March 16: To make room for Suzuki on the 40-man roster, Chris Rodriguez was placed on the 60-day IL, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The move is just a formality, since it was reported back in November that Rodriguez underwent surgery that would keep him out of action for the majority of the 2022 season.
March 12: The Angels have agreed to bring back catcher Kurt Suzuki on a one-year, $1.75MM contract, pending a physical, per Robert Murray of FanSided.
It was January of last year that the Angels signed Suzuki for the first time, giving him a one-year contract worth $1.5MM. At the time, Suzuki was coming off an excellent four-year stretch from 2017 to 2020. He had a wRC+ above 100 in each of those four campaigns and secured himself a World Series ring with the Nationals in 2019.
Unfortunately, 2021 was a disappointing season for Suzuki, as he slumped to a line of .224/.294/.342, for a wRC+ of 76, relinquishing the starting duties to Max Stassi as the season wore on. Regardless, the Angels were evidently satisfied enough with the Suzuki-Stassi pairing to give it one more shot. Stassi will reach free agency at the end of this year.
It seems likely that Suzuki will serve in a backup capacity, given that he’s 38 years old and Stassi is about to turn 31. The latter also had an excellent campaign last year, hitting at an above-average rate and providing excellent defense for a 2.9 fWAR season.
It might seem a bit eyebrow-raising to for the club to be spending money on a 38-year-old catcher who’s coming off a down year. However, it’s worth pointing out that this year’s free agent catching market was exceptionally thin, with Yan Gomes and Manny Pina representing the top of the class. Those two signed before the lockout, leaving Suzuki as one of the few healthy catchers with a track record of success, even if he didn’t show it in 2021. The only other catcher on the club’s 40-man roster, Matt Thaiss, has only 64 games of MLB experience. Given that he has options, the acquisition of Suzuki will allow the 26-year-old to function as a depth option in Triple-A.
I coulda sworn he was retiring
Enough of the excuses. Fans come out win or lose. So why can’t Moreno spend another $50MM a season? Especially when the Dodgers are spending $300MM? Either sell the team, spend what you need to to compete, or sell all the players off and rebuild with a boat load of talent for Trout and Ohtani. But the premise that fans are satisfied fast forwarding games to Ohtani and Trout’s at bats is wrong– and that’s where the team is at right now. The revenue is there in buckets.
The Dodgers TV contract is over 8 billion for 25 years. The Angels is 3 billion for 20 years. You don’t need to be a financial expert to understand why one team can spend near 300M a year and the other can’t. Spending does not guarantee success. Even with all the Dodgers spending, did they finish in first last year? No. Did they go to the World Series? No. These owners are not owners to lose money. For the most part, these owners are here to make money. They are not going to spend more than they are bringing in. If they spent more than they make, they wouldn’t be owners.
Baseball isn’t a level playing field like in other sports. The Angels have less budget available to them than the Dodgers, but there teams that have far less than the Angels. It is amazing that Angel fans complain about the spending, but the Angels have continually brought in some of the best free agent available during Arte’s tenure. as owner, Vlad Guerrero, Torii Hunter, Albert, Pujols, Josh Hamilton, Anthony Rendon., etc. You can also throw in Mike Trout’ contract Have they all worked out? Obviously not, but you can’t say these were contracts of a “cheap” owner.
That’s all fine and dandy if you want to look at it solely from a business perspective. And I get that owners definitely do that. But fans don’t care about squeezing every last nickel out of the club. They don’t average much more in payroll than what their local cable package is worth. There’s a ton more revenue that comes from MLB licensing of broadcasts and all that gate money, which isn’t being put back into the club. It’s fine if you think that the owners should profit as much as possible but once again, fans don’t care about that. They care about playoffs and championships.
Why?????!!!!!!! That’s money well wasted!
What are they doing?? He was awful last year ugh another last place finish
The Angels need a back up catcher. Minimum salary is over 700 thousand. I’m fine with it.
you can do much worse at backup C and for 1.75
Angels, and most all teams, will need three catchers – Stassi, Suzuki and Thaiss – to navigate 162 games with fewer off days and DHs. And the payroll is a tad top heavy so they aren’t going to be looking at pricier options.
Is the site no longer linking players to BB Reference?
He was so bad last year. And now he’s older.
Not a fan of this move.
Suzuki, Kikuchi….satisfies my yen for signing news.
Wrong Suzuki. I think they wanted the other one.
Stassi is always hurt. Suzuki worked really well with Ohtani last year. Thaiss was the only other catcher on the 40 man roster. I was hoping that the Angels would bring, Suzuki back.
this is a good sign. he speaks japanese fluently and catches ball all needed for his position.
He doesn’t speak Japanese fluently, but he is Japanese, and is familiar with the language, culture and attitudes.
well, he once said he speaks the language well. how well? i haven’t seen him speak but i’d rather trust him.
Arigato!
i only know bad words in japanese.
My understanding is he wasn’t fluent but could get by. You could be right.
He doesn’t speak Japanese fluently, not even conversationally. The way he put it in an interview is he speaks “baseball Japanese”, in other words, throw the slider.
