Angels sign Yusei Kikuchi to three-year deal

Angels sign Yusei Kikuchi to three-year deal

The Los Angeles Angels’ active start to the 2025 offseason continues! The team signed free-agent left-handed starter Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year, $63 million deal, MLB Network insider Jon Heyman was among the first to report Monday.

Kikuchi’s addition is another in the Angels’ stocking after adding Scott Kingery Kyle Hendricks, Travis d’Arnaud, Kevin Newman and Matt Thaiss. They’ve been the most active team in the offseason so far this winter, even though it’s still very early.

Kikuchi was traded to Houston ahead of the 2024 trade deadline in exchange for two good prospects, Joey Luperfido and Will Wagner; those two were two-top-13 prospects in the Astros system at the time.

He was stellar in his short stint with Houston, pitching to a 2.70 ERA with a 3.07 FIP and 76 strikeouts across 60.0 innings. Kikuchi still had a middling campaign, even though he ended up with his second-best ERA and ERA+ of his career after having one of his worst before the trade.

Kikuchi will also be entering his age-34 season, which makes it curious to see why Los Angeles was so eager to jump the gun on a left-handed starter before the winter meetings. Who knows what the southpaw earning north of $20 million per year will do the rest of the pitching market, spearheaded by Roki Sasaki, Corbin Burnes and Max Fried, among others.

I don’t think this is a wise long-term investment by one of the worst teams in the American League? What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.

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