9:04pm: The Angels have announced the signing.
12:20pm: The Angels are in agreement on a one-year, $1.5MM deal with free agent catcher Kurt Suzuki, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link). The 37-year-old will reunite with Angels general manager Perry Minasian, who was part of the Braves’ front office when Suzuki played for Atlanta in 2018.
Catching was an obvious area of interest for the Angels, who previously carried only Max Stassi and Anthony Bemboom on the 40-man roster. They’ll now add a bat-first option with fourteen MLB seasons under his belt to the mix. Over the past three years, Suzuki has hit .268/.332/.453 in 826 plate appearances between Atlanta and the Nationals. That’s a bit better than league average offensive output generally, but is significantly better than average for a catcher.
Suzuki gives back some of that value defensively, where he’s never thrived as a thrower or pitch framer. Per Statcast, Suzuki has been 13 runs below-average as a framer over the past three seasons, while his 15.1% caught stealing rate in that time is one of the league’s worst marks. Nevertheless, his offense-first skill set pairs well with the Angels’ in-house catchers.
Stassi, the presumptive starter, has generally rated as a high-end defender but never hit much before last season’s small-sample offensive burst. Stassi’s also recovering from an October hip surgery that originally came with a four to six month recovery timetable, which could push manager Joe Maddon to lighten his workload early in the season.
Presumably, the Suzuki addition signals that Los Angeles will focus most of their attention this offseason on bolstering the pitching staff. Their uncertain catching mix made them on-paper fits for top free agent J.T. Realmuto and trade target Willson Contreras, but they’re likely out of the running for those players now. The same goes for second-tier free agent backstops like Yadier Molina, with whom the club was in contact early in the offseason. The Suzuki signing brings the Angels’ projected payroll to $164MM after accounting for forthcoming arbitration raises, per Roster Resource. That leaves a little wiggle room if owner Arte Moreno is willing to authorize a similar outlay to last year’s $177MM figure (before prorating).
he wasn’t in the top 50, right?
Only in our hearts
true, true
Is it racist that no other team signed him? Maybe you should teach all of the Major League Baseball teams about racism? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
You could have just looked that up, in 5 seconds.
just 1 more season where Trout doesn’t make the playoffs
CSFU alum, nice addition Halos.
Only need some pitching now…..2 starters and 2 solid pen pieces easily.
CSUF
I have always liked Kurt Suzuki. I hope that at 37 years old he can keep up. I think that $1..5MM is a fair price for Kurt.
Filling the holes cheap is a good thing. This means the rest of the money is going towards SP.
J.C.
The Angels better not forget to spend some of that money on their pen.
Don’t forget we picked up Iglesias and Claudio, as well as some other RP options.
Good signing. Fills a need for a good price.
He’s a horrible defensive catcher but can hit a little. With the options available and for the price, not a bad pick, especially considering the Angels lack of depth.
“Horrible” as opposed to who?
League caught stealing average in 14 years 27%, Suzuki caught stealing average 14 seasons 23%-it is far from “horrible”. Furthermore, Suzuki 14 seasons 63PB Molina 17 seasons 89 PB, again to call Suzuki “horrible” is unjustified by these very facts. He’s a very good competent catcher, hence guys like Sanchez, Scherzer, Strasburg etc loved throwing to him.
Suzuki has been in the league since 2007 and is 37 years old. He is a shadow of the player he was 10 years ago. His defense today is terrible and he is a poor pitch framer. For example, from 2007 to 2014 Suzuki’s caught stealing percentage was 26%. From 2015 to 2020 his caught stealing percentage is 17%.
Anthony Princeton, I dont think this was a Tide turning signing by any means. I don’t put much worth in frame rates. They assume umpire inefficiency, and arent pitching staff independent. Run game isnt nearly as important as decades ago. Yeah, he’s old….Not making a case that this signing beat the world. But it’s maybe indicating a smarter Angels approach than signing Realmuto and NOT dealing with the pitching staff. I think we’ll need to take the Angels moves collectively. If signing Suzuki leaves them in on Bauer and maybe some pen help…that’s a good offseason.
