Breaking News: Kurt Suzuki Hired as Los Angeles Angels Manager

Breaking News: Kurt Suzuki Hired as Los Angeles Angels Manager

Curt Suzuki, 42 years old, is being hired by the Angels to run the dugout. He is going to be the new manager of the Angels. Arty Moreno has made his call. He was talking to Albert Pooh Holes. He seemed to be like the front runner. It sounds like money and some other philosophies got in the way of that one. There were others like Tory Hunter in the mix, but Kurt Suzuki was a top tier candidate as well. Do either of you guys know him like well? I mean I’ve interviewed him a number of times. Super nice. Super smart for a long time. Okay. I He’s always nice. Yeah, he’s a catcher. Yeah, he’s worked a little bit. Not what is he in a special assistant to to GM Perry Minasian. So he’s been there for four years. Two years. Three years. So this was his 23 24 25. So obviously him and Masian have a relationship. um working with each other the last three years. And the two years prior he was on the Angels as a backup. He’s been there for a while. Yeah. Um Yeah. Good for him. Cool. Yeah. This is this is great. I think the baseball world needs more players becoming managers. I really like this. I really enjoy this. There’s a bunch of them now. But the more we can get the players that have been there before and understand, especially a guy who’s caught his whole career, understanding pitchers, their tendencies, and now he gets to have an opportunity to manage a team and hopefully get them kickstarted in the right direction, and it starts with our our good friend Mike Trout, and it goes from there. So, yeah, this is a great signing. I’m happy for him. Another player gets another shot of doing what he loves to do, and that’s play the game and manage a game now. So, I can’t wait to see what he has in store. I can’t wait to see his coaching philosophies. I think it’s going to be truly remarkable for him and the Angels. He hasn’t coached. Are we okay with that? He hasn’t coached in the bigs. Steven Vote did what? One year. One year as a bullpen coach in Seattle. Yeah. And then he ran in there and he’s been really good. Hasn’t co didn’t coach. There’s been guys that have done it. Yeah. I’m just saying Brenley never coached and he was he won a World Series, right? Right. From the TV booth. Just it just depends on the person, right? Yeah. You got it or you don’t. And also, you know what? You know what sticks with me a lot now? And it’s just it’s a stupid like common phrase that you go, “Duh.” But when we talk to Mike Schultton, you’re like, “Yo, you’ve had two good years. What’s your key?” And he’s like, “Good players.” Yeah. It always helps. Good ownership, good players, good coaches, good communication, but managing has changed so much. Just more now about connecting with the players than it ever was. I mean, because, you know, as much as every manager says, “Oh, I’m not giving the lineup.” the front office does have some input on everything. So, you gota it’s not it’s not like back in the day when the the the manager had all the power and literally you can’t you’re going down because I don’t like you and you’re going to get traded. Now, the GMs in the front office had that power and they and they don’t necessarily give you the lineups, but they give you a good idea. Remember Matt Williams benched Bryce Harper for not running and Matt Williams got fired. Bryce Harper did not go anywhere. The managers have the third most juice out of three. You number one is front office because they decide who’s there and who’s not. Number two is players and number three is manager in my mind. Yeah. You’re not gonna battle over a star player anymore, right Todd Father? I mean the player if he’s there for a long time and he’s he’s the man like you’re not going to win that battle. Never. No. And that’s just the way it’s been. But I another point I can’t wait to see whose coaching staff is. Are they going to keep guys? They’re going to revamp the whole thing. So that that’s the next thing to come out. I I know Kratz is looking for a first base coaching job. Maybe he’ll sneak in there number one. That’s good. That’s good. Kratz in California. I don’t think he’s leaving Amish country. Number two, I don’t think Kratz I think Kratz is actually smarter than you guys think. He is not going to work for a team that doesn’t even fix the air conditioning. We can joke about it, but it is true. Like it is a microcosm. They fixed it now. I think so. I thought they redid their whole spring training combo. No, wait. You didn’t hear about this? Oh, the air conditioning in their in their in their in the weight room. You were off that day, but you say Kikuchi came out and said something and then actually Polar I think was on that day and he was like, yeah, it’s on brand. Like we had issues like that. That that’s unacceptable. True. And it wasn’t like, oh, it’s broken and we’re going to fix it in the next few days. Kikuchi said he’s sweating balls there because they didn’t fix it. Once it broke, that was it. Done. Rest of the season. If you want to work out, cool. But it’s hot yoga, baby. That’s unacceptable. That to me, Todd Father, that’s the stuff that stands out. And some people might There are some people like, “You’re a big leager. Like, figure it out or pay for it yourself.” That’s that’s not how it works. You don’t bring in your own freaking technician to fix that guy’s home park, you know, the owner. So, that’s the point here is how does he