Angels News: Opening Day starter revealed, former LAA reliever signs with Boston

The Angels will be using a new Opening Day starter in 2025, but hopefully this will be the first of many for the rotation's no. 1 pitcher. Yusei Kikuchi, who everybody views as the team's best starter, will be making the first Opening Day start of his career for the Halos. Kikuchi is beginning the first of his three years in Anaheim, so the hope is he pitches like a bona fide ace for his new squad and continues to earn this honor moving forward.

Kikuchi will be the Angels' 9th Opening Day starter since 2015. The list includes Kikuchi, Patrick Sandoval, Shohei Ohtani, Dylan Bundy, Andrew Heaney (who just signed with Pittsburgh), Trevor Cahill, Garrett Richards, Ricky Nolasco, and Jered Weaver. Only Ohtani and Richards have started more than 1 Opening Day for the Angels in that span.

Kikuchi is definitely the best starter the team has, and is probably the best overall pitcher on the staff. Moving forward, the expectation is he will prove to be a true front-end starter. The team signed him to the 11th largest contract in team history for a reason, as his durability and devastating pitch mix made him one of the preeminent free agents this offseason. Hopefully Reid Detmers will be taking some notes when he watches Kikuchi prepare and pitch during spring training.

Matt Moore moves on from the Halos, signs with Boston

A reliever who spent the majority of the past two seasons with the Angels is officially moving on. Matt Moore, who nobody expected to re-sign with the Angels, was just picked up on a minor league deal by the Red Sox. If Boston brings him up at any point, it will be his 9th big league organization he has pitched for. Of the players who were supposed to be major contributors, Moore joins Brandon Drury as members of the 2024 team to sign elsewhere in free agency. Hunter Strickland and Kevin Pillar are the last remaining relevant members of last year's team to still be available on the open market.

The Angels have rostered Moore the past couple of seasons, but it's a bit more complicated than that. They signed Moore before the 2023 season, and he was a valuable asset in the bullpen for most of the season. However, after going all-in at the trade deadline and subsequently losing seemingly every game afterwards, Perry Minasian was told to cut payroll in order to get under the luxury tax. Moore was waived, and claimed by the Guardians. He did not last long with Cleveland, and ended up in Miami for an equally short stint before the season ended.

Given his successes the year prior, Minasian brought Moore back for the 2024 season. Well, he was objectively the Angels' worst pitcher when he was healthy. His -0.7 fWAR was the worst mark amongst Angels pitchers last season.

Moore will join an organization that has a couple of former Angels pitchers in Patrick Sandoval and Cooper Criswell. Hopefully Moore turns out better for Boston than Luis García did last year!

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