The Angels appear set for a major shake-up, as owner Arte Moreno announced Tuesday he’d retained financial advisors to explore a potential sale of the franchise. The news came as a surprise publicly, but Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reports that Moreno had planned to look into selling the team for a while before making the announcement. One source tells Rosenthal a sale has been under consideration for upwards of two months.
Precisely when Moreno settled upon this course of action isn’t clear, but it appears to have been at some point in June at the latest. As Rosenthal points out, that provides some interesting context for the Halos’ approach to the trade deadline — specifically with the organization’s handling of reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani. Reports emerged in late July the Angels were listening to trade offers on Ohtani, but any speculation was quickly dashed when the Halos took the two-way star off the market by August 1.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported shortly after the deadline that Moreno forbade the front office from exploring Ohtani trades at a time when fellow superstar Mike Trout was on the injured list. Buster Olney of ESPN relayed a similar sentiment this week, writing that the club’s baseball operations department viewed this summer as the ideal time to extract a maximum return for Ohtani, who is arbitration-eligible for a final time before reaching free agency after 2023. Moreno, however, stepped in and indicated he wouldn’t approve a trade.
In the aftermath of the announcement that Moreno was exploring a sale, there was plenty of speculation among rival fanbases that an Ohtani trade next offseason could be more viable than it was this summer. Yet Rosenthal feels that’s unlikely, reasoning that Moreno’s refusal to deal Ohtani at the deadline while already planning to explore a sale of the franchise seems unlikely to change over the winter.
It isn’t known how long the sales process will take, but it could extend well into the offseason. For reference, the Lerner family announced shortly after Opening Day they were exploring a sale of the Nationals. Earlier this week, Barry Svrulga, Ben Strauss and Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post suggested that process could be wrapped up by November, around seven months after the team’s announcement a sale was under consideration. If the Angels’ process follows a similar timetable, it’d push near Opening Day 2023. Each situation is individual, of course, and one can’t know precisely at this stage how long the possible sale of the Anaheim franchise might take. Yet the Nationals situation serves as an example of the complexity of a deal of this magnitude, and it seems likely Moreno will retain ownership at least for the early stages of the offseason.
Ohtani’s future is just one of many key decisions the Angels face as the franchise prepares for a possible monumental change. The club will have to settle upon a manager, with Phil Nevin currently holding the role on an interim basis after the team dismissed Joe Maddon in early June. General manager Perry Minasian and his staff will also be tasked with trying to overcome what’s set to be a seventh straight losing season and presumably make another push for contention in 2023. How much financial flexibility will be at the front office’s disposal remains to be seen.
The Halos entered this season with a franchise-record payroll north of $188MM, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Jason Martinez of Roster Recourse estimates the club has a bit above $103MM in guaranteed money on the books for next season. That doesn’t include what’ll surely be a massive raise for Ohtani over this season’s $5.5MM salary, and the team will also see first baseman Jared Walsh reach arbitration for the first time. The Halos aren’t facing many significant free agent departures, but they could arguably stand to use external help at shortstop, left field, catcher and in both the rotation and the bullpen.
Good Riddance. He’s only been pondering selling for “2 months” I and every other Halo fan have been pondering him selling since 2009. Just don’t muddle stuff up on the way out Arte.
Mr. Moreno is a businessperson first.
He’s primarily selling for business reasons. Without being able to expand operations the franchise is at a top and it’s best selling here.
Don’t believe it has anything to do with the status of the team on the field.
Winning is good for business though…Playoff appearances are good for business..
He’s going to sell before they make their next playoff appearance regardless though. Because he’s not going to just sit and wait until they make the playoffs.
The other poster was spot on that it’s likely tied to the fact that without being able to expand any further, he likely decided this was the best time to sell.
His reluctance to trade Ohtani though is likely for two reasons. A: He’s still the current owner, and with Trout injured, retaining Ohtani was the best way to keep his club competitive, even if still out of it. B :While dumping larger salaries is often connected to club sales, it’s at times best, it doesn’t hurt to have players like Ohtani and Trout to sell as the keystones of the team they’re acquiring, and let them decide if they want to try to trade Ohtani and/or Trout. One team buyer may want to have a team like the Nationals, where the groundwork is there for a rebuild and let them choose free agents to go after. Another buyer might want to go Dodgers route. Acquire a team that may cost more, but has Star power already there and build around that.
Any Angel fan that wouldn’t have executed the Pederson for Rengifo trade straight up?
It was Pederson AND Ross Stripling for Rengifo!
My apologies I forgot. Even better.
