Angels Make Roster Moves To Cover Injuries, Staff Changes

The Los Angeles Angels made a series of roster moves to cover a couple of injuries and account for the return of starter Yusei Kikuchi, who will pitch today in the rubber game of the Angels’ three-game set against the Texas Rangers. The roster moves were reported in a pair of reports from MLBTradeRumor com along with multiple other outlets. 

Start with Nolan Schanuel and Wade Meckler. Both lineup stalwarts were hurt in the Halos’ series win over the Houston Astros this week in Texas. Meckler was hit in the head in a nasty beaning as a pitch from Astros reliever Bryan King that sent his helmet flying, so he’s now in the seven-day concussion profile. 

Schanuel’s injury was initially reported as an oblique issue, but he was more optimistic in a report that reference work from Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. 

“Thankfully it’s not an oblique,” Schanuel said. “It’s like an intercostal strain, the muscle in between my ribs. I’ve never had anything like that, so kind of just leaving it to the trainers and trying to get back on the field as soon as possible.”

Infielder Christian Moore was brought up following a strong campaign at Triple-A Salt Lake, where he hit .302 with 11 home runs and 15 steals. He played last night at second, and Moore will probably get a long look to see if he can solve his strikeout problem, although he has improved his strikeout rate to 22.5 percent in Salt Lake, per the report. 

Catcher Gustavo Campero was promoted in June because of an opt-out clause in his contract, and he, too, has had a strong season in the minors  with a slash line of .313/.389/.525 across three levels. He’ll get another chance to stick now that he's recovered from a broken hand given that the Angels have been relying on a pair of career backups, Travis d’Arnaud and Tyler Heineman, neither of whom hits all that much. 

The promotion of Kikuchi and accompanying decision to DFA reliever Brad Fulmer might be the most interesting move of the bunch. Kikuchi was rocked in his last rehab outing but pronounced himself ready to go after straining his shoulder early in the season, so the Angels promoted him and pushed back the start of George Klassen. 

Fulmer, meanwhile, was recently added to the roster and pitched a scoreless inning in the Angels’ 3-0 win over the Texas Rangers last night, but now he’ll be DFA’d again, although it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Halos make a move this week to somehow try to keep him around.