I think when you factor in – more or less – negligible salary this is an excellent signing.
From what I can see, your new GM is doing an excellent job plugging roster holes while conserving the overwhelming majority of his treasure to address pitching.
As an outsider this off-season seems to have a different flavor in regards to the Angels.
Agree. This is a nice small-piece signing. Decent enough glove…I don’t really buy the framing metrics anyway…and he can be decent with the stick. Basic rule or success…don’t suck anywhere.
Well put.
The Ray’s are en vouge right now. But as a Yankee fan I’ve been watching them…well, the whole time now that I think about it.
Anyway, “don’t suck anywhere” is absolutely their approach to roster building.
It’s certainly not a bad one.
That was the Royals approach to team building when the they won AL Pennants.
As a Royals fan I’d have to disagree. Our rotation was average at best, we got lucky that a lot of the starting 5 had decent seasons from ‘14-‘15 but Guthrie, CY, Volquez, Vargas, and Duffy really isn’t a staff you would generally consider championship caliber, hence the Cueto trade. Ventura was the only guy on that staff who looked like a legitimate threat. The bullpen obviously made up for it. Esky was a poor defender and limp bat until he lit up the world in the postseason. Infante caused 2B to be a black hole until Zobrist came in, and Alex Rios/Jarrod Dyson/Johnny Gomes in RF wouldn’t really strike fear into an opposing pitcher either. We lived and died by stellar defense carrying the starters just deep enough to let HDH+ carry us home and some pretty insane luck/clutch hitting. Looking back on that team it was amazing what they accomplished when the roster did not look very championship caliber.
I’m in the Kansas City region…”just don’t suck anywhere” is taken from a direct quote of Dayton Moore. You describe some of it. The Royals won because they were adequate more places than not. It was a total team approach. Bullpen was lights out…it took some breaks.
Better money spent than the $6+ million for Castro last year.
Mr. Guest. You are probably right, but there still is Gerardo Reyes that will need to be factored into the equation.
He probably is not going to be worth a thing, but it’s still a factor.
Padres fan here – Gerardo Reyes has great stuff, but he is wildly inconsistent due to horrible control. If your pitching staff can figure out how to fix his control, then you will have a dominant reliever on your hands. If not, then he will blow games just like he did in San Diego.
I don’t think this changes the fact that they still need to upgrade their Catching
lol
Yes it does Mr. Taco. BTW, earth has the best tacos.
AYO
Great add. Now go get a starter or two.
Well him and Stassi should work….for now. Looks like it takes the Halos out of Realmuto. But opens the door for Bauer to save some money. And we still need a good young catcher soon. I like this signing for this season. Now we need some damn pitching!
The Halos said weeks ago they were not going to pursue JT Realmuto.
Good signing!
Meanwhile Yadier Molina & JT Realmuto are still sitting out there and the last time I checked one is a sure fire HOF’er
ldubdj.
The Angels have bigger needs in their pen and in their rotation. The Angels were smart not to blow their wad to acquire a catcher.
Fondly, Dirk Calloway
Bold of you to assume Realmuto is a hall of famer.
Bold of you to believe Molina is not a Hall of Famer.
Bet any amount of money Yadi is first ballot Hall of Famer!
How much?
One million Cimolians?
Molina is easily a hall of famer.
He’s widely considered the best defensive catcher in the last 50 years, snd unlike Pudge Rodriquez he hasn’t been tied to PEDs.
I’m not doubting he’ll get in. I just don’t think he’s first ballot.
Kyle, My bet is it will be first ballot. He’s a darling of old school and the sabre crowd. But it also depends on who is on the ballot with him.
Last time I checked Omar Vizquel his 11 gold gloves, 2877 hits, 456 doubles etc are still not elected into the HOF after 3 years. Eventually Omar will be and possibly Yadi elected but not in the first ballot.
Are you going to let Mark Belanger in, he was a better defender…. bar far.
