In Kurt we trust.
Now about that roster…
This signing is the equivalent to eating a bowl of cream of wheat
Same
Suzuki was an excellent contact hitter in his mlb playing days. Perhaps he can teach the Angels batters to put bat on ball.
TL: DR (too long, don’t read): Sadly, Suzuki will not be able to teach these Angels hitters.
They are all entrenched in their habits – be it Trout, Ward, Rengifo, or O’hoppe.
I don’t see Neto, Moore, Adell or Teodosio (or even Kyren Paris) changing their swing habits any time soon.
The one player who can consistently put the ball in play is Schanuel; but, if he’s going to try to increase his power stats, then he’ll be striking out more.
And, what’s even worse, Michael Conforto / Nick Castellanos / DJ LaMahieu are all available. Given management’s tendency to sign aging veterans with declining stats (Tim Anderson, Lamont Wade Jr.), these players could be on the Angels next year, and they certainly aren’t going to change their swing habits in order to put the bat on the ball.
Albert and Torii know the players suck, so they probably asked for better players and to have better coaches. Suzuki is just Perry’s lapdog. That being said, Suzuki knows the game and will know how to manage a big league club. But he’s not going to inspire anybody or draw free agents. So he’s impact will be very minimal. Pujols would probably suck but at least draw free agents and signees in the Dominican market. But Suzuki is just blah. He’s gone if they sell the team.
Back in the day, Sosh was thought to be smart until he wasn’t We now know that it wasn’t Sosh who failed, it was the owner. If you don’t have the horses to pull the wagon, the wagon ain’t gonna move to the starting line. Why would anyone think the if the Angels hired the most expensive manager who is thought to be the smartest and the best that that would change anything. Last season to many things went right for 4 months and many thought we could have a shot at the playoffs. Our starting pitchers didn’t miss many starts, meaning no injuries. We had a closer that was very good. Our SS and 1B batted 1 & 2 in the order and improved from the year before. Adell and Ward broke out with career years, Trouty played over 100 games and hit a few HRs. Do you believe it was the managers who pulled that off? Fate and luck were with this team with no real great roster moves.
Kurt was a darn good choice for this crappie assignment; he is well respected by those that played with him, he knows the game as a catcher who was top notch as a player and defensive guy behind the plate. The team will regress I think unless some more big breakout seasons are about to happen, and they could.
Go Angels.
“….If you don’t have the horses to pull the wagon, the wagon ain’t gonna move to the starting line…..”
And that, right there, is why 2026 season will be bad.
The lineup right now is: Neto, Schanuel, Trout, O’Hoppe, Moore/Rengifo, Ward, Soler
3B, CF are up for grabs.
Same horses in 2026, as in 2025.
We could sign All-Stars at 3B and at CF, and we’re still not going to the playoffs.
Because our pitching staff is not good. And, at best, our hitters are, perhaps, slightly average.
The team has been striped to the bare bones in all phases of the operation. It needs not just rebuilding, it needs to start from the beginning and start instilling pride of team. Qualified personnel who will turn this franchise around will cost and take years, I won’t be around, but you guys will be, and you will see a team to give the Dodgers a run for the fans in the Southern California hot bed of baseball.
Winners build winners, losers create losing.
“….Winners build winners, losers create losing…..”.
100% correct.
And, that’s why we keep losing, year after year.
Because we put up with Jose Suarez for 6 years.
Because we’ve put up with Luis Rengifo for 7 years.
If he’s back in 2026 (and why not, after all, he’s a finalist for Gold Glove at 2B – go figure!??!?!), that will be 8 years of a player whose best WAR was 2.4 in 2022, and dropping to 0.3 in 2025. As he’s entered his prime years, he’s gotten worse, and we’re latching on to him like he’s Mike Trout 2.0
See fellas, here’s a life lesson for all of us:
Hang around the big guy long enough you may end up with a high profile dead-end job.
When will Ray Montgomery be named Bench Coach?
He took the bench coach job in Bakersfield on the girls’ softball team at the “Y”.