I thought it was Pederson, Stripling, and Andy Pages for Rengifo and Taylor Ward
Memory is failing me but the past articles im looking at say “Joc and Stripling for Rengifo and 2 prospects.” I’ve always been keen on Pederson thats why I have a slight vendetta.
It was Stripling, Pederson, and Pages, for Rengifo and other prospects (not named). The deal fell apart right after Pederson lost his arb hearing. Probably his lower salary altered the value of the deal and upped Friedman’s ask on the added prospects, as well is should have. That’s when Moreno iced the deal. What you have to ask yourself is why he doesn’t just let his front office people do their jobs.
The Dodgers were so dumb wanting to trade for Rengifo!
I knew it sounded to good too be true from the start..and it was apparently. Maybe Arte thought he just “knew better” and knew more baseball than his front office. He has been vexing Halo Fans for many years though. That trade (or lack thereof) just happened to be more one of his more dubious decisions.
Blue is correct in the details, the only one in fact after a few mlbtr dart throws
I will throw Angels a bone here since they seem to need it
You guys almost won a trade we know 50% of the details about 2 years ago
Things are looking UP^.
Switch those to(o)’s
I think this is probably what you’re already saying but it’s kind of difficult to judge the return since the prospect(s) coming back to the Dodgers on top of Rengifo were never disclosed. At the time Moreno made a snarky remark implying that he felt the Angels were being hardballed and took offense at it. The takeaway for me is Moreno’s meddling with his FO. It wasn’t as if this was a franchise-altering deal, but he still couldn’t keep his hands off it.
Too gracious Cap thanks…Bottom line for me though is Pederson. We could have used him. Its ancient history/bygones at this point. Just want the Angels out of the cellar like every Halo fan.
And ward
Ward was possibly one of the unnamed prospects, but that’s total speculation since he was never mentioned.
We’re all speculating here, blue sky. You’re taking the mlb comment section too seriously if you thought this was anything else. You spend a lot of time here replying to people you disagree with and its honestly kind of sad.
I’m the one taking the discussion too seriously?
Speaking of sad…
Lol
It was for Luis Rengifo and Taylor Ward. In retrospect, it’s a blessing in disguise as both players have finally become pretty decent players and should be part of the organization’s future.
I can’t find any evidence at all that Ward was part of this trade. Have you?
MLB.com included Ward in the vetoed Angels-Dodgers trade. Blogs, and twitter might not be the most credible but MLB.com generally is. This is MLBtraderumors, anyways, we’re discussing rumors.
From MLB.com
“The Dodgers would have shipped him (Pages) to the Angels along with Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling for Luis Rengifo and Taylor Ward as an adjunct to the Mookie Betts trade in February 2020, but Angels owner Arte Moreno got impatient when the Betts negotiations dragged on and nixed the move.”
Took me a couple minutes on google to find the above
Most of my info on this came from the LA Times, which covers area sports news a lot more thoroughly than any blog or Twitter. I don’t read either of those.
But good on you for finding the reference to Ward. That’s the question I asked, and you found an answer. Now try posting it without being snarky. I mean, especially if you’re accusing others of taking these discussion “too seriously.”
Sell it to Disney. Disneyland is only a couple blocks away from the big “A”. They can make it the newest attraction.
“The Los Angeles Marvels”
If you end up being correct, (which you probably will be) I hope they give you a finders fee…First heard “LA Marvel’s” from you…Pretty sure they’ll run with it.
That is of course if Disney gets em again….I would prefer “The LA Fox & The Hounds” though
..
Strike that….”Anaheim Fox & The Hounds.”
You do remember who Arte bought the Angeles from eh?
abcrazy4dodgers;
To most of these kids, 2019 is: “Back in the day”.
When that rat infested company Disney owned the Angels. They had one of the lowest payrolls in baseball. Claiming that the Angels were a small market team. Even the Rockies and Reys had higher team payroll at that time.
They were the 15th highest payroll and won their first (and only) World Series in their last season of Disney ownership
Overall the team was 495-477 in the seasons Disney was in charge of the club. That after the Angels finished with a 70-91 record the year prior to their control
They won when Disney owned them, despite your wingnut political opinion.
Disney wanted to rename the team,
The Mighty Angels of Anaheim.
Pretty sure Disney doesn’t want the Angels back.
Stay far away from any corporate ownership. They are beholden to their shareholders first and not the game itself. Disney sold the Angels because their Board of Directors decided that Angels Baseball was a bad investment.
Hell no. Disney ownership was worse than Arte!
Dunno why everyone thinks this means Ohtani is gone. If I’m buying LAA, I want to chose whether or not to keep Shohei, and the blow to the fans of losing that guy will harm that team’s bottom line in a big way, so I’m not buying the post-Ohtani Angels unless the return was massive.