Since 1960, Shortstops with a higher WAR than Vizquel, Who are eligible and didn’t sniff the Hall of Fame.
Tony Fernandez
Jim Fregosi
Toby Harrah
Bert Campaneras
I’d take everyone of them over Vizquel.
I had a front row seat to Fernandez. I would’ve taken him over Vizquel also. Fernandez was overlooked in his heyday, and he was the reason Trammell didn’t win 7-8 Gold Gloves.
Guest…. You are exactly right
I’ve seen them all play, and as players, I’d take them all over Vizquel.
If you were left with the last SS remaining of the aforementioned, you’d still have a great SS. they were all terrific players.
Spike, you are correct. But I wouldn’t suggest any of them belong in the Hall of Fame.
Tony Fernandez and Omar Vizquel: the 1997 Cleveland Indians double play combo
Never mind swabersmom. He’s one of those cocky cub fans that hates anything Cardinals. It just kills him that the Cards have more titles than the cubs do.
Vizquel and Molina really aren’t even close to the same player, though. Yadi provided several seasons of above average to excellent offensive capability paired with his defense. Vizquel had one season where he was well above average, and only one other where he was average. All others below average…
Vizquel – 41.8 fWAR over his first 17 seasons (and .7 in the six seasons following…)
Molina – 54.5 fWAR over his 17 seasons
Johnny Bench?
Molina want to stay in St. Louis at HIS price and is playing the waiting game.
I just looked at his 2017 – 2020 numbers, not bad…pretty good actually. His knowledge should help overcome his defensive slide.
38 year old catchers routinely fall off a cliff, all this money would have been better spent setting it on fire.
This is a random age and belief
Im curious can you name 5 catchers that were regular catchers at 38?
There aren’t many, my point was that wasting any money on a below average C who also is 38 is absurd waste of money – there’s about 50 guys in the minors who would outproduce Suzuki in 2021. No, he was signed for another reason – a political one. Same as Rendon, the Angels owner is a massive donor to the soon to be former Prez, Suzuki had that ugly, nasty, racist photo of the pres treating him like a child. Rendon claimed “We look out for our own” after he was signed, meaning Moreno, this stinks to high heaven and if you are an Angels fan, you should be furious Moreno is only signing right wingers.
wut?
@Roll
Carlton Fisk
Bob Boone
Benito Santiago
Ivan Rodriguez
Brad Ausmus
@Marty McRae
We should be furious that you are advocating for political discrimination on a Baseball forum. A person’s politics has absolutely nothing to do with the player themselves unless they force the issue themselves. I have not seen that and even so Suzuki is entitled to his beliefs just as much as anyone else.
It is ironic that the party that prides itself on so-called “tolerance” is the most intolerant of them all
Good, maybe Jed will keep Contreras for 2021.
Realmuto is losing leverage with each C signing. Should be interesting.
If you think a 38 year old catcher has ANY impact on the best catcher in baseballs market, you are massively, massively delusional. LOL @ you.
Well, Marty, the Angels are one more team that won’t be bidding on him. So his market is shrinking. So it absolutely affects his market. What team out there, that needs a C, has $20MM/year budgeted for the position?
Stymeedone,
You are right. His agent can’t tell the Phillies the Angels have just made JT a great offer.
Every team off the table is one less bidder and one less bluff.
True. No Yankees or Red Sox. No Dodgers. Mets and Angels now off the board. Cubs and Cardinals crying poor. No interest from the White Sox. All the big money teams basically never got on the board. Other than some vague interest earlier this Winter from the Nationals it is basically down to a two horse race between the Phillies and the Blue Jays for Realmuto unless a team comes completely out of the blue (Mariners?, Tigers?, Marlins?)
@stymeedone – so you don’t think its possible that the Angels are thinking of a Realmuto/Suzuki tandem? Suzuki is not an everyday player anymore – why do you ASSume they are out of the market for JTR?
Only one legit catcher has signed, McCann.
Alright, one less suitor to worry about potentially dragging Molina away from the Cardinals!
Guess halos aren’t trading for Contreras.