Im from Bakersfield, moved away from there a few years ago. True story about the Y there. It closed many years ago and stayed closed. The reason: It was a dilapidated place. I was working out there one night and passed by the steam room in the men’s locker room, the door was open, I went to close the door and saw I guy laying on the floor in the steam room, I went in, could tell he was unconscious, went to the lobby, pre cell phones, called 911. Turns out he fell in steam roll and died. End of the Y. True story.
I say I’m from Bakersfield because nobody knows where Wasco is unless they went to our prison ha ha.
Sadly. Yup. Wasco, Corcoran and Taft…. the “you had dumb friends when you were young” tour. Throw in a little Calipatria and Chino for spice….
Not what I would consider a move-the-needle hire as Perry was discussing. But then again field manager is a fairly meaningless hire.
Yeah, giving someone no tools to do a job means you’re window dressing, or just lipstick on the Halos organization.
Suzuki as a manager must be good for at least .005 WAR
So, there is a story floating around that the workout gym has no A/C, players talk to each other about places to stay away and shy from, we are a mentioned team. Stadium deal=no. Lawsuit=yep. Yes man General Manager=You bet. President and his VP’s clueless? Now that’s a given. Owner hanging on for taking all the money before he leaves? =You betcha. The wheels have fallen off this train.
I am happy that Kurt has the job, for since he left as a player, I had hoped that he would become a coach here and work with O’Hoppe. This combo may work out well.
The Angels are 1 of 9 teams in the MLB that spends more than 50% of their revenue on payroll.
Not exactly the best strategy for penny pinching if that’s what he’s being accused of, eh?
Arte still has a warehouse full of Thunder sticks to move…..
Arte spends, but does he spend wisely? That’s always been the problem.
There’s always been money for Vernon Wells, Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols, and Anthony Rendon.
But then there’s firing all the scouts in 2020, renting the anti gravity treadmill for Pujols rather than buying it, minor leaguers living in cars, and shutting down the DR facility for years.
Let’s not forget Gary Matthews Jr. $50 million for 5 years and a combined –0.05 WAR. lolz I say! lolz
Now there’s a blast-from-the-past post. Long time no see.
What up dude!? How you been?
Seems to me his nickname was HGH Jr. in the old days before cesspools.
He can’t control guys getting injured and not performing.
Everyone blames Arte for Hamilton and Rendon sucking, but not the players themselves.
Rendon thanks Arte for his generosity.
Ok Cookie, payroll has been as high as 5th highest, but that’s about all. Does the front office carry the average number of employees that other clubs have? How about taking care of our minor league teams with all positions filled? Is there a shown commitment of qualified people in the ranks at the top on this team? Arturo has cut every corner of this organization that he can to take as much money as he can for himself. Putting name players on the field was just collecting baseball cards so he could bring in fans to spend $. Over 3 million folks for about 20 years. He started out for the first 7 years making money from the work that many good people put out and as he changed things he added to constant turn over in the FO to the field to the minor leagues, it was all about thinking he was the smartest man in the room. Arturo is a poor excuse of a committed sports franchise owner as he can be. The next owner will have his hands full in trying to put all the pieces together to fix this Humpty-Dumpty of a business back together again. Payroll is just a small part of running a successful team, it starts from the top with smart people, not college buddies and billboard ad selling execs.
What is the stadium deal that will see us thru to the next decade or the plans for where our AAA team will play if SLC is in the ML’s, are we going to add more scouting so our drafting can improve, more coaches and better coaching to the minor leagues, better training facilities at all levels. How about just fixing the AC in the training room. The list is endless, and Arturo is not going to change, this is the guy that pocketed most of the TV package money for himself rather than improve the franchise. Best hope is make the payment(s) in the lawsuit and then sell and get out of town back to Phoenix.
Grandpa,
Please provide us with the number of front office members the Angels have compared to other teams. Provide us with how other minor league teams are taken care of and their positions are filled. Tell us what minor league coaches they need to fire and need to hire.
There are minor league facility requirements, or teams have to renovate, relocate, or build new facilities. What minor league facility had to do that?
As far as scouting, you realize that every scouting department in the MLB has shrunk, right? New rules, advancement in video and data. Scouting isn’t like it was when you grew up.
Yup. I know Arte sucks at this stuff to a degree. If we had a stacked scouting department and rooms full of trainers and analysts and coaches for coaches we’d hear about it and we don’t.
But we also buy a lot of bullshit about what exactly Arte is “failing” at that isn’t really his job. We also never have a clue what is actually “average” as far as what we are complaining about. I know we don’t have the Doyers scouting department. But what is average and what do we have?
I am actually fairly knowledgeable on this shit, knowing a pile of people who work in this field. I have asked. The Angels aren’t some famous disaster zone. I’m pretty sure they have air conditioning. I get the sense we are part of a big pile of meh. But I still can’t even really find out how many scouts we employ. Why, cause there are ton of guys like this fella I’ve watched a few games with where he is literally scouting for two or three teams at one game, looking at different players. Or he’s scouting both teams that are playing. Then he moves on to do stuff for another team a few days later. It’s a mess.
So I have no clue where we are at in the grand scheme of things. All I know is we could be better and it would cost a whole lot less to match “the best” at this stuff than to piss away money on a closer for a shit team.
They can’t even afford to fix the air conditioning in the stadium’s weight room.
I question Arte’s business savvy (Now). He bought the team for, around $200M I believe, but can now sell the team for around $3B. I don’t see the business sense in holding onto a team just to have somewhere to go on spring days or summer nights-When he does spend he gets the shiny player, whose shine is cheap nickel plating.
Arte doesn’t attend games. Being an owner of a sports franchise gets him into an exclusive club. That’s it. So he holds thrown and people bend the knee and they get to slap an Å logo on their polo. Then those cronies can say they worked for a MLB club and on and on it goes.
Pretty sure Arte was there on opening day 2024 and heard the home crowd boo when he was on the screen.
That’s the last time he’s been there to my knowledge.
The Angels had a Ford.
before but picked up a Suzuki.
7th manager in 9 years, can you name all 7? How Many were catchers?
Scoscia, Ausmus, Maddon, Nevin, Washington, Montgomery and Suzuki
3 catchers?
Phillip caught some games, 4?
sneezy
sleepy..
slouchy
….
Ok, who are the other four 😀 
I’d say we had Dopey. Remember the bases loaded intentional walk?
the one that worked out?
Itchy,
Scratchy,
Shiggy,
Blanton
What the fuck is your problem asshole
Just like the Suzuki Samurai, this is gonna roll well.
owned one for 17 years. Neat little off roader
Well, that suspense is no longer killing me.
Kurt, Kurt
he’s our man,
if he can’t do it
noone has!!!!
Can Kurt Suzuki pitch? The Angels need to add more relievers. The draft is still months away.
so is the season
Plenty of time to sign more relievers.
It probably would have been better if the Suzuki corporation had purchased the Angels.
Arte thought process?
Sasaki + Suzuki = Ohtani
Managing the Angels is probably like the job someone has cleaning tables and washing dishes at the Golden Corral after 2 for 1 All You Can Eat days.
Good luck to you Mr. Suzuki, wish you the best.
I’ve been with the Angels through many horrible years, but this current era is especially demoralizing. Maybe we can at least adopt the foul-tempered witty cynicism of Mariners fans.
I’ve been “with” the Angels since 1966. Never was there a more than decade losing streak like now. And the light in the tunnel does appear to be another oncoming train.
Okay.
Thankful it wasn’t LyingAlbert or “I am insulted” Torii.
Angels Hire Kurt Suzuki as Manager
Arte Moreno seemed intent on hiring a first time manager with ties to the Angels organization. He found one in former catcher Kurt Suzuki, who sources say has been hired for the job.
Numerous outlets are reporting the signing, including Angels beat writers Jeff Fletcher and Sam Blum.
Suzuki spent 16 seasons behind the dish at the Major League level, the last two here in Anaheim. Kurt has been a special assistant to Angels GM Perry Minasian the last three seasons.
He will continue the long list of former catchers turning skippers. It has worked out well for teams managed by Mike Scioscia, Joe Torre, Bruce Bochy, Bob Melvin, and a host of other former catchers. Time will tell if Suzuki follows in their successful steps.
Suzuki’s ties to the area run even deeper than those five years. He was a standout at Cal State Fullerton earning the nickname Captain Clutch. Kurt also organized fundraisers for the lone survivor of the Nick Adenhart crash.
Update: the Angels have officially announced the hiring of Suzuki.