Los Angeles Angels Sign Yusei Kikuchi: Details, Pitching Changes with Astros, MLB & Our Reactions!

20 comments

1. Churu kitty signage coming back to the big A ❤

2. How realistic is a 1 vs 1 trade, anderson for bellinger?

3. Pretty much par of the course of what to expect. They are not going to be able to sign the really good pitchers. Expect signings like this please Angels fans. I don't want you all to be disappointed.

4. Why not have 6 starters? Potentially less injury possibility?

5. Are there any options in the contract ?

6. I totally understand that they need to overpay to get players. But overpaying for a 34 year old who's average at best is a disaster. Overpay for players who would make a difference. Plus the other negative is Artie will say they spent money (unwisely at that) and that will most likely prevent him from spending money in coming seasons. Sell the team Artie and give us our team back

7. I like the signing. Definitely an over-pay but that's ok. Now go get Max Fried and then I'll believe we're really trying to compete next year.

8. They replaced Canning and Sandoval with older Canning and Sandoval. Dumbest team in baseball.

9. Other projections had closer to what the angels gave him.

10. My reaction was it’s a pretty MEH signing. Never been the biggest fan. I would like the signing much more if they sign or trade for a higher tier pitcher. Kikuchi should not be our opening day starter. I do think it’s an overpay. But I think there are a couple factors for that. One being that the angels have sucked for the last 10 years. And I think California taxes are becoming more of a factor in baseball. So we see him as a $15-$18 million a year pitcher but because of taxes we had to pay that extra bit.

11. I think the Angels are forced to overpay a little to get the help they need, do to the bad reputation the organization has right now. Hopefully all that changes soon

12. The qualifying offer of $21 mil is an important fact. Three years isn't too long. This looks like a decent signing.

13. Not the pitcher I would of signed, but at least the Angels are addressing the starting pitching. They still need to sign one more quality starter to be competitive.

14. One of my GM picks! Definite overpay. As was d’Arnaud.

    Solid moves. But the costs make additional moves, which are NECESSARY, a bit more difficult

15. Hey guys, long time listener here. I’ve been a life long Angels fan and in the past few years or so have adopted the Padres as my NL team. Over on Locked on Padres, their host Javier Reyes, seems to be pretty uniformed when it comes to all things angels and makes comments that seem like they need addressing from you guys. He’s big on cross over episodes and I think it would be great if we could get a Locked on Angels/Padres episode this offseason. Love the pod. Thanks guys!

16. I had Lisa Loeb going through my head all day yesterday every time Kikuchi's name was mentioned. It FINALLY left my brain and now its stuck again! (Thanks Jon! 😂)

    I honestly wasn't sure the Angels would even try to get a pitcher as high as Kikuchi, so I was surprised and excited to see the news. It feels like we are moving on from the narrative of, "We are working with what we have!" Now it feels a bit more like, "Let's improve on what we have and continue to build." Except for Suarez. I really want to know what kind of blackmail Suarez has on Arte, cause I don't understand why he's still on this team. 😂

17. Come on Angels… I wanna see a Freeway World Series in my lifetime

18. He will be the ace! Great signing.

19. Love this move

20. I'm feeling really old for wanting Hello, Goodbye from the Beatles instead of Lisa Loeb as the Strikeout Song 😀