Alek Manoah’s rough spring just cost him his Angels role

That is the story now for the former Blue Jays All-Star. The Angels gave Manoah a fully guaranteed 1-year, $1.95 million deal in December, then watched him pitch his way out of any Opening Day role in camp.

Manoah opened spring as one of the more interesting reclamation bets in Arizona. He is still only 28, and the Angels clearly believed there was enough arm talent left to justify a major league contract.

But the results were brutal. In 15 1/3 spring innings, Manoah gave up 16 earned runs, 5 home runs, and 14 walks. That is not a rough patch. That is a pitcher with no margin and no command.

The ERA told the same story at a glance. Manoah finished camp with a 9.39 mark, which made it easy to see why the Angels were not about to trust him with a rotation spot out of the gate.

Then came the roster move. The Angels placed Manoah on the 15-day injured list retroactive to March 22 with a right middle finger contusion, while other reports tied the issue to a fingernail problem.

That injury matters, but it does not erase what happened in camp. FantasyPros put it bluntly: Manoah was unlikely to break camp with the Angels regardless of the fingernail issue.

This is where the guaranteed deal changed the conversation. Because Manoah signed a major league contract, the Angels did not need to decide whether to cut a minor league flyer loose. They had already invested real money and a 40-man spot.

That does not mean he is safe in the baseball sense. Once healthy, Manoah could still wind up in Triple-A Salt Lake if the Angels decide he needs innings away from the big league staff.

The bigger point is that the club has not bailed on him yet. A pitcher with this kind of spring could have been gone in another organization if the deal had been smaller or non-guaranteed.

For Blue Jays fans, it is another hard turn in a career that once looked like a rotation anchor in Toronto. Now Manoah is fighting for traction with a new club, a sore finger, and a spring line that gave the Angels no reason to rush him.

That is why the contract is the headline, not the injury by itself. The Angels are still paying for the upside, even after Manoah's spring showed almost none of it.

Manoah is definitely on thin ice moving forward but it will be interesting to see how the Angels handle it.