navigate working with somebody who is very difficult to work with? Yeah, that’s that’s what you’re going to have to do as a manager. You’re the boss. You’re you’re the boss on the field and you’re gonna have to figure out and not step on anybody’s toes and try and be your own person. And I think that’s what Kurt Suzuki is going to bring. His own mind, his own person, and his own managerial way of what he wants to do. And like I said, I can’t wait to see how it happens. He’s a smiley guy. He’s going to be happy. I want to see his first argument. I want to see it all. I want to see how he reacts to everything. My thing is Albert Puhols, we’ve been talking about this, is is actually apparently highly coveted, but I think a very risky hire. And I think he would have been a good fit in Anaheim because he would have been able to kind of learn on the job, do his thing, a little less pressure, and I think he would have been one of the few guys that can actually bite back at his boss and be like, “Hey, bro, you don’t know everything. How’s how’s everything going for you the past 20 years? Not great.” Can Kurt do that? Can Kirk go up to Ryan and be like, “Listen, dude. It’s not his job. It’s his it’s it’s more of Manasian that has to do it.” Okay, that’s tough. I agree. That’s how that’s how the power dynamics have changed. I’ll tell you what, Kirk Suzuki I hope he does awesome at this job. But why did they hire Kirk Suzuki and not Robert Pools? They were fighting about money. How much do you think? And then they don’t tell us because they, God forbid, Todd, they tell us how much coaches and managers and front office people make, but he was probably a relatively cheap hire. Oh yeah. No more than two million. Maybe maybe 1 million. And Albert, guess what? They probably feel like, hey, we can control him a little bit because he wants the job. This is why, and I hate to say that because I like Kirk Zuki a lot. He’s a really nice guy. There’s only 30 of these. So you take one, see if you can do something with it. I’m trying to come up with a pathway. Plus, you got to get a good reputation out there if you want to go on to another team. Like, possibly could not be the Angels. Like, I mean, Angels have been a mess for a long time. They shuffle through managers every other year. And I’m just trying to come up with a pathway for Angels fans to feel like they have hope. Their young core is their hope. Okay. And they need pitching. They have to go get pitching. and they need to be able to fix little things and operate the way that most modern franchises operate. All I got to do is look at the other team in Los Angeles, even though they’re in Anaheim, what the Dodgers do. They they help their players in every way possible. They do everything to every minor leagues on up. They do they give the players everything they want, need, if anybody asks for something, the Dodgers, they don’t say no. And everything that the Dodgers do, this is true, like that can be done by the Angels. We are not talking about this isn’t about signing players. The Angels have like they spend on players here and there, but when there are little things in the organization that don’t get done, those are the little cheap things that make all of the difference in the world. You ask so many players about that. The line that people liked from us last week was how we said, “Hey, Google Frank McCort.” It wasn’t that long ago and he was running the team and he didn’t do those things. He was more like an Arty Moreno. And the Dodgers weren’t very good. True. So, congratulations to Kurt Suzuki, new manager for the Angels. Let us know your thoughts if you’re catching this after the fact. Drop a comment and I’ll reply to as many as possible. Let’s take you through the Arena Club slab pack experience. This is part two because Todd Father last week pulled a card that he didn’t love, yet he sold it back for actually more than what the slab pack cost. This time pulls a card that he likes. Yeah. And this is the best part of it. Ronnie Mauricio, the Mets standout, you know, rookie sensation. He’s been absolutely phenomenal. I like the itch of seeing what you’re going to get. You know, I like prospects. I don’t love them, but seeing this kind of card is actually absolutely beautiful thing. I know a couple people around town that would absolutely love that card. So, there’s going to be a lot of conversations going on here for Arena Club. And what you do is you have it in your digital showroom. If you want to hand it out locally, then cool. You ask Arena Club to send it to you, and they do. Or you can sell it back like you see there. Instant offer for 193 bucks, but he’s keeping it. And you can do what Toddfather does by going to arenaub.com/fall and getting 20% off your first card purchase or your first slab pack purchase.

Todd Frazier, AJ Pierzynski, and Scott Braun react to breaking news that the Los Angeles Angels are hiring Kurt Suzuki as their new manager. The crew discusses why the Angels chose Suzuki over Albert Pujols, what this means for the future of Mike Trout and the team, and how much control the front office really has in Anaheim. Plus, they break down what’s next for the Angels’ roster, where things keep going wrong for the franchise, and why the Dodgers’ organizational structure is the standard they should be chasing.

Get 20% off your first Slab Pack or card purchase by going to https://ArenaClub.com/FOUL and use code FOUL

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