The Angels are dipping into the free agent pitching market in a way they haven’t in years.
The Angels have agreed to a three-year, $63 million contract with left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, a source confirmed on Monday.
It would be the largest Angels contract for a free agent starting pitcher since they signed C.J. Wilson to a $77.5 million deal in December 2011. It would be the largest free agent contract general manager Perry Minasian has given any player in his four years on the job, surpassing Tyler Anderson’s $39-million deal.
The Angels have not yet announced the deal, which was first reported by the New York Post.
Kikuchi now joins a rotation depth chart that gives the Angels several options heading into the season. Kikuchi will be in a rotation with the left-handed Anderson and right-handers Jose Soriano and Kyle Hendricks. (Hendricks, a 34-year-old who signed a one-year, $2.5-million deal, likely has the shortest leash of those four.) The top candidates to round out the rotation would be left-hander Reid Detmers and right-handers Jack Kochanowicz and Chase Silseth. They also have right-handers Caden Dana and Sam Bachman and left-hander Sam Aldegheri.
The question now is whether the Angels are getting the Kikuchi who had a 4.75 ERA in his first 22 starts with the Toronto Blue Jays last season, or the one who had a 2.70 ERA in his final 10 starts after a trade to the Houston Astros.
His $21 million annual salary would suggest the Angels expect he’ll be closer to the latter version. There was a tangible difference in the way he pitched after the trade, which gives the Angels some reason to believe that the 33-year-old can sustain the improvement.
With the Astros, Kikuchi increased his slider usage from 11% to 37%, cutting his curve ball from 23% to 10%.
He replaced the rest of the curve balls with more of his fastball, which averages 95 mph. The Astros, however, had Kikuchi throw the pitch up the zone more. He got a 30% whiff rate on his fastball after the trade, compared with 27% before the trade. Opponents hit .225 on his fastball with the Astros, and .297 with the Blue Jays.
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Kikuchi has a career 4.57 ERA in six big league seasons, the first three with the Seattle Mariners and the next three with the Blue Jays, until the July trade. He was an All-Star in 2021.
Previously, Kikuchi had a 2.77 ERA in eight seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball.
Kikuchi attended the same high school in Japan as Shohei Ohtani, although he is three years older.
More to come on this story.