Angels Decline 2027 Option On Manager Kurt Suzuki

Kurt Suzuki’s tenure as Angels’ skipper will last only one season. The team announced Wednesday that it has declined a 2027 club option on Suzuki and will commence a search for a new manager and coaching staff. Suzuki has been offered a role to remain with the organization as a special assistant, interim general manager John Mozeliak announced in a prepared statement.

“Kurt has earned tremendous respect in our clubhouse, and I’ve seen firsthand how much he cares about our players,” Mozeliak said in his statement within today’s release. “I do not believe our record this year was a true reflection of his abilities as a manager. I’m pleased we were able to offer Kurt a role to stay on as a special assistant, where his knowledge of our players and his perspective would continue to be valuable to the organization. I would also like to thank the entire coaching staff for their professionalism and hard work throughout a very difficult season. We value their expertise and have offered some members of the staff positions within the organization.”

Though the organization has remained tight-lipped until now on Suzuki’s future, this has been the most frequently speculated-upon outcome. Suzuki’s hiring as a rookie manager on a one-year deal was already highly unusual, and the June dismissal of general manager Perry Minasian (followed by Mozeliak’s hiring on an interim basis) was a clear portent for broader change on the horizon. That was apparent even before longtime owner Arte Moreno’s stunning, out-of-the-blue announcement that he’d agreed to sell the team to billionaire Stan Kroenke just a couple months later.

With Kroenke overtaking the reins on the team, the Angels now seek not only a more permanent fixture to run baseball operations — be that Mozeliak or an external hire — but also an entirely new dugout staff. Presumably, establishing a new president of baseball operations or general manager will be the first order of business, and that person will then find a new manager, who’ll subsequently work with baseball operations to bring in a new-look staff.

There’s at least one in-house candidate worth highlighting: future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols, who’s a special assistant in the baseball operations department. The former Angels and Cardinals slugger interviewed for managerial openings with both the Halos and Padres last offseason. San Diego ultimately went with a different rookie skipper, Craig Stammen.

Pujols withdrew from the running for the Angels’ vacancy after he and owner Arte Moreno were reportedly unable to come to terms on years and dollars. Now under a new owner who’s presumably more willing to invest in every facet of the organization, it’s possible Pujols will get another look. Kroenke, it should be noted (even if only in anecdotal fashion), has ties to St. Louis from before the Rams moved out west to Los Angeles. Mozeliak, of course, spent decades in the Cardinals organization as well.

Suzuki, too, was a special assistant with the Angels before being named skipper last offseason. The Angels stumbled to a 62-100 record in his lone year on the job, though that’s much more reflective of the roster he was handed than it is of Suzuki himself. The Halos have lost at least 89 games in each of the past five seasons and haven’t had a winning record since 2015, due in part to now-former owner Moreno’s hands-on nature and outsized role in baseball operations. Suzuki isn’t entirely without fault, but no manager was going to guide this roster to a respectable record — let alone a postseason berth.

During his 16-year playing career, Suzuki suited up for five different teams and was frequently a clubhouse favorite. The former catcher’s status as a recently retired player with a year of managing under his belt should position him nicely for future coaching and/or managerial opportunities if he wants to continue down this path in future seasons.