DarkSide830;
What makes you think he wants to stay there?
We know he wants to get with a playoff team.
He’s under contract for one year. New ownership is not turning that franchise around in a year. With the mess they have to deal with it’s quite possible that they elect to move Ohtani and get what they can for him. If they lose some revenue by dealing him in 2023, so be it. Anyone that buys that franchise intends to keep it for quite some time.
Ohtani will be migrating 1200 miles to the north once he becomes a Free Agent.
Not likely. The money will all but certainly be out of reach for them. He’s going to one of the big teams. Cubs, Dodgers, Yanks, Mets.
bob9988 2;
Historically the Bay Area has one of the largest – if not the largest – Oriental communities in America.
The Giants have the money.
I don’t think you are supposed to use the word Oriental Samuel…
@Samuel Is this the 50s? Who uses that term these days?
It’s just a word.
Oriental is a rug not a people.
I can see the Yankees making it a top priority to trade for Ohtani this coming off season.
Did you read the article and the others quoted here?
Oriental means “eastern”, Persia to the Far East.
Sign me up if he’d either consider going to the cubs. When is he a free agent? Cubs need A TOR starter and a DH for the foreseeable future. Having Seiya Suzuki in Chicago will help. Yu Darvish vouched for Seiya to go to Chicago. So two fellow Japanese players willing to endorse a player to go to the cubs.
Well ‘Asian’ is basically a meaningless term because it covers vastly different groups (South Asians, East Asians, Middle Easterners, etc). It basically means nothing and it’s crazy to lump those groups together.
Caucasians are closer genetically to South Asians than East Asians are to South Asians, just as an example. Dumb to lump all those groups together under the ‘Asian’ umbrella and crazy that there are organizations that claim to represent all Asians as though they aren’t vastly different groups.
Ohtani is one of the most popular, if not THE most popular man in the game. He appeals to pretty much everyone.
@SugaMonkey- that would be the biggest mistake ever. Ohtani has already proven that he’s not a New York type of player, that being said I truly hope the Mets trade for him. Ohtani wouldn’t be able to pitch well on the big stage, he would be able to hit a lot of homers here though.
@tstats- Oriental Samurai?
@jonbluvin- Samurai is living well past the 50’s.
-Samuel, he said 1200mi north. 1200mi north of LA is Seattle.
@bob9988 2
He’s going to the KC Royals!
@jonbluvin;
Hard for me to keep up.
Do they still use the term “Hispanic” these days?
bob9988 2;
Yes, I know.
They are going to trade him for Ramen Noodles?
Its a word that means “East” in the old French language….latin based.
Why?
I don’t know about that. They did pony up that big contract to Cano while also saddled with the one they gave to King Felix.
Yu Darvish campaigned for Suzuki to join the Padres. AFTER Suzuki signed with the Cubs he said that Suzuki would enjoy his time as a Cub. He never “vouched” for the Cubs prior to Suzuki signing there.
Oriental is wrong… You meant Asian-American communities, unless you belong to the Proud Boys, which is understandable.
The Bay Area? Seattle is the city that’s 1200 miles from Anaheim, not SF. Seattle would make sense since they are improving as a team, they have the money (they outbid the Yankees for Robinson Cano), and they were the team of the previous greatest Japanese player in the MLB.
Seattle won’t be out of reach and would not be surprised if Ohtani wants to stay on the West Coast. Of course the Dodgers and Giants make a lot of sense too but the timing just seems to favor the Mariners. Remember it was the Mariners who “stole” Cano from the Yankees, so they have the money and the desire to win. And I suspect they want to recapture the tradition of being home to the best Japanese player in the game.
Some might say THE best player in the game at the time.
Didn’t the Yankees make an offer to Cano but the Mariners offered about 25 million more so the Yankees said see ya later?
A year ago I thought Ohtani and Trout were the two best players in the game. This year I’d say Ohtani is Top 5 while the jury is out on Trout to see if he can come back to something of his old self.
Trout and Mookie are still #1 and #2 for me. I know Trout has lost a step but that’s all I see. If he can slim down a little and take some weight off his frame it might help him with injuries.
That is the kind of irrational hot take I pay this site for. Thanks.
Every fan has an opinion on their favorite/best players…Nothing irrational about it. As for Trout dropping a few pounds, I don’t think that’s too far fetched of an idea either. But your welcome. P.S. How do I join MLBTR premium?? Can’t even find the link..
Sid, who do you think the best 2 or 3 are in the game today?
Troutahni;
You sound like Walter talking to The Dude.
Hey man he’s a pacifist. This ain’t Nam.
The problