Why Did the Angels Sign Yusei Kikuchi?

Yusei Kikuchi has signed a contract with the Los Angeles Angels today for 3 years $63m. Do you like this move for the Angels and Yusei Kikuchi?
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45 comments

  2. At the point where a rebuilding team like the Angels is gonna spend big money on a free agent, why not sign a younger player with more name recognition to build around? For example, get Bregman for 6 years. At least then, if nothing else, you'll put butts in seats. Signing a decent starter for big money does nothing for them.

  3. Lol! Just call them the LA Angels… Let me explain. First, a question. Do you think the Rams, Chargers, or even the Clippers play in LA? They don't. They play in Inglewood. Inglewood is 19 miles away from Downtown LA. Anaheim is 24 miles away from Downtown LA. Not that much of a difference. Maybe the Angels claiming LA is a little lame. Okay. With that logic, let's apply that to other franchises. If you think the LA thing is silly, you must think it's silly to call them the Dallas Cowboys. Fort Worth Cowboys, that's better. The Santa Clara 49ers? Nice. Tampa Bay Rays have always been playing in St. Petersburg. (Until now 😂) Oh, and can't forget the New York Jets or Giants. New York!? They don't even play in the state of New York. They play in NEW JERSEY!!
    The people of Anaheim don't even get Anaheim local news. They get LA local news.
    Just call them the Los Angeles Angels!

  7. I think it all depends on how much is Arte actually willing to spend.

    Say, if he will go right up to the tax, I can see a move to get Max Freid, trade away Ward and Anderson and get that Bellinger contract off of the Cubs for basically little compensation. With that, Trout rotates with Soler as a full time DH/LF.

    All of the sudden, you are looking at Fried, Kikuchi, Soriano, Detmers and Hendricks as a good rotation, with guys like Dana, Kochanowicz, Aldegheri and Silseth as depth.

    And as for the lineup, it's great with Trout, and bad without Trout. And that's a problem. But if Trout is healthy, then yes, that team might be good enough to win like 85-90 games.

    That's so so so many if's though.

  8. Surprisingly, the Angels have quite a bit of money to use over the next few years. I think, if they improve and get around .500 this year, someone like Vladdy Jr. could definitely be in play. Nolan isn’t that great of a 1B and they could just put vladdy at DH. His father also had some really good years with the Angels too. Trade for someone like a Brent Rooker maybe, focus on improving the bullpen, and you can get somewhere.

  9. Surprisingly, the Angels have quite a bit of money to use over the next few years. I think, if they improve and get around .500 this year, someone like Vladdy Jr. could definitely be in play. Nolan isn’t that great of a 1B and they could just put vladdy at DH. His father also had some really good years with the Angels too. Trade for someone like a Brent Rooker maybe, focus on improving the bullpen, and you can get somewhere.

  10. Blue Jays signed Kikuchi for 13M per year I believe few years back, coming off some terrible stats in Seattle. At the time, everyone including myself as a Jays fan thought that was a terrible contract for a pitcher who doesn't have MLB stuff. He struggled for one year, but over the next offseason something happened and Yusei dominated spring training, then put together an incredibly solid season with the Jays. He became a fan favourite. He has a cute wife. Next season he has some ups and downs with the Jays with consistency (the reason his ERA is in the 4's for Toronto is thanks to a couple of tough outings at the end) but still put up respectable numbers before being traded to Houston. Of course then, he improved even more and got those K's up. If the Angels put the right people around Kikuchi, I'm sure he'll be fine. But I don't know how much I trust the Angels on their development, they are known for signing veterans to big deals and those veterans having a drastic decline in production. Kikuchi is a warrior who works hard even when everyone was bashing him for poor pitching. He should, and very likely will get massive ovations when he returns to both Toronto and Houston.

  11. @GiraffeNeckMarc I’m going to address your concerns of things “making sense”…First & foremost this is professional baseball. One year a club can lose 106 games and the next be playing in the ALDS (Royals) or The richest owner in baseball can publicly state we’re planning to contend in 2025 and next be playing in the NLCS in 2024 (Mets). Point being any roster carrying a HOF player like Mike Trout has the potential to come out and contend for a Championship. Eg. Francisco Lindor for Mets.

    Secondly, Perry Minasian understands owner Arte Moreno wants to compete for a championship and is willing to extend the pocket book this offseason to improve the club. Perry will take advantage of this characteristic especially with Perrys last contract year for himself and Ron W. Looking to get extended. Perry knows the floor must be raised in each department of the club. Now the situation calls for value. How can Perry spread the money around enough while still getting high quality talent. Perry is evaluating upward trending players who from a cost perspective can be acquired at minimal cost. Angels have acquired 2 SP (Yusei Kukuchi, Kyle Hendricks); DH (Jorge Soler); C (Travis D’arnaud); SS (Kevin Newman) for an annual cost of $45mm while shedding $15mm (Patrick Sandoval, Griffin Canning, Matt Thaiss)…A difference of $30mm of added payroll and Perry improved our DH, 5 Starter mix, INF, and catching. All this before the offseason has really taken shape. 👍👍Awesome work!

