Angels Bring Back Kurt Suzuki But Are Running Out of Options To Do More

The Angels made a low-key move over the weekend, re-signing catcher Kurt Suzuki to a one-year contract worth $1.75 million. The 38-year-old veteran hit .224/.294/.342 over 72 games in 2021 with a 76 wRC+ and -0.4 WAR.

While Suzuki never quite fulfilled the promise he showed in the majors as a surprisingly competent catcher at a young age in Oakland, he’s carved out an impressive career, now at 16 seasons, based on being everyone’s emergency backstop. Don’t have a tantalizing in-house option? Suzuki was always on call, ready and willing to put up a win or so over 350 plate appearances, and at a reasonable price. That’s easier said than done; he’s now 34th all-time in games at catcher, alongside a lot of far bigger names.

Suzuki’s role with the Angels will be a little lighter as he approaches the end of his career. The Angels don’t need him to take a significant chunk of a timeshare, as Max Stassi’s 2021 season ought to have put the question of just who the starter is at a firm conclusion. The Angels are rather thin at backstop, with the catching spots in the high minors likely to be largely filled with non-roster invitees like Chad Wallach. There’s one exception here in Matt Thaiss, who was moved back to catcher last season, his original position he played in college. But the Angels are rightly concerned about having Thaiss as the primary backup just a few months after his return to the position. If they really want to see if he can be a competent catcher — and they should — he likely needs more playing time than he would receive as Stassi’s backup.

Overall, this is a small signing for Los Angeles, one that will have little impact on the team’s fate in 2022. The larger problem is the signings that weren’t made this winter. While the Angels were quietly bringing back their veteran backup catcher, even more of the appealing targets to fill the team’s holes went elsewhere. Despite having two of the most valuable players in baseball on the team, the Halos haven’t had a winning season since 2015, a playoff appearance since 2014, and a win in the playoffs since 2009. In terms of failing to capitalize on having the league MVP, the Angels have achieved notable levels of ineptitude.

Of teams with multiple MVP seasons — the Mets, Diamondbacks, and Rays have never had one — the Angels have the worst winning percentage in those seasons, at .515, or about an 83–79 record per 162 games.

In terms of capitalizing on having Trout and Ohtani, the hour is later than the Angels think. The latter is two years from free agency, and as marvelous as the former is, he turns 31 in August and has missed a third of the team’s games over the last five years due to injury. Despite the advantage of starting with two superstars, a third star in Anthony Rendon, and playing in one of the largest markets, this organization has all the looks of a team that’s closer to becoming the Orioles than the Dodgers. Only a single prospect, Reid Detmers, made either our preseason FanGraphs Top 100 Prospects list or my ZiPS Top 100 Prospects list.

With the addition of the Noah Syndergaard, one of the few players actually added to the roster this winter so far, ZiPS ranks the Angels’ rotation 16th in the league. But that’s a fragile 16th; if I remove every team’s top starting pitcher, they drop to 24th. A lot rides on Ohtani’s arm, which has thrown 100 innings in the majors once in four years, and I would expect the Angels to remain relatively conservative with his innings due to the odd incentives brought on by his two-way status; an injury that robs them of their three-WAR pitcher could also cause them to lose a four-WAR hitter.

With this week’s signings of Carlos Rodón, Clayton Kershaw, and Yusei Kikuchi, only two starting pitchers from our Top 50 Free Agents list — Zack Greinke and Michael Pineda — remain available. Both were toward the bottom of the list, and neither is likely to be more than a serviceable mid-rotation starter. Meanwhile, more than a dozen free-agent pitchers have flown by the Angels at prices they had a real incentive to beat: Rodón, Robbie Ray, Kevin Gausman, Eduardo Rodriguez, Marcus Stroman, Jon Gray, and Kikuchi at a minimum. Short of a stunning trade, like robbing the Reds of one of their remaining starters, there might not be any opportunities remaining given who is available and the team’s unimpressive farm system.

The Angels mattering in 2022 may come down to beating out the rest of baseball and filling two of their most pressing needs: a shortstop and an outfielder. The outfielders remaining are good, but not superstars, meaning it may be shortstop or bust. And luckily for Los Angeles, both Carlos Correa and Trevor Story are still available and project as massive additions for the roster.

I wishcasted Correa into Anaheim a few weeks ago, and I stick by it. The Angels have been burned by some big free-agent signings, but Correa is younger than all of them, which is a significant factor in which contracts work out and which ones don’t. Pujols would have actually been a good signing at the time, had he been Correa’s age.

By re-signing Suzuki, the Angels hold serve and further maintain last year’s roster. But they need to do a lot more, and it gets harder to do that with every signing. If they don’t figure things out soon, 30–40 years from now, people may look back at the Angels of the 2010s and 2020s as one of baseball’s biggest missed opportunities.