, but this is a year where the Angels have no choice but to see what he can do. The reason why is the same for the others on this list. He’s out of options, and the Angels won’t want to lose him.

The issue with Adell being an essential lock on the Angels Opening Day roster is he already won’t have a starting spot with how this roster is constructed. The outfield consists of Taylor Ward, Mike Trout, and Mickey Moniak. The DH will presumably be one of Luis Rengifo or Brandon Drury.

There’s room for Adell as a fourth outfielder or as a platoon partner for Moniak in right field, but there’re a couple of issues here. Young players generally don’t excel when their playing time is limited. If the Angels have any hope of Adell blossoming into a regular for them, it’ll be hard to see major strides with him playing once or twice a week. When it comes to Adell being Moniak’s platoon partner, that sounds good, but he has just a .621 OPS against lefties in his MLB career, and was slightly worse against lefties in the minors.

The Angels have a really tough situation here with Adell. On one hand, they don’t want to give up so quickly on a player with this much talent that they drafted in the first round not too long ago. On the other hand, he’s not good enough to start, doesn’t really have a role that will lead to a lot of playing time without injury, and can’t be sent back down to the minors without being DFA’d.

What the Angels end up doing with Adell is anyone’s best guess, but it’s really hard to see him getting DFA’d before the start of the season. If he’s here, he’s going to make the team. Considering he hasn’t shown much of anything at the MLB level, it’s hard to see him sticking the entire year.