What’s beautiful picture.
Solid pickup.
He is not worth that.
Just kinda meh. A backup catcher for $1.75 million. Now that you have your backstops complete, spend some money on pitchers!!
Hasn’t that ship sailed? What even slight difference maker is available at this point?
Probably, but fans can always hope for something to happen. Trade for some high salary starters? SOOOOO tired of missing the playoffs every year because of a lack of starting pitching. Arte refuses to sign pitchers to multi-year deals and its killing the Angels ability to compete.
i am hoping they build a very strong bull pen. may be a pipe drem considering how badly the f/o botched on that last year. let us hope they have learned a lesson.
I certainly do sympathize with you as an Angels fan. You guys deserve better than the effort that has been put into the club for the better part of the last decade.
Wow, this thread really went in all different directions. Probably best to just close the comments on this one… sheesh
Just mute the Q followers. The discussion is much more peaceful and actually based in reality.
Cincinnati would have had a pretty good trade chip right now with Tucker Barnhart if they hadn’t dumped him to Detroit before the lockout.
Cincinnati had a decision to make on picking up the option, and they weren’t paying $8MM for a back up catcher. It wasn’t a dump. You snooze, you lose!
The Reds didn’t need to pay anything to keep Barnhart through the lockout. A gold glove backstop at $8M/1 has trade value in a very tight catching market. Which was very foreseeable when they cut ties with him. The only reasonable explanation is the uncertainty about the CBA timing and how it would affect the trade market.
Signing’s like this aren’t always strictly about individual stats. He might very well provide the clubhouse guidance and support needed to help bring younger players to their full potential. These guys dont have to speak the same verbal language. What matters is they understand each other’s game as a team… and what that produces on the field.
Hey man, we need players who can play. There is plenty of leadership on that team with Trout, Rendon, Ohtani, Syndergaard– come on. Suzuki is a tired player. No more excuses for this owner.
Yes, but the “players who can play” need to come from “somewhere”. Exactly where are these great catchers who can play? Because the team I support could desperately use him.
I didn’t say anything about leadership. I am talking more along the lines high baseball IQ and someone who can help pitchers make adjustments. He might vibe really well with the other guys and in turn increase their level of play. Ohtani sure seems to put a few more things together when Suzuki came around. We don’t know, we are just fans on the sidelines haha.
No doubt Suzuki has always been looked upon well by his teammates wherever he has played. Anyone who’s had a job should understand the importance of having coworkers that get along well with others.
Is this a joke? Suzuki was retiring– he’s done. This is the best we can do? Pathetic.
For you and all those like you, exactly what were the backstop options? Do you want to go with only one catcher? Do they have an MLB ready player in their farm system? I’m just not sure why this even matters to anyone hating on the deal. Worst case is that they release him at some point and write-off some loose change.
Your argument lacks creativity. What were the options after all the options have been removed? Is that your question? We should be happy with a player who would have retired if it wasn’t for the Angels throwing him a life-line? The season has been over for six months– there was time to address this issue? And now we will do what we have done for years– backfill our missing spots with rehabbing players and over the hill, marginal players, while people like you say there were no choices– of course there were other choices. Right now at best, AT BEST the Angels finish third, and most likely 4th unless they add two more legit starters. Texas is now closing the gap in a big way and could push them to last if their pitching falters. BTW… Syndergaard is a rehabbing player. We have no idea what he will be… All-Star or Bust? The Angels also had the choice to focus on player development– they have not and as a result our system is largely empty. The two catchers they did draft (Thaiss and Ward) were both moved out from behind the plate and not allowed to develop. it has been their choice to keep drafting middle infielders.
So please get creative for us and explain what they could have, should have done. To be clear, not years ago but today.
Are you kidding? Catchers have been signed and traded for the whole off season, but not for us. Where is the dramatic improvement of this team? Retaining Iglesias is not an improvement– it’s status quo. We swapped Syndergaard for Cobb. We added Loup from the left side— improvement. Trout and Rendon are coming off injuries. Adell is not ready to play every day. We have no legit 4th outfielder. We need at least two starters and two more legit bullpen arms. Where are we finishing right now? Not ahead of the Astros or the Mariners, and I doubt the A’s. Texas is vastly improved and they are not done adding. Maybe Suzuki is their best option today, but what lead us to today? Certainly not developing talent has lead us here. Horrible bloated free agent signings lead us here. Top heavy contracts lead us here.
Once again, that’s complaining about the past. I’m not arguing that the Angels aren’t a poorly run cheap organization. But the move itself is not really one to get all that disappointed about. You seem to be disappointed for really other reasons and taking your frustration out on this signing.
Heck as a Yankees fan, it’s tough not having seen them do squat either. I’m still shaking my head over why Seager won’t be in pinstripes next year. He made all the sense in the world.
You still havnt proposed an alternative to Suzuki.
