Grading the 7 major Angels offseason acquisitions 1 month into the season

The Angels were aggressive over the offseason, bringing in new faces both via free agency and trade. All of these major new additions came with a certain degree of expectations. All were accomplished big leaguers with a wealth of experience brought in to fill certain roles.

The season is now a month old, and while that month has been a rollercoaster ride for the Halos that has left many scratching their heads trying to figure out what this team is, we now have a large enough sample to begin judging which moves were successes and which appear to be big whiffs.

A long road still lies ahead, so opinions may change as spring turns to summer and summer turns to fall. However, while things may change moving forward, we still have a large amount of data on how each player has performed relative to his expectations and role to date.

When evaluating these acquisitions, a few salient points must be considered. For starters, it's important to consider that the team's ultimate goal is to be competitive while developing their young core. Secondly, it's important to consider who else was on the market at a similar price point to fill the same role.

Lastly, it's important to keep in mind what the player's role is and calibrate expectations accordingly. A player signed to be the backup catcher, for example, would have very different expectations than one signed to be the starting DH. Without further ado, let's dive in and grade the Angels' major offseason additions.

Grading the Angels' signing of Yusei Kikuchi to serve as the team's ace

The Angels struck early to bring Yusei Kikuchi into the fold to anchor the rotation, agreeing to a three-year, $63 million deal with the Japanese southpaw. Instantly, Kikuchi became one of the most important Angels heading into 2025.

The move was somewhat of a head-scratcher at the time. Kikuchi entered 2025 with six MLB seasons under his belt and a career 4.57 ERA, hardly top-of-the-rotation material, let alone an ace. However, he seemed to be unlocked following a series of adjustments made after being acquired at last year's trade deadline by the Houston Astros, posting a 2.70 ERA in 10 starts and 60 innings down the stretch.

So far, the results for Kikuchi have been mixed. He has struggled with walks, his 5.17 BB/9 is third worst among 83 qualified starters through April 27th, and his 8.04 K/9 is the worst mark of his career since 2019, his first year stateside.

Despite these struggles, he had ranged from slightly below average outings to some legitimately good ones, avoiding any truly disastrous ones, until the April 26th start, where he was chased after just two innings, allowing nine hits, four walks, and four earned runs, failing to record a strikeout along the way. On the season, his ERA currently sits at 4.31.

The Angels were never going to swim in the deep end of the free agent market, so prizes like Corbin Burnes and Max Fried were never serious considerations. Still, the Angels inked Kikuchi before most of the next tier of starters signed, indicating that he was a priority.

That may have been a mistake. While there are some signings that the jury is still out on, the Angels decided to pay Kikuchi over several other options that look like better bets thus far. Luis Severino (3.49 ERA), Jack Flaherty (2.63 ERA), and Nick Pivetta (1.20 ERA) all signed at similar price points and appear to be better bets thus far. On the flipside, Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas also signed in the same range and have yet to pitch this season.

There's a lot of season left, but thus far the returns on Kikuchi have been pretty underwhelming.

Grade: D+