Kurt Suzuki Introduced As Lame-Duck Angels Manager On A One-Year Deal

One of the basic rules of hiring a manager is that you always give the new hire a multi-year deal. The logic behind this rule is simple—in part it’s a reward for taking the job, and it also prevents players from knowing they can quit on the manager or oust him in less obvious ways. 

But Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno apparently missed the memo on this one. He just hired his sixth manager in eight seasons, and Moreno gave Kurt Suzuki a one-year deal that could easily cripple Suzuki’s chances for success. 

"I feel like I was born to do this -- to lead players, to help players get better," Suzuki said in an AP story via ESPN. "That's my personality. I feel like I've done it on a yearly basis with 29, 30 pitchers throughout a whole season, trying to understand how to get the best out of each player, and that's what excites me.

"Obviously you play this game to win also, but what excites me is being able to help kids reach their potential."

The odds that the former Angels catcher turned rookie manager will actually be around to see those young players reach their potential are long. His future is tied to that of GM Perry Minasian, who’s becoming something of a legend around the league when it comes to hiring bad managers. 

"He's tied in with me," Minasian said of Suzuki, the longtime catcher who served as Minasian's special assistant for the past three seasons after his retirement from a 16-year playing career.

"I never thought I would be comfortable hiring a manager who wasn't a manager before, but this is a different person," Minasian added. "I know he didn't have a coaching title, but even when he played, he coached-slash-managed for different places. He managed a game for a long time. I believe he's the right person for the job."

It’s far more likely that Suzuki is the right person for Moreno at the moment. The Angels owner is facing a possible billion-dollar judgment in the wrongful death civil-suit trial of late Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, and it’s almost certainly no coincidence that Suzuki was trotted out with his wife and three kids seated in the front row of the presser on the same day Angels DH Mike Trout testified in that trial. 

Now Moreno and Minasian are setting Suzuki up to fail. The combination of  cluelessness and blatantly sleazy tacts here is stunning, but for Angels fans it represents business as usual.