Kurt was all class following the Adenhart tragedy, raising money for the survivor of that night his college teammate John Wilhite.
Hopefully he still has a little left in the tank.
Hilarious you would describe an ardent T*ump supporter as “all class”
He doesnt deserve a job, he’s a 38 year old catcher, his career is over, but his kind look after each other.
Angels will always be irrelevant until you get a new owner, sorry.
Who cares what his political affiliation is?
Stassi and Suzuki will be splitting time. Please get a clue.
It appears to be Stassi majority of the time. What that split is who knows.. 2 of 3?
It’ll be some kind of split, and it will probably depend on who has the hot hand is my guess. The split could be even, it could be 100-60. Regardless, $1.5-mil for a backup isn’t bad either.
Marty it’s only a one year deal Max Stassi is probably the primary catcher Once he’s good to go after hip surgery and the reports from Max Stassi sounds like he’s ready Suzuki is a great pick up for the Angels
Any relations to Marty McFly
@geno55 – a catcher having hip surgery = career over, sorry man.
On the other hand, the Angels are most likely going to sign Realmuto too, and Suzuki will be his backup.
Surprise surprise, T*ump’s biggest donor is signing all the mlbagas – first Rendon, now this washed up scrub.
Keep on not signing any pitchers though! Maybe fellow repub Barry Zito will come out of retirement again for you.
Another clueless sick human being heard from.
You’re the prime example of everything wrong with this world.
Hyperbole much? He’s calling out disgusting human beings who should be called out.
Antifa isnt an actual thing.
The anti fascists are fascists
Marty McNothing – you’re opinions & knowledge leave a lot to be desired.
I like the signing, I was disappointed when Suzuki didn’t resign with the Braves back in 2018. I also think any catcher who plays 17 years & acquires over 2000 hits should be considered for the HOF, maybe not the first year, but eventually.. Great knees Molina!
Someone who thinks Curly was smart thinks I’m wrong and dumb – lol ok man take a look in the mirror, the Angels still need pitching and a 38 year old catcher who is about to break down in 2 weeks isnt solving anything
Obviously, you don’t know who Gerome Horowitz really was, a comedic genius.. I’m 69 years old & when I look in the mirror, I’m good. When you look in the mirror, it cracks.. Please stop with your biased, political rhetoric. On this site we want to hear sports, not your agenda.
$1..5 is like minimum wage for veteran MLB players ..no harm signing him as insurance.
Nice sign LAA. He was one of the catchers I was hoping the Tigers would’ve picked up.. Maybe, Tyler Flowers???
I viewed the Angels as the dark horse for signing JT.. so much for that!
Angels sign a local catcher and the comment section turns political.. Sigh
Evan, you and me both hate it. I hope all the comments regarding politics get deleted.
Both sides are mad. Both sides dislike the actions of the other side. Both sides have plenty to be embarrassed about. Both sides have plenty to be mad about.
But only one side thinks it’s completely the other sides fault.
I don’t like the guy personally. There however, have been some terrible take a it’s hilarious
Don’t forget, one side is pro-american and one side is anti-americn
Well there’s one side, and then the other side, that just makes up fantasies. Things that aren’t real. So there’s really only one side.
The good news is, the grownups are back in charge now! Time to clean up the mess left behind.
You only hate it because you lost and your gravy train is gone and now you have to take responsibility for your disgusting actions over the last 4 years.
Its called KARMA and m*gas absolutely hate it!
Ohh, of course! Why not bring confrontational and mostly irrefragable topics, to the place in our lives where we can escape the every day troubles?
For some, peace is war.
If you don’t think “everyday troubles” and the huge financial behemoth of pro sports aren’t grossly intertwined, or you choose to just departmentalized them as a numbing agent, you’re part of the problem.
It doesn’t have to be. Neither does the entertainment industry have to be. They are escapist entertainment.
It’s people like you that wont allow people to enjoy things that shouldn’t be political.
Lol, whatever makes you happy. I’m going to enjoy my Friday.
