The Los Angeles Angels are swinging for a change behind the dugout, and this time they've pitched the role of manager to one of their own, former catcher Kurt Suzuki, CBS News Los Angeles reports. At 42, Suzuki hangs up his catcher's gear after 16 seasons, transitioning from a special assistant job in the Angels' front office, a role he's only held since retirement in 2022, directly into the pressure-cooker position of steering an MLB team.
While the Angels finished at the bottom of the AL West this year with a 72-90 record, an improvement from the 63-99 finish in 2024 that keeps the Halos' postseason drought starkly intact, Suzuki seems unphased, ready to tackle an inherited team starved for success — the Los Angeles Angels haven't seen the postseason since 2014, and obviously, there's more than a little room for growth, the crosstown rival Dodgers, flaunting their World Series run as the Angels watch from afar. Suzuki's predecessor, Ron Washington, stepped down after health issues, specifically a quadruple bypass surgery, according to FOX Sports.
Before opting for Suzuki, it seemed the Angels were courting Albert Pujols, but as FOX Sports notes, friction on contract details benched those talks. Pujols, who also serves under a long-term contract with the Angels, has received the green light to discuss a managerial position with the San Diego Padres, as they've found themselves in need of a new captain.
In the meantime, Kurt Suzuki, freshly signed as the Angels' new skipper, jumps into a scenario that's far from short-order cookery — he has no coaching or managing experience at the professional level, but echoes of similar hires with light-on-paper credentials, like the Guardians' Stephen Vogt and the Mariners' Dan Wilson, hint that experience isn't the solitary metric for success, Suzuki, with his deep-rooted connections to the players and the general manager Perry Minasian, from their days in Atlanta, and his familiarity with Orange County dating back to his heroics for Cal State Fullerton, brings an intricate understanding of the franchise that could catalyze a turnaround, as detailed by MLB.com. And let's not gloss over Suzuki's formidable playing career – the former All-Star sports a .255 career batting average, 143 homers, and notably, bagged a 2019 World Series win with the Washington Nationals.
The Angels' managerial seat has been something of a carousel post-Mike Scioscia; since 2018 they've had a revolving door of managers and the fans are getting restless for more than just fleeting glances at stability, never mind playoff runs, Suzuki becomes the fifth full-time manager to attempt to crack the winning code since Scioscia's departure, and time will tell if his inside-the-clubhouse promotion pans out or stumbles over the same hurdles that have kept the Angels from breaking their post-season curse.
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