As Spring Training for the 2026 MLB season kicks off, the Los Angeles Angels are entering their 66th season of play with a complete revamp and continued shuffling of the roster and coaching staff. With new manager Kurt Suzuki and new coaches at pretty much every position, the Angels are looking to do well with all their coaches and a few of their players on one-year contracts. With some new players acquired via trade and signed via free agent veteran minimum contracts, the Halos are seeking to break out of the basement of the American League West in 2026. That will be easier said than done, as their schedule has them going to a lot of “cold weather” locations to start out the season. But for now, they are looking to construct a roster that could feature the return to center field for Mike Trout. Let’s see who these new faces are and some potential previous affiliations that they might have held with the organization.
New Sheriff In Town: Kurt Suzuki Is The Latest Manager In Revolving Door Along With New Coaching Staff In Anaheim
A couple of weeks into the offseason, the Halos hired Kurt Suzuki to be their fifth full-time manager since Mike Scioscia stepped down in 2018. Suzuki had been an assistant to general manager Perry Minasian for three prior seasons, so he was basically an in-house hire. Suzuki will hopefully serve as a good manager and be another example of the brilliance that comes with being a former catcher leading a ball club in big league history. Closing out his playing career with the Angels, Suzuki was a good veteran backstop for plenty of years for different teams. Along with Suzuki comes some good assistant coaches. Pitching coach Mike Maddux brings years of experience of coaching some of the best arms in modern baseball such as C.C Sabathia, Max Scherzer and others, so he will have a heck of a time looking to work with some experienced veteran arms and some young hurlers along with reclamation projects. The newest hitting coach for the Halos is Brady Anderson, who has experience as one of the best hitting outfielders of his generation with the Baltimore Orioles and other teams. Anderson has very little coaching experience at the major league level, so he will have a lot to prove in just one season minimum in Anaheim.
Other notable coaches include promoted coaches from within the Angels’ minor league system. Keith Johnson went from being the third base coach of the Salt Lake Bees to filling the same role with the Halos and Andy Schatzley is now the infield coach for the Halos after spending time as manager of the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas. A couple of former Angels players have returned to the fold as Max Stassi is back as the catchers coach following his departure from the organization as a player a couple of years ago and Adam Eaton returns to serve as the latest first base coach following one season of play in Angels red in 2021. Along with assistant hitting coaches Derek Floro and John Mabry, the Angels also have a new bench coach in former Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, who will serve as a good assistant for Suzuki in his first season as manager. The Halos can hopefully do well under this new coaching staff in 2026 in looking to break a ten-year streak of no seasons with a record finishing above .500, not to mention an 11-season long playoff drought.
Acquired Batters: Josh Lowe As A New Corner Outfielder, Vaughn Grissom And Nick Madrigal In Competition For Infield Spots
Onto the offensive depth chart, where there are a few new batters on the Angels roster. They acquired Vaughn Grissom in a deal with the Boston Red Sox and Grissom could have flexibility as a utility guy. As the son of former major league outfielder Marquis Grissom, the younger Vaughn is a failed prospect with the Atlanta Braves(his father’s main franchise) and with Boston and hopefully he can potentially land a spot on the 40-man or opening day roster for the Angels. He will have to compete with guys such as Oswald Peraza(who is running low on minor league options) and Denzer Guzman along with Nick Madrigal, who has experience as a good middle infielder with the Chicago White Sox and Cubs and Adam Frazier, who has years of experience as a middle infielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres and other teams. As for third base, Yóan Moncada was brought back on another one-year deal and he will aim to be more healthy in 2026 after a couple of injured list stints last season. Moncada will be playing for his native Cuba in the World Baseball Classic from Mar 4-17, so that will allow guys like Grissom and Guzman some chances to play at third base during Cactus League play. Christian Moore is expected to be the Opening Day second baseman this season, but he could face some competition for that spot as well. Meanwhile, Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel have shortstop and first base all to themselves and both are penciled-in starters for Opening Day on Thur, Mar 26 against the Houston Astros. Logan O’Hoppe and Travis d’Arnaud remain the catcher duo on the main roster, with them hoping to have better offensive production than last year. That is the outlook for the Angels’ infield entering the 2026 Spring Training schedule, with plenty of prospects and roster invites expected to get some reps at all positions.
