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Angels Q&A: A look at where things stand with final roster decisions

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TEMPE, Ariz. — The Angels enjoyed their only off day of the shortened spring training on Wednesday, just more than a week before their April 7 regular-season opener.

The break provides a good opportunity to answer some of your questions, starting with the most basic.

Q: What’s the roster looking like? (Ty) Buttrey starting in Triple-A, correct? — @27angelsfan

A: Yes, it looks like Buttrey will be starting in Triple-A. The Angels have been encouraged by what he’s shown in workouts, but Buttrey admitted that his stuff still needs some work after he took a season away from the game.

The rest of the 28-man roster has a few questions for the Angels to answer in the last week.

The starting rotation includes Shohei Ohtani, Patrick Sandoval, Noah Syndergaard, José Suarez and Michael Lorenzen. The candidates for the sixth spot are Reid Detmers, Jaime Barria and Janson Junk. Although none have pitched that much, Detmers has clearly been the best.

Relievers Raisel Iglesias, Aaron Loup, Archie Bradley, Ryan Tepera, Mike Mayers and José Quijada (out of options) have locked up six spots. Barria is also out of options, so he probably has another bullpen spot. Austin Warren was very good in a small sample last season and he’s done nothing to lose his spot in the spring, so he’s presumably in too.

The Angels are likely to have one or two extra relievers when the season starts with expanded rosters, and José Marte, Andrew Wantz, Jimmy Herget, Oliver Ortega and non-roster invitees Kyle Barraclough and Brian Moran are all in the mix.

Max Stassi and Kurt Suzuki will be the catchers. Infielders Jared Walsh, David Fletcher, Anthony Rendon, Tyler Wade (out of options) and Matt Duffy are on the team. Outfielders Mike Trout, Justin Upton, Jo Adell and Taylor Ward also seem pretty safe.

The bubble players among the position players are outfielder Brandon Marsh, infielders Jose Rojas, Jack Mayfield, Luis Rengifo and Andrew Velazquez and catcher Matt Thaiss.

That leaves three spots that are uncertain. The guess here is the Angels go with Marsh and two relievers: Marte and Wantz.

Also, it doesn’t really matter who is on the roster on Opening Day, because it’s going to change every few days all season.

Q: Where is the 2022 Angels payroll currently at? How much room do they have to potentially spend before reaching the current lowest level of the luxury tax? — @jrjandtreshunt

A: The Angels currently have about $207 million committed for 2022, based on the way the luxury tax is calculated. The first threshold is $230 million.

Q: Thoughts on Ohtani leading off? Seems like he’d be better in a run-producing situation. Have they ever given thought to Rendon leading off, followed by Ohtani and Trout? — @chrispower82

A: Ideally, the Angels would have a player who is very good at getting on base, and have him bat leadoff, in front of Ohtani, Trout and Rendon. Fletcher had a .356 on-base percentage in 2019-20, so if he could do that again, he’d be the guy. Wade (.354 last year) and Duffy (.357) both were better than average at getting on base in 2021, so there is potential there. Until the Angels see if any of those players can perform at that level, the safest thing is just to start with the three best hitters, and that includes Ohtani.

As for Rendon hitting leadoff, he’s slower than Trout and Ohtani, and also an excellent run-producer, so I don’t believe the Angels would have given serious thought to putting him in that spot. Of course, last year they got Upton going in the leadoff spot, so you never know.

Q: Aside from Fletch (we know is starting), who has the most offensive upside from the middle infield candidates? — @dryospecial

A: If you’re talking about upside, it’s probably Rengifo. He’s got some power and speed and he showed an ability to get on base at a good clip in the minors. However, he’s never quite put it together in the majors.

The infielder who is the safest bet to be productive offensively is probably Duffy. He has a career .721 OPS, by far the highest of the middle infield candidates. He had a .738 OPS last year.

Q: Any chances of acquiring another starting pitcher? — @NateTosado

A: At this point, probably not. There are no free agents left who would be certain upgrades, and the trade candidates probably would have been traded already if their teams wanted to move them.

There will certainly be some pitchers on the block over the summer, though. Depending on how their teams do, Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Luis Castillo, Kyle Hendricks and German Marquez could all be available.

Q: Who will be our TV announcers this season? I know Gubie will be back, but what about play-by-play? Is Matt Vasgersian returning (I’d like that)? Thanks! — @FlamingoBobo

A: Mark Gubicza will be the analyst for the entire season, and the play-by-play duties will be split between Vasgersian and Patrick O’Neal. It’s unclear what the breakdown will be, but Vasgersian has said he would like to do more than half of the games. Erica Weston will be the sideline reporter. Denny Hocking, who has been doing some analysis in spring training, will work with Tim Salmon and others on the pre- and postgame shows.

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Q: How do you and other writers like the camp set up this year out of the Minor League clubhouse? — @rexcoot

A: Because of renovations at Tempe Diablo Stadium, the Angels are using their minor league complex, a few hundred yards away, for most of big league spring training.

It’s a bit of a walk from the media parking lot to the clubhouse, but we are all just happy to be in the clubhouse again after two seasons of Zoom interviews. It’s also nice to have so many fields close together to watch workouts. When the Angels are practicing in the stadium, they have just one field, so some of the workouts still take place on the back fields on the other side of the parking lot.

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