One side is saying certain players shouldn’t have a job because of who they support politically. The right is about freedom to believe in different things, the left wants everyone they disagree w cancelled. That says all you need to know about which side is more tolerant and in line w our constitution
One side won an election fair and square the other sides leader lied about that and they believe him.
Did they win it fair and square. There was plenty of fraud… I got two ballots and didn’t request a single one, and I voted at the poll. Voter Id and this would all have been prevented. Ballot Harvesting is ripe with fraud.
As for not accepting the election, that’s EXACTLY what the Dems have been doing for the last four years. The Dems lied, the CIA lied, the FBI lied and they illegally spied on a presidency and a campaign.
Nonsense!
Nonsense just clueless
It’s ignorance and blind loyalty like that thinking that caused an ugly vulgar attack on America’s democracy which ended with destruction and uncalled for loss of lives.
Amen Evan. Save the politics for gab ya bunch of freakin boomers. Baseball talk ONLY on MLBTR please!
Maybe better voter ID laws would help, but you obviously wouldn’t have been accepted at the polls had you mailed in either of those ballots you received, while at least one of them would’ve been voided had you mailed them both in (or been in transit when you voted at the polls).
The true “fact” is that there is zero evidence of any widespread voter fraud in either the 2016 or 2020 elections, so just get over it.
Yet I bet you were silent when antifa and BLM burnt hundreds of buildings down, rioted, stole,killed. The hypocrisy is oozing out of themed.
You should teach us all how to be good! Tell us again about how wonderfully un-racist you are? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA it never gets old!
Not true! No fraud! Everyone knows better than that.
Why is calling someone a “b00mer” an insult? I see it a lot and don’t understand it. (it’s a serious question, not sarcasm.)
Lanidrac – “The true “fact” is that there is zero evidence of any widespread voter fraud in either the 2016 or 2020 elections, so just get over it.”
I see the “no evidence of wide-spread fraud” defense a lot. The fact is, voter fraud does not have to be wide-spread to have the intended affect. The fraud only needs to be in specific targeted areas or states that will tip the results, usually battleground states.
tom brunansky nailed it – halo11fan is the most clueless and brainwashed poster on here
@phattboy4
“The right is about freedom to believe in different things”
Fascism. They want to be able to believe in fascism, the thing that destroys freedom for everyone else. Therefore they do not deserve that freedom, if they are only going to abuse it and use it to destroy other peoples lives.
Marty – “Therefore they do not deserve that freedom, if they are only going to abuse it and use it to destroy other peoples lives.”
Isn’t that fascism? You are suggesting someone who doesn’t believe like you should get stripped of their freedom.
The problem with liberalism is they have sold to their followers that they are the exact opposite of what they are. They stifle any speech or thought that isn’t in line with their agenda and target to destroy the individual who is different from them. That isn’t freedom. That’s social slavery. Liberals are bullies in the purest form.
A dog is still a dog even if it calls itself a cat. Antifa are fascists regardless of what they call themselves.
I don’t know if I like this move. If they go and land some strong bullpen arms and maybe even a Bauer then I get this move. Having a bat first option behind the plate is fine if you improve the bullpen and get some upgrades for the rotation. If you DON’T do those things than it seems like your next best move is to improve the pitching you have by landing JTR.
Now that back up option is out the window. I suppose you could hope that this MEANS the Angels will push for Bauer/Hand but for Hand they had better hurry because the Mets might be closing in on a deal. But then, given the climate of the market it may be that landing both of them was never going to happen.
What’s not to like about this? He’s back up bro, for 1.5m with a 40 man that only had 2 catchers. Much needed, and of course they’ll add pitching. Jeez!
You didn’t really read what I said. I didn’t say I don’t like it. I said having a bat first catcher is fine. The problem is, the Angels now have three catchers on their roster so it seems less likely that JTR is a fall back plan at all. That is a bad thing if they don’t sign the pitching they need too because then JTR would make a LOT of since.
I just pretty much restated my points that you didn’t respond too. Learn to read. Jeez!
