Angels interim manager shakes off Yusei Kikuchi's frustration amidst fan backlash

Angels fans are frustrated, to say the least, about the state of their favorite team with eight games left in the season. After being a fringe contender at the trade deadline, the Halos have completely tanked in August and September and now have the sixth worst record in baseball. Fans are always looking to find a scapegoat when things take a turn for the worse, and they certainly have glommed onto one after a recent spat between the team's best pitcher and the interim manager. Spoiler alert: fans are on the player's side.

Angels interim manager shakes off Yusei Kikuchi's frustration amidst fan backlash

Yusei Kikuchi sounded off to the media after he felt he was unjustly removed from his latest start against the Milwaukee Brewers. He took a not-so veiled shot at Ray Montgomery when he said: “All year I’ve been grinding for the team. So in that spot, I wanted to be trusted a little bit more and I felt like I wasn’t trusted in that moment.” Fans have already shown aggravation towards Montgomery (and Ron Washington) for not letting Kikuchi go deeper in games all year, and clearly the starter in the first year of his three-year contract feels the same way.

“I said, ‘if I’d have taken you out of the game and you weren’t upset, I would be more concerned about that than being removed from the game, which you felt like you should have stayed in,’” Montgomery said in front of Jeff Fletcher of The OC Register. “We had a conversation about it. He certainly understands where I was coming from. Those decisions can be questioned all the time.”

Montgomery has always been lauded as an expert communicator, so it's no surprise that he immediately tried to diffuse the situation by talking with Kikuchi. He is also trying to keep his spot with the organization, so there's that too! The Angels are reportedly weighing many options for their next manager, so Montgomery upsetting the team's best pitcher is not helping his case to have the interim tag removed.

It's not like Montgomery removed him from the game for no reason -- overworking a 34-year-old Kikuchi this late in a lost season makes no sense whatsoever for the organization. If Kikuchi had somehow gotten injured due to fatigue in late-September, fans would be far more upset with Montgomery than they already are. The risk outweighed the reward of leaving Kikuchi in, even if taking him out of a game with 92 pitches against the best team in baseball and a lead showed some lack of feel.

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