Complaining about the past? Are you a serious person or just gaslighting people? The past as you call it is the present off-season. Moreno sets the budget and limitations. As the wealthiest man in Arizona and having made billions as owner of the Angels he has every financial capability to add to the roster whatever he needs, especially with Upton’s $28MM coming off the books in six months, as well as Syndergaard’s $21MM– that’s $49MM in two players. His annual revenues are extraordinary– he simply doesn’t have the will. The Rangers just acquired a legit catcher today, but it’s your contention there were ZERO options to the Angels? The Yankees have a surplus in catching. The Cubs’ catcher is available and has been advocated for by Maddon. There are young, emerging catchers in other organizations that are available. Our two catchers cannot take us the distance– highly improbable. And if Stassi gets hurt, which has been his pattern– then what?
Yes, but that isn’t TODAY. The decision TODAY is to sign him or not. Are you literally that clueless?
BTW, I’m a Yankees fan and no one thinks we have a “surplus” of catching. in fact, it’s a default situation where you don’t want to trade a guy that might bounce back offensively even though he is a DH and not a catcher. And you want to hang your hat on Higgy? Hardly much of a difference with him and Suzuki.
Sober up. You let every option pass by and sign a player who was ready to retire out of desperation, and your answer is that’s the best we could do today? If they had been proactive earlier when there were more options we wouldn’t be in this position. You are aware the Rangers just traded for an excellent catcher— that’s TODAY. But this is our only option? Try to love yourself more. You deserve better.
Yes, but who are these prospects you have that would garner an “excellent catcher”, as if that was your only need. You sober up and stop living in the rearview mirror.
Guy, we are in the here and now. It’s not the rear view mirror– it’s actually happening in real time. You say Suzuki is the best we can do, and I let you know Texas got a much better player today, and your response is that we don’t have any prospects to make a trade like that. If that is indeed true, whose fault is that? You need better self-esteem. You deserve good things just like other people. The Angels have prospects and players enough to trade and sign for what they need to compete. If you want to pay to see a 4th place team for another year– have fun. I do not. Why is it that so many other teams draft better, develop better, trade better and win more consistently? No playoffs for seven years is acceptable? Questioning is looking in the past? Well, you better learn from the past if you want a future.
The “fault” that you seem to want to assess is in the PAST. What about this simple fact do you not understand??? It’s like you’re living in an alternate universe. The Angels have one of the lowest ranked farm systems and while I’m sure you could put together a package of your best prospects to have gotten Garver, is that seriously what you want? As if that is the missing link to a WS run? WAKE UP! Their problems go way deeper than this.
Also, considering who the Twins traded for an MLB SS with that specific need in mind, it’s very debatable if there was ever a fit there.
OMG. Are you a family member of Moreno? His lawyer? Accountant? He has the money to buy whatever he wants and never feel a thing. Here is a plan for you… sign the Japanese star right fielder to play right field, and use Adell to obtain a frontline starter. Trade prospects, which they have for Chicago’s catcher. Go sign two more bullpen arms. They should have signed either Stroman, Rodon, or others… but since that’s the past and for this exercise we can’t do that I would trade whatever I have to get two starters. If i had to move Walsh to right and use another bat at first I would. We need a shortstop, so move Fletcher to short and trade with the Mets for Jeff mcNeil. There are an infinite number of trade and signing options that can still address our needs. None of this happens in a vacuum, the Angels are making choices, and as usual a lot of them are bad. I do not blame Minnassian. I blame Arte. He claims to be willing to spend whatever he needs to win, and then he ties the hands of the GM. This GM did not get excited about signing Suzuki– he had no choice after Moreno put him in this position.
First off, what the heck is the comment about Moreno when all I’ve done is vehemently bash him all over this thread???
You sound like every unreasonable Yankee fan of the past who declare things like:
“They need to trade for Felix Hernandez.”
“They need to trade for Mike Trout.”
As if just wishing it makes it happen. I know you think you are some genius GM but there are various considerations that act as blockades that you and I may never know about. Not the least of which is your cheap owner. If he spent money, that could solve various problems. But he won’t and you guys have limited prospects and front line starters aren’t going to be had with Adell alone, not even close.
Hey man, we need players who can play. There is plenty of leadership on that team with Trout, Rendon, Ohtani, Syndergaard– come on. Suzuki is a tired player. No more excuses for this owner.
Good move for the Angels, they have terrible depth behind the plate. I thought that Suzuki would be a good fit for the Orioles as a mentor to Adley but i guess it wasn’t meant to be
Guy has a bad year and gets a 250k a year raise, what a country.
How hard would it have been to sign Carlos Rodon or Kikuchi, maybe even both. Angel fans deserve to have a winning team but this owner is holding them back in every single way. Maybe once he passes away somehow the Angels will finally get to winning again.
Why do “Angel fans deserve to have a winning team” more than anyone else’s fans?
Not a big fan of this guy.
I swear this guy said he was retiring after last season. $7.00 a gallon for gas will do that.
This guy is still playing?
Did anyone discuss Kurt Suzuki on an article about Kurt Suzuki? He’s still a good catcher and a good hitter. He only had 219 AB’s last year, and didn’t play regularly. What are you expecting from someone playing so irregularly? Do any of you know how hard it is to play a day here and a day there and get your timing against professional pitchers?