Luis

Rengifo

Rengifo was tremendous in 78 games for the Angels in 2024, hitting .300 with six homers and a career-high 24 stolen bases. He battled multiple injuries during the season, and the Angels also seemed intent on keeping him as a part-time player early in the year. However, if the 27-year-old comes into the season healthy, it’s hard to not feel good about his fantasy prospects while hitting near the top of the Angels’ lineup.

The Blue Jays would be the preferred landing spot for fantasy purposes since it would keep Torres in the hitter-friendly AL East, but he would make a ton of sense for Los Angeles, enabling them to move Luis Rengifo around the diamond. The big question here is whether signing Torres would be a bigger statement about the health of shortstop Zach Neto heading into next year in the wake of his offseason shoulder surgery.

The versatile 27-year-old has already been ruled out for the season after undergoing wrist surgery, so this move seemed inevitable. It was made as a procedural move on Saturday to open up a spot on the club’s 40-man roster for Jose Cisnero as he was activated from the 60-day IL.

It’s a brutal development for fantasy managers as Rengifo was in the midst of the strongest season of his career, batting .300 (85-for-283) with six homers and a career-high 24 stolen bases through 78 games. The versatile 27-year-old re-aggravated a lingering right wrist issue last week and ultimately opted for season-ending surgery to hopefully put the issue to bed. He should be fully healthy heading into spring training.

Well, so much for him being active on Saturday. Rengifo has been battling the wrist issue for weeks now, so it makes sense that they’ll try to sit him down for a while and get it right. It puts fantasy managers in a tough spot though as he’ll tie up a roster spot with zero production for at least the next two weeks. Charles LeBlanc was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake in a corresponding move on Saturday.

The good news is that the versatile 27-year-old will be active for the game and available off the bench, so he won’t be landing on the injured list — as least as of yet. Michael Stefanic will start in his place at second base and will bat ninth against David Peterson and the Mets on Saturday evening in Los Angeles.

The 27-year-old infielder was pulled from Wednesday’s game and then sat out on Thursday after having a flare-up with his injured wrist. He thought he was good to go on Friday, but after going hitless in his first two at-bats on Friday he was pulled from the game. It’s possible that it will be a day-to-day situation once again, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Rengifo land back on the injured list on Saturday.

Rengifo was forced to leave Wednesday’s game — and then sat out on Thursday — due to a flareup in his wrist, but thankfully it appears to have been only a minor issue. The versatile 27-year-old will start at third base and bat second against Paul Blackburn and the Mets on Friday evening in Los Angeles.

Rengifo told reporters he’s feeling better and is day-to-day after leaving Wednesday’s showdown against Colorado with a right-wrist flareup. The versatile 27-year-old missed two weeks last month due to wrist inflammation and it looks like the issue is going to continue bothering him for a bit longer. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear that he’s in danger of requiring another trip to the injured list.

Rengifo — who just returned from the injured list last week after missing time with right wrist inflammation — felt something on a swing during his at-bat in the eighth inning and had to leave the game in the middle of his at-bat. No word yet on the severity of the issue, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the versatile 27-year-old landed back on the injured list.