Angels manager Kurt Suzuki learning amid challenges

ANAHEIM — As he nears the end of what has been a season with far more downs than ups, Angels manager Kurt Suzuki doesn’t claim to have all the answers.

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“Whether it’s the bullpen, the lineup or putting on offensive signs, I don’t think there’s one thing that I feel I can’t be better at,” the first-year manager said. “I always feel like there’s something you can do better.”

When the Angels hired Suzuki as their manager last October, much was made of the fact that they gave him just a one-year contract. Considering that one year has now produced a 52-82 record, and considering that the general manager who hired Suzuki has been fired, it’s reasonable to wonder about his future.

No one expected the Angels to go to the playoffs, and few gave them a chance of even snapping what is now an 11-year streak of losing records. Given that, it’s difficult to tell how much of the Angels’ disappointing season is simply because of undermanned roster, and how much is Suzuki’s responsibility.

He acknowledges parts of the job have been tougher than he expected, like handling the pitching staff.

“When I caught, I had an understanding,” Suzuki said. “I don’t have to pitch to this guy because I know I’ve got this guy coming in for the next guy. I’ve always had a head start in that aspect. Now, it’s dealing with, this guy pitched two out of three (games) or three out of four. That’s the hardest part. Or this guy just had four days off, do I need to get him in? For me, that’s the toughest.

“Just like on the offensive side. You don’t want a guy sitting too long. You want everybody to feel like they’re contributing to the team. That’s also tough because if a guy’s playing good, you don’t want to take him out. Balancing all that gets a little tricky. But that’s the beauty of the game, making the right move.”

That balancing act extends to his relationships with the players.

A manager needs to establish an expectation, and players need to know what won’t be tolerated. Push them too hard, though, and he can lose not only that player, but the entire clubhouse.

Suzuki spent 16 years as a major league player, on the other side of that equation.

As a manager now, he said he feels the internal conflict. He’s aware that his postgame interviews can sometimes be interpreted as if he’s accepting when things go wrong on the field.

“We don’t accept it as an organization, as a team, as a group, as a coaching staff,” Suzuki said. “Definitely we don’t accept it. Now, I feel like it does no good throwing a player under the bus. I wouldn’t want to be thrown under the bus if I was a player, especially if I was doing everything that I can to prepare, right? That’s that trust that you build as a manager. The relationships are very important. Because at the end of the day, the player is going to perform if he wants to play for you. And if he feels like you don’t have his back, then it’s not going to work out.”

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Suzuki acknowledges that his communication with the players and relationships with them are what makes the best case for him to return as manager.

“The preparation, the clubhouse environment and my relationship with the players, all that stuff’s important,” Suzuki said. “The (on-field) is the (on-field), but I feel like all the stuff leading up to that has been really good. I think the communication with players has been really good.”

Suzuki, 42, has faith that the Angels can get things on the field turned around. He said it’s “trending in the right direction.” While the record is decidedly not going in the right direction, the organization has made more of an effort to rebuild with young players this season. Those players will need to build a culture of winning baseball, which includes executing the subtle fundamentals that have eluded them.

“You have to keep ingraining them,” Suzuki said. “It starts in the minor leagues, before they get up here. It’s that expectation and standard that we’ve talked about this year. I feel like it’s trending in the right direction to do winning things when you’re on the baseball field, whether it’s preparation before the game or recovery after the game. Taking care of your body. All those things matter.”

Whether Suzuki will be around to oversee that culture change is the question that figures to be answered over the next five or six weeks. Between now and then, Angels owner Arte Moreno and team president Molly Jolly are expected to first figure out what they want to do with the GM position. Perhaps they’ll hire a new GM or perhaps they’ll keep interim GM John Mozeliak around.

The next question will be about the manager. While Moreno will ultimately make the call, Mozeliak is certain to have some input. For what it’s worth, Mozeliak seems to enjoy working with Suzuki.

Earlier this month, at the press conference to announce the restructuring of the staff overseeing the pitchers, Mozeliak was asked about Suzuki’s future.

“We have a really positive working relationship,” Mozeliak said, with Suzuki sitting beside him. “I appreciate everything he’s trying to do downstairs. This is a difficult year. There’s definitely challenges. You can talk about the roster. You can talk about how it’s put together, how it’s constructed. Is it a fair chance to be graded?

“But to answer your question on the manager, I just appreciate that he wants to try to do things to move this forward. And I have a lot of empathy for that, and I have a lot of gratitude for that, and I think those are important traits. And I think, collectively, when we talk about Zuk and his staff, we talk about the front office, that’s where we want to make sure that we’re very clear on what those expectations look like the remainder of the year, and we can hold ourselves accountable to it.”

UP NEXT

Phillies (RHP Andrew Painter, 3-8, 6.04 ERA) at Angels (LHP Reid Detmers, 4-8, 3.62 ERA), Friday, 6:38 p.m., ABTV, 830 AM

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