2 free agent LA Angels players who still haven't earned a roster spot
![Jul 4, 2021; Anaheim, California, USA; Los Angeles Angels catcher Kurt Suzuki (24) reaches first](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3788,h_2130,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_752,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/107/01fpg5haahsggz48zazh.jpg)
The LA Angels' offseason is a bit stalled right now due to the MLB lockout, but a couple of decisions have likely already been made.
The Halos still have several players who were on the team that are un-signed right now. Some of them will be back (crossing my fingers for Steve Cishek and Mike Mayers). Some, however, didn't earn roster spots for the 2022 season.
A couple Angels in particular were given a shot last year with the Angels, but didn't do the best job. It's a tough business, and first impressions are important. I'm not sold they did enough to earn a roster spot next year.
Kurt Suzuki and Junior Guerra didn't perform in their first years with the LA Angels.
Kurt Suzuki and Junior Guerra both do not need to be brought back by the LA Angels. As for Suzuki, he regressed drastically with the club.
In Suzuki's last four seasons before heading to Anaheim, he hit to a tune of .272/.337/.475 (.812 OPS) with a 112 OPS+. It made sense as to why the Angels wanted him.
He followed that up, however, by hitting .224/.294/.342 (.636 OPS) with a 74 OPS+. Ouch. But what about his defense?
Well, what about it? He was arguably even worse defensively. He made 10 errors (despite only logging 69 games), and threw out just eight of 43 runners.
That's pretty disappointing on defense. Remember when Suzuki had to be Shohei Ohtani's personal catcher? Well, do you also remember when Stassi got the chance to catch Ohtani and things went just as well?
I certainly do. I'm not trying to discount Suzuki's overall career; he's been an All-Star, he's been a World Series champion. He's had an overall solid career, but he's not productive enough to be of use to this team right now.
The second player in Guerra was nowhere near the pitcher he was in Arizona. 2020 was his AZ year, and it was arguably the best of his career.
Posting a 3.04 ERA and a 149 ERA+ for the Diamondbacks, the Angels were getting a good one.
Fast forward to how the season actually went, however, and 'good' was the exact opposite of what really happened with Guerra. Guerra nearly doubled his ERA to 6.06, and his WHIP was so bad you might not even believe it. It was 1.730, and his 4.75 FIP was far from encouraging as well.
He somehow walked 6.3 batters per nine innings. Our bullpen walked the 10th-most batters per nine innings in all of baseball last year (4.04). We don't need to keep guys around if they're not throwing strikes.
We need to improve this bullpen drastically, as it posted the seventh-worst ERA last season at 4.59. Our relievers also gave up the seventh-worst batting average in baseball at .245.
We have already made a great move to upgrade our pen with the signing of elite middle-to-back-end reliever Aaron Loup, and we also re-signed elite closer Raisel Iglesias. I'm good on Guerra.
Angels miss on highly-respected assistant coach. dark. Next
And we don't need Suzuki back either. These are players who we've already given a chance, and they've failed to deliver. It's time to find the right upgrades.