Angels clear path for Rojas on roster
TEMPE, ARIZ. » The Angels have set the stage for Jose Rojas to make his long-awaited major league debut.
Hours after manager Joe Maddon said he’s becoming more comfortable with Rojas’ ability to play second, the Angels optioned both Luis Rengifo and Jack Mayfield and reassigned Phil Gosselin on Wednesday. Franklin Barreto is out for at least a month with an elbow injury.
That leaves Rojas — an Anaheim native and fan favorite — as the only healthy middle infielder left in big league camp beside the starters, shortstop Jose Iglesias and second baseman David Fletcher.
Of course, nothing is official until the Opening Day roster is set just before the April 1 opener. Rojas would need to be added to the 40-man roster.
While teams normally carry a utility player who can cover both spots up the middle — like Rengifo — Maddon said they could have Fletcher be the backup shortstop while Rojas serves as the backup second baseman.
In order for Rojas to fill that role, they’d need to be comfortable that he could play second for three or four days in a row if either Fletcher or Iglesias had a nagging injury that wasn’t serious enough for a roster move.
Maddon had played Rojas at second in four of five Cactus League games in which he’d appeared prior to Wednesday.
“I’m getting pretty comfortable,” Maddon said of Rojas at second. “Real comfortable actually.”
Earlier this spring Maddon had compared Rojas to players like Daniel Murphy and Mike Moustakas, who got wedged in at second base to get their bats in the lineup.
“There’s other comps for what he’s doing, even at second base right now, for guys that have been very successful left-handed hitters in the big leagues,” Maddon said. “The fact that he’s Jose ‘Cookie’ Rojas prevents people from getting into it. But if you cast aside any kind of bias you have, based on how he got here, and just look at it with pure intentions, he’s done really well.”
Rojas, a 28-year-old former 36th-round pick, has been cast as someone who could hit in the minors, but couldn’t play defense well enough to get an opportunity in the majors. But he’s 9 for 28 (.321) with two home runs in spring training, and his defense has been good enough, Maddon said.
“What’s there not to like?” Maddon said. “I don’t know what there’s not to like about this guy.”
The Angels have two open spots on the 40-man roster, and one of them will presumably go to outfielder Juan Lagares. Rojas could get the other.
Even if he does make the roster, there might be not much playing time for him, barring injuries. Fletcher, Iglesias and third baseman Anthony Rendon don’t figure to get many days off. The Angels already have Jared Walsh and Albert Pujols at first. Left fielder Justin Upton has also been one of the Angels’ best hitters in the spring.
Options for Barria, Peters
Jaime Barria and Dillon Peters were given fourth option years by a ruling of an arbiter, which will provide the Angels more flexibility as they determine the final spots on their pitching staff.
The players were among a handful who were the subject of a grievance over the way the MLB option rules are interpreted. Players can typically be optioned in three separate years, regardless of how many times they are optioned within those years. However if a player has used up his three option years before he’s been active for five full seasons, in the majors or minors, he can be optioned for a fourth year.
A “full season” is defined as 90 days on an active roster, but the entire 2020 season lasted less than 90 days, so the issue was whether that counted.
The arbiter ruled that any player who had at least 34 days in the big leagues in 2020, which pro-rates to 90 days, was considered to have a full year, and the other players in the grievance weren’t. Barria was on the Angels’ roster for 29 days in 2020.
What it all means is now the Angels can option Barria, which would allow them to keep him stretched out as a starter instead of having him as a long reliever.
They still might prefer to keep him in the bullpen, however, because of Felix Peña’s injury to start the season.
In Peters’ case, it is less relevant because he was removed from the 40-man roster over the winter. The Angels only would need an option for Peters if they add him to the 40-man roster and then want to send him down.
Extra arm?
The Angels reportedly signed veteran right-hander AJ Ramos to a minor league deal, although Maddon said on Wednesday morning he didn’t believe the deal was done yet.
Ramos, 34, pitched in just three games with the Colorado Rockies in 2020 and did not pitch in the majors in 2019 after undergoing shoulder surgery. Ramos has a career 3.08 ERA in parts of eight big league seasons.
His best years were with the Miami Marlins, from 2012-17, including an All-Star selection in 2016. He had a 2.78 ERA in 377 games with the Marlins.
Notes
• Maddon said he’s “leaning” toward having Mike Trout bat third to start the season. The Angels have bounced Trout between second and third throughout his career. He hit third at the end of last season, after Walsh got hot and settled into the No. 2 spot.
• The Angels returned Rule 5 pick Jose Alberto Rivera to the Houston Astros on Wednesday. Rivera had pitched in just one Cactus League game with the Angels. Maddon said he liked what he’d seen from Rivera, but he hadn’t seen enough. Rivera, 24, arrived in camp late because of visa issues. “He’s just a really young kid who needs more time,” Maddon said. “Under the circumstances, we’re trying to put together a team right now that we believe has a chance to go deeply into the playoffs and get to the World Series this year. So I’m just being frank with you. There just wasn’t time to give him that kind of opportunity that he needs.”
• Left-hander Jose Quijada, who arrived in camp on Tuesday after visa issues delayed his travel from Venezuela, said he only needs about 10 days to two weeks to be ready, because of the work he was doing before he arrived. He also said he’s lost 30 pounds this winter.
• Pujols was back in the Angels’ lineup on Wednesday after suffering a bruised arm when he was hit by a pitch on Monday.
• In addition to the roster moves with Rengifo, Mayfield and Gosselin, they made moves with 12 other players. They optioned catcher Anthony Bemboom and reassigned left-hander Reid Detmers, right-hander Jake Faria, right-hander Zac Kristofak, left-hander Packy Naughton, left-hander Thomas Pannone, right-hander Jake Reed, infielder Kean Wong, right-hander Ben Rowen, catcher Anthony Mulrine, right-hander Austin Warren and Peters.