A few depth pieces in the Los Angeles Angels organization exercised clauses in their contracts and elected free agency, including Reyes Moronta and Kevin Padlo.
Injury riddled areas of the Major League roster for general manager Perry Minasian’s team forced them to dig into the depths of the Minor League ranks to supplement the big league club. Moronta was signed in early May and after a few weeks from the Salt Lake Bees he was called up to the Angels.
Moronta pitched just 1.1 innings pitched for the team, allowing four hits, including one home run while walking three. The 30-year-old was optioned back to Salt Lake on May 28, and wouldn’t reach MLB until he ultimately opted out of his contract with the Angels.
Padlo was signed in December to a Minor League deal, spending much of his tenure with the Bees, where he played in 92 games in Triple-A this season. Posting a .261/.384/.450 slash with 13 home runs in that span made him a solid option as depth, but never produced enough to make him a priority option as a call-up.
He was brought up to the Angels for three games in late June, logging a double as his only hit against the Colorado Rockies on June 23.
His best game of the season came in Triple-A on Aug. 6, when he slugged a career-high five hit game.
A look into the Angels 10 arbitration eligible players
The 2024 payroll for the Angels is projected to leave them with a shade over $100 million in competitive balance tax space. This allows them to be both aggressive with bringing in veteran guys to be bridge players in positions of need, and be serious buyers in the market for big name guys.
Griffin Canning, Brett Phillips, Luis Rengifo, Jaime Barria, Chad Wallach, Taylor Ward, Patrick Sandoval, Jared Walsh, Jose Suarez, and Jose Quijada are who the Angels have to consider heading into arbitration.
After firing assistant general manager Alex Tamin, who dealt with many salary cases in the past, current general manager Perry Minasian will be tasked with his team sifting through who should be retained.
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