    Lastly, with what Perry has done thus far I expect his focus to pivot to building out the bullpen. Finding value in the market for low cost relievers with high octane and diverse looks out of the pen: different arm angles, lefties, back end & high leverage situation experience. 👊

  12. I as an angels fan can tell you his stats do not matter because angels coaching is doodoo and no free agent that comes to them leaves better than when they arrived.

  17. I've seen a ton of Angels fans mad about the deal with Kikuchi but as a jays fan, his numbers do not reflect how good he actually is. He's an electric pitcher when he gets going, and if you want proof of that just look at what he did for the astro's when he got traded for them. He gets lit up every once in a while but so does literally every other pitcher. He'll be great for you guys as long as your pitching coaches dont literally try to kill him.

  20. Angels can’t win…sign players they’re foolish don’t sign players they’re wasting talent. Let the offseason play out. They win 83 games and it’s a 20 game improvement

  22. We have a 97% chance to get a top 6 draft pick so tanking this year would be kinda counterproductive, I think minisan is trying to raise the floor of this team so that in 2 – 3 years when perhaps dana, moore & some other prospects will be ready they will be able to compete , I see this as a move more towards the future then right now & as far as signing vets I think he signs them just as much for their knowledge in addition to their talent

  24. Right now how there rotation sits he is the number one, he isnt a number one in my opinion, good pick up dont get me wrong but now go get an actual ace or number one like a M Fried or B.Snell and then the rotation looks somewhat better be

  30. The Angels are a couple years away from being a couple years away. They finally have promising talent in Neto, O’hoppe, Joyce, Dana, Moore and couple other recent picks and signings. This last year one of the angels biggest flaws was not being able to field major league talent when starters got hurt. This has been a common theme for the last couple years actually.

    A lot of these signings are meant to change the culture of the squad and add people with experience that are either at replacement level or better. This team had Brandon Drury, who in 97 games had a wRC+ of 34 w/ -2.1 WAR. On top of the countless AAA guys that had extended runs in the majors.

    Soler- Powerbat that’ll be the 3rd/4th OF
    Hendricks- 4/5 vet starter
    Kikuchi- quality not quite Ace level starter
    D’Arnaud- vet backup C w/ pop
    Newman- infield utility that can actually hit somewhat

    These guys are pretty much replacing Willie Calhoun, Brandon Drury,Thais, Canning and the revolving door of AAA talent. Injuries happen all the time but the main roster was lacking, talent and experience. Rendon has two more years on the books. If the team can continue to have success with draft picks and develop the guys in the organization, hopefully they can turn it around.

  31. AA is gearing up for something big. He declined d’arnaud’s option traded Soler as fast as possible. He’s clearing the books of as much as he can. Something big is coming.

  32. Idk if this video is gonna do as well as others but love this kind of content. Just talking ball in an easily digestible format and nerding out on a specific subject. Please keep doing this sort of thing

  36. Arte is delusional. You’re so right about him being a crazy person lol

    The whole front office is delusional, they truly believe they can contend. And that’s the worst part. Being a fan of this team is rough lately

  37. as an angels fan i don’t give a shit anymore. we’re not gonna make the playoffs and it doesn’t matter what trades we make. the team is completely fucked so it doesn’t even matter. my favorite team since I was a little kid, and i’m an extremely loyal person but i’ve just lost all respect for the angels. i love ur content marc but you’re just wasting your time covering this pathetic team. they’re never gonna have another winning season or make the playoffs

  38. as an angels fan, i don't love it. but with the way the draft works now i see no point in tanking. so im guessing our front office just is hoping for the best? trading away the taylor ward and maybe even tyler anderson would get us some prospects but are they even enough to move the needle? 😭 idk we are lost

  41. I've watched him over the last couple of seasons as a Yankee fan and I Can say Kikuchi at times Can be unhitable. He has definitely improved and has a great feel for his pitches at this point in his career.

  42. I disagree completely. Sigh him sure but 21m a year based on a 10 start sample size? That is crazy talk. I do hope the Astros fixed him but that is way too rich with way too little proof he can sustain.

  43. As an angels fan we were so close to seeing new ownership and as an Orange County Native I was hoping the scandal with him and the ex mayor of Anaheim Harry sidhu would help push him out. We just gotta wait till this man decides he’s too old to own a team 😅🙃

  45. Using career stats fits a narrative as opposed to using 10 starts? Are you serious? Could he be good going forward sure, but I dont know any profession where you salary is based on a handful of your best working days.

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