Angels’ opening-day roster isn’t set quite yet

Less than one week from opening day, the Angels roster remains an incomplete puzzle, much like the order of their starting rotation.

Manager Mike Scioscia may have offered a hint about the rotation Monday when he said right-hander Ricky Nolasco would start in a minor league game Tuesday rather than pitch in the Angels’ game against Oakland. The Angels open the regular season against the Athletics; it stands to reason they’d like to avoid exposing him to a division rival a week ahead. So, pencil Nolasco in for one of the first four starts of the season.

As for the roster, the Angels are not yet saying.

“I’m very pragmatic with decisions,” General Manager Billy Eppler said earlier in the spring. “I like to wait until the 11th hour all the time.”

Similarly, Scioscia often resorts to a familiar quip: “Do I have to tell you now?”

He will have to say soon. Noon on Sunday is the deadline to submit a 25-man roster to Major League Baseball.

That roster changes, of course. In 2016, the Angels added four players in April and 10 in May. By year’s end, 53 players appeared for the team, and at least one more dressed in uniform without getting into a game.

The Angels on Monday did reveal six players who will not make their opening roster: catcher Tony Sanchez, infielder Rey Navarro, outfielders Eric Young Jr. and Shane Robinson, and right-handers Jose Valdez and Deolis Guerra. However, all six will remain in major league camp and travel with the team to the Freeway Series.

Another player, utility man Dustin Ackley, said he met with staffers and concluded his best path was staying in Arizona to bat regularly in minor league games while the team plays the Freeway Series. Ackley will then break camp with triple-A Salt Lake and head there in advance of its April 6 opener. He has not played in the field while recovering from surgery for a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. He can opt out of his contract to pursue another major league opportunity, but he has to first play a position to prove his health.

Those seven decisions solidify the Angels’ lot of position players. Catcher Carlos Perez, outfielder Ben Revere, and infielders Jefry Marte and Cliff Pennington will formulate the opening-day bench.

Six right-handers appear still in the running for three bullpen spots: Bud Norris, Yusmeiro Petit, Blake Parker, Mike Morin, Kirby Yates and Austin Adams.

And there are myriad conditions to consider. Norris and Petit can handle multiple innings in a game. Petit’s minor league contract contains an opt-out clause. The latter three men are already on the 40-man roster. The first three are not, and would require the removal of a player who is. Among the six, only Morin can be kept in the organization without exposing him to waivers if he does not make the roster.

But, in left-hander Andrew Heaney and right-hander Nick Tropeano, the Angels possess two pitchers on their roster who will go on the 60-day disabled list when the season begins, and thus no longer take up a 40-man spot. So, every combination of the pitchers is possible.

Norris, Parker and Yates said they have not been told of the team’s plans. Norris has made seven consecutive opening-day rosters, so the uncertainty is new.

For Parker and Yates, who teams have long treated as fungible, it’s quite common. A year ago, with the New York Yankees, Yates packed his bags for the flight to New York for the season but learned his future only upon boarding a bus to the airport. Upon landing, he’d stay in town, not bus over to the team’s triple-A affiliate in Scranton, Pa. He made the team.

Short hops

Several Angels will leave for Anaheim after appearing in Tuesday’s Cactus League game, then work out Wednesday evening at Angel Stadium. … With his fellow pitchers surrounding him in the bullpen beyond the outfield wall at Tempe Diablo Stadium, Heaney threw off a mound Monday for the first time since his elbow ligament surgery in July. … Shortstop Andrelton Simmons was the only Angels regular to not start Monday. Scioscia said Simmons had been bothered by lower-back tightness this week. The manager expects Simmons to return to the lineup by Thursday.

pedro.moura@latimes.com

Twitter: @pedromoura