You will be missed in DC. Great for you playing so close to home.
I like the signing.
Baseball has changed as far as base stealing so I imagine he will start vs teams without much of a running game . This is more than 50% of MLB.
The framing I can live with and $1.5 million allows to allocate payroll for pitching.
I’m hoping Artie would be willing to push payroll to 200 million this year with Pujols salary off the books next year .
Welcome home!Tough man who demands the D plays smart.GREAT PITCHERS love him.I hope this is a precursor to good fortune garnering the halos a #1 & #2 starting pitchers.
The Angels revolving door behind the plate continues. Suzuki will at least give them decent production on both sides of the ball.
I understand all the mixed feelings from the posters but I actually like this signing by the Halos at the bargain price of $1.5M. Offensively, Suzuki is a plus when looking at the dearth of catchers around the MLB. And while Suzuki has never been known for the defensive side of the ball, the Angels could throw Stassi back there in the late innings. My feeling is Suzuki makes 95 starts behind the dish. Remember just 2 seasons ago for the World Champion Nationals Suzuki had 17 HR, 63 RBI, and an .809 OPS in just 280 AB. I think the only other similar type catcher they could have signed was Tyler Flowers, who I’ll call a poor man’s Suzuki.
Nice pickup for the Angels. On the pitching side, I think they should take a chance on Aaron Sanchez and Chris Archer. Both of those guys seem like great low risk/high reward players who could make a comeback.
It’d definitely be a savvy move on the Angels’ part if they reeled in one of Archer or Sanchez, or even Paxton, but only as a supplemental signing to a bigger piece.
Let’s go! Paxton, G Rich, and Rosenthal. Lock’ em in, all 3 for the price of Bauer. I’ll take the upside of the 3 over The 1.
Swing…
I wouldn’t mind that at all.
I’d like to see them take a shot on Taijuan Walker, or Jose Quintana, maybe even Jake Odorizzi if the price is right. Not sure how confident I’am handing Paxton over 10 mill. For the bullpen maybe someone like Keone Kela, Joakim Soria, Yusmeiro Petit, Brad Hand, Ryan Tepera, Justin Wilson, Garret Richards, Kirby Yates, Chaz Roe, might even take a chance on someone like Brad Peacock coming back later in the year.
a very good signing. gives time for kids to learn and get better.
a steal at that price
Decent signing for a backup backstop. Hopefully it signals they are ready to spend on a starter and reliever or two. If I were Perry, I’d go get Sonny Gray from the Reds and sign Rosenthal to the pen. Then I’d look at ways to get rid of Upton and upgrade there.
When does he finally stop putting up average to above average offensive numbers? Always liked him….I feel like with his name he had no other choice to be a baseball player. I wouldn’t trust Kurt Suzuki the car salesman or Dr. Kurt Suzuki. But I still trust Kurt Suzuki the catcher. Maybe Kurt Suzuki the stuntman I would trust too…
Agreed. I am not getting any cut of brisket from Kurt Suzuki the butcher.
Kurt Suzuki the realtor? No way. Think of how his business card would look. And he would definitely wear a jacket with a polo on underneath.
You shouldnt trust him with anything, he’s a repub.
I’d trust him as a street fighter character. Even the Super Nintendo version.
Just a solid signing for them. An immediate upgrade for a team that seems to struggle to find success on that position…
Good signing I think. KS is a proven entity that we won’t have to wonder about…plug and play.
I believe we have a hole in RF and an expensive below average performing LF starter. But nothing is more important than pitching.
another trainwreck of a season for the Angel’s and another season Trout doesn’t get to taste the playoffs
stewart – what are the facts you are basing your opinion on?
Stewart, in fairness to the Angels, and all MLB clubs, shouldn’t we let the off season play out before we announce playoff teams?
I don’t think Suzuki is intended to be the Angels marquee signing of the off season. He fills a glaring hole at a reasonable cost and leaves room to sign a few pitchers.
Phillie fan here. I like this signing.
Suzuki is putting up better #s than Posey at this point