Meanwhile, the outfield has a new bat in Josh Lowe, who was acquired in a three-team trade from the Tampa Bay Rays. As a corner outfield option, Lowe will look to fill the void left by Taylor Ward, who had a career year offensively before being traded to the Orioles for a potential ace pitcher. The outfield could have an interesting look, as Mike Trout is expected to return to playing center field after playing limited games in right field before being a full-time designated hitter for the final four months of the season. Jo Adell could switch to being the starting left-fielder on Opening Day, while Matthew Lugo will have to compete with Grissom for a roster spot as an outfielder who can play in all three positions in the outfield. Jorge Soler is expected to be a platoon DH/right field option after missing a lot of games last year due to back spasms and other ailments. Bryce Teodosio might be likely to start the season in the minor leagues, but he could be called up if an injury to an outfielder occurs as his main position is in center field. That’s all for the offense, which hope to improve on their numbers from last season in batting average, hitting with runners on scoring position and on-base percentage. Let’s move onto the pitchers.
A New Pitching Staff: Grayson Rodriguez And Alek Manoah Join The Starting Rotation, Reid Detmers Set To Be A Starter Again And A New Infusion Of Relievers With Loads Of Experience
The Angels made some big additions to their pitching staff this offseason as they acquired Grayson Rodriguez from the Orioles in exchange for Taylor Ward, picked up Alek Manoah off waivers following his failed minor league stints with the Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves, and picked up plenty of arms to shore up their bullpen. Rodriguez brings promise to be a potential ace in spite of missing all of last season due to bone spur pain in his pitching arm’s elbow. With good numbers across two seasons of games pitched so far at the big league level, Rodriguez will look to prove himself worthy of being a stud pitcher for a franchise that has been looking for a consistent ace in their rotation for a long time. Meanwhile, Manoah will be a reclamation project following his decline in Toronto from a surefire ace to a liability filled with his own injury history. But the Angels front office picked up Manoah to fill a vacant spot in the rotation and with plenty of prospects with a lack of experience in their system, Manoah has far more starts under his belt than most of the arms that the Angels currently have. With the additions of Rodriguez and Manoah alongside Yusei Kikuchi and Jose Soriano, the Halos are also preparing Reid Detmers to return to the starting rotation following his time in the bullpen last season as a solid middle reliever. Detmers was placed into the bullpen after Jack Kochanowicz showed enough to be a member of the starting rotation at the beginning of last season and after a sloppy year from Kochanowicz, Detmers will be given a second chance as a starter. There are other starting pitcher options, but they are all young and have not enough experience to easily step in and be a comfortable starting pitcher at the major league level.
As for the bullpen, the Halos added some key veterans like Jordan Romano and Drew Pomeranz. Romano has the potential to be a closer at a high level and he once displayed that as the closer for the Blue Jays. His peak run came from 2021-23 when he had 95 saves and 230 strikeouts across 174 appearances. But Romano declined in 2024 and last season had eight saves as a bullpen option for the Philadelphia Phillies. With Ben Joyce coming off a shoulder injury that ended his season in early May last year, Romano can serve as a veteran option in the closer slot like Kenley Jansen and Carlos Estévez did in recent seasons. Meanwhile, Pomeranz is a seasoned veteran with plenty of years as a left-handed reliever for teams such as the San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox and most recently with the Chicago Cubs. As a former starter who transitioned into the bullpen, Pomeranz has a 3.82 career ERA and 940 career strikeouts. Other bullpen pickups include left-handed reliever Brent Suter and right-handed hurler Kirby Yates(who was a recent closer option for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Texas Rangers).
The Angels will hopefully field a good roster on Opening Day and they will be ready to compete in the 2026 MLB season, which comes at a pivotal moment in time. The baseball world could be massively disrupted in some nine months’ time due to the dispute between the league office and players’ union about whether a salary cap should be implemented for all 32 ballclubs. The last time something like that was proposed, a season was canceled with two months left to play and labor peace was eventually achieved with a shortened season the year after. So, this could be a potential last ditch effort for the Angels to do something on a payroll that is not constrained by a salary cap. Spring Training will showcase some of the current and future prospects for the Halos along with some of the recent acquisitions mentioned here.
Kent Bewley's News Story Collection 
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