LA Angels Thursday News Crash: Sammy Gone

By: Sam Blum

Knowing the question was inevitable, Angels general manager Perry Minasian answered it before it could even be asked.

“It’s a one-year deal,” Minasian said of his new manager, Kurt Suzuki, in the middle of his opening statement at Angel Stadium on Wednesday. “He’s tied in with me.”

It is nearly unprecedented for a team to hire a new manager on a one-year contract. But that’s exactly what the Angels did with Suzuki, who was introduced at the ballpark in front of his family, friends and other Angels executives.

Suzuki and Minasian said all the right things about this hire. But under the surface of smiles and clichés, there is one very undeniable fact. This is a prove-it season for them both. If things don’t go well, all these same people might be right back in the same room a year from now — with two new people getting the celebratory treatment.

For this year, and for better or worse, they are tied at the hip. Their fates intertwined.

“I think the last six years of my career were on one-year deals,” Suzuki said. “And I just kept going. Listen, I want to be here. I want to do this job. And I feel like, throughout my career, I’ve had to prove myself every single year. It doesn’t scare me. It only fuels me to be better.”

From the start of this process, owner Arte Moreno and his lieutenants were focused on hiring Albert Pujols. According to a team source, Minasian flew to St. Louis to meet with Pujols on Oct. 9. The meeting went well, and they were progressing on a hire. A week later, talks fell apart because of a difference of opinion on money and years, the source said.

It’s unclear if the Angels were only offering Pujols a one-year contract. But it is clear that money was a priority in this hire.

With the lockout looming,
Moreno seemingly doesn’t want to be paying a manager while the collective bargaining agreement remains unresolved. Moreno did not attend the press conference.

“We weren’t set on anything, we went into it eyes wide open,” Minasian said. “To me, this was the best fit. Obviously I have a year left. He’s tied into me and we’ll embrace that.”

This isn’t the first time that a manager has joined on a one-year deal. In 2020, for example, the Astros inked Dusty Baker to a one-year contract, one which, like Suzuki’s deal, includes a team option. But Baker’s situation was different. He was 70 years old, and was brought on as a caretaker manager to transition them away from the fallout of their sign-stealing scandal.

Managerial contracts are typically two to four years, with some reaching five. New Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker earned a four-year deal this offseason, while Tony Vitello joined the San Francisco Giants on a three-year contract.
One year is simply not a part of the managerial lexicon.

“You see all these guys that come back from injury, they take one-year deals to prove themselves, that they can do the job,” Suzuki said. “I feel like I had to prove myself every year I played this game. This is no different.”

It can be a positive for a GM and manager to be in the same contractual situation. Had the team hired Pujols, the power dynamics within the organization would have been asymmetrical. Pujols, a legend of the game, could have carried far more gravitas and authority than Minasian on his short-timer contract. With Suzuki, the situation allows for more of a typical power structure, which is generally a plus.

On the flip side, hiring a manager on a one-year contract presents other challenges. Suzuki has to hire a coaching staff, and this situation could complicate that. The Angels are coming off a 72-90 season, and the one-year deal could be a red flag to any coaching candidate. Sure, they’ll get coaches, maybe some good ones; but anyone with multiple options may opt for more security elsewhere.

“We’ve definitely had conversations,” Suzuki said of his staff. “I feel like it’s super early, my second day on the job. We have some ideas that we’re talking about. I don’t know what the timetable is.”

Suzuki may well be a great hire. He earned his excellent playing career — 16 seasons behind the plate with five teams. He won a World Series and is a baseball lifer, whose ex-teammates and current coworkers have nothing but positive things to say.
But he’s starting out on the back foot because of a self-inflicted decision by Angels management. This is a contract that incentivizes a manager to spend more effort trying to earn the job, rather than actually do it well.

Suzuki was brought to the Angels by Minasian in 2021, after overlapping in Atlanta together. He spent two years as a backup catcher, and three more as Minasian’s special assistant. In that time, this organization has produced terrible results — 77-85, 73-89, 73-89, 63-99 and 72-90 were the records. Four different managers oversaw those debacles.

The new manager offered little in terms of tangible answers about what he’s going to do differently. He offered no assurances that it would get better.

“What I can tell you,” Suzuki said when asked that question, “is that these boys are going to be prepared to play every single day to go out there and perform. They’re going to work hard, they’re going to do what they have to do to be successful. We can control what we can control, right?

“We can’t worry about the results.”

After a decade of losing, the results should be a concern. Because year after year, manager after manager, it’s been the same story, just a different way of telling it.
With this one-year deal, the Angels have put themselves in position to get more of the same.