A $63 million investment just blew up in the Los Angeles Angels’ face. Their Japanese pitching star was supposed to be the answer to years of failure, but he’s become the latest headache in a franchise that can’t catch a break. With a brutal 6-11 record across 32 starts this season and a 4.05 ERA that screams mediocrity, this three-year gamble has turned into a nightmare that’s tearing apart what’s left of the clubhouse. Million-dollar players losing faith in the people making decisions can sometimes be the biggest issue, not what occurs on the field.

When Yusei Kikuchi decided he had had enough, the storm that had been building in the Angels clubhouse finally erupted. After being pulled from a close game against Milwaukee last night, the seasoned left-hander didn’t mince words, and what he said cut right to the core of Anaheim’s problems. Picture this: your team is clinging to a 2-1 lead, runners are threatening to score, and your manager pulls you from the mound. For any pitcher, that’s a gut punch. To make it worse, the Brewers went on to win 5-2.

Kikuchi’s frustration became evident when he told reporters through interpreter Yusuke Oshima, “All year I’ve been grinding for the team, right? So in that spot, I wanted to be trusted a little bit more, and I felt like I wasn’t trusted in that moment.”

Getting yanked with two runners on base wasn’t tactical—it was brutal. Kikuchi had the Angels leading 2-1 through five innings against Milwaukee’s dangerous lineup. This was his moment to prove the worth of that $63 million contract. Instead, the bullpen let both inherited runners score, turning a potential victory into another painful loss that perfectly captures everything wrong with this broken franchise.

The Angels couldn’t have picked a worse time for this mess to explode. This franchise is drowning in an ocean of failure—69 wins and 84 losses this season, good enough for dead last in the AL West, 15 games behind division-leading Houston. Their playoff drought has now stretched to 11 consecutive seasons, the longest active streak in Major League Baseball. Manager Ron Washington’s future hangs in the balance after his medical leave. When you’re averaging just 4.2 runs per game while giving up 5.1, every relationship that falls apart becomes magnified.

It is as though to see dominoes fall one by one when those who decide to lose confidence in the men who choose. And life invents new methods of kicking the Angels when they are down, when you think they have reached their lowest.

Angels’ injury woes compound season-long struggles

Bad luck just keeps finding the Angels, and their pitching rotation can’t catch a break. While Kikuchi’s trust issues simmer in the background, injuries keep piling up like a car crash in slow motion. Every time this team thinks they’ve found solid ground, something else breaks.

Thursday brought fresh heartbreak when the Angels placed right-hander Jose Soriano on the 15-day injured list with a right forearm contusion. The frightening injury occurred during Wednesday’s 9-2 defeat to Milwaukee, when Jake Bauers launched a screaming line drive that struck Soriano at 107 mph. The Venezuelan hurler doubled over in visible pain before collapsing into a defensive squat, creating another devastating image for a franchise collecting too many of them.

“I’m good, thank God, it just hit me on the forearm,” Soriano told reporters through interpreter Manny Del Campo afterward. “I was worried, but the X-rays came back negative. Now, I’ll just take it day by day and see how it goes.” His relief was palpable, though the timing couldn’t have been worse for a pitcher who had emerged as one of their most reliable arms.

Soriano had tied for the major league lead with 31 starts, a 10-11 record, and a 4.26 ERA before the injury cost the Angels their most reliable starter. The team had to call up rookie Sam Aldegheri from Triple-A Salt Lake to cover yet another roster gap after he recorded a career-high 152 strikeouts in 169 innings, an effort that is now uncertainly coming to an end.