ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Angels continue to bolster their roster by making their biggest splash of the offseason, signing veteran left-handed pitcher Yusei Kikuchi on Wednesday.
The deal is for three years, worth $63 million -- $21 million annually.
Kikuchi, 33, is be the second pitcher added to the Angels rotation after signing veteran Kyle Hendricks earlier this month.
"I believe we're better," said Angels general manager Perry Minasian. "We felt like we needed to add a rotation piece that could slide everybody (we currently have) down."
A couple things we wanted to do in the rotation -- Strikes is really, really important," said Angels general manager Perry Minasian. "Guys that attack the strike zone. Durability is very, very important. Those were two things we really wanted to see added to this club."
They also signed Travis d'Arnaud to be a veteran backup catcher and added Jorge Soler in exchange for Griffin Canning.
After a rocky start to last season, pitching with a 4-9 record with the Blue Jays, Kikuchi was traded to the Astros, who have a track record of turning pitchers' careers around.
Having made 10 starts in Houston, Kikuchi changed his pitching philosophy by increasing his slider usage from 11% to 37% and decreasing his curveball from 23% to 10%. The change resulted in him finishing the season with a 5-1 record, 2.70 ERA, 76 strikeouts, and a 0.93 WHIP.
"Obviously a strong finish with Houston after the trade," Minasian said. "We really liked what we saw before that too. When you look at his underlying numbers; the strikeouts, the walks, it was a quality year overall."
Kikuchi's slider was used to strike out 28% of batters he faced. He also has a fastball that reaches 95 MPH while striking out 47% of hitters he faced.
"The use of the slider was increased in Houston," Minasian said. "His effectiveness with his fastball (improved), especially up in the zone. His ability to get ahead of hitters was top five in baseball in the second half of the season."
Before he arrived in Houston, Kikuchi spent the first six seasons of his career evenly in Seattle and Toronto pitching with a 4.57 ERA.
His professional baseball career also began in the Nippon Professional Baseball League where he had a 73-46 record and a 2.77 ERA.
The only question that will remain around Kikuchi is where will he pitch alongside the Angels rotation. They currently have both Tyler Anderson and Reid Detmers are their other two left-handed pitchers while Jose Soriano and Hendricks are expected to be the two teams two right-handers.
Minasian said the rotation will be decided by Ron Washington in spring training, while considering Kikuchi, Soriano, Anderson and Hendricks as "safe bets."
The Angels also have a couple of young arms that could contribute to their starting rotation this year in Jack Kochanowicz, Sam Aldegheri, Caden Dana, and Chase Silseth who was on the opening-day roster to start last season.
Minasian and the Angels have not closed the door on continuing to improve the rotation, or the rest of their roster going through the winter.
"We're not close minded," said Minasian. "We're gonna keep following the trade market. Following the free agent market, but rotation is still a spot if we feel like there's an improvement out there we'll look to do it. (trying to get better... I wouldn't say anything is off limits."
Among the potential free agents over the 2024/25 off-season includes Japanese pitchers Roki Sasaki and Tomoyuki Sugano, which Minasian declined to comment about, staying consistent not commenting on any individual free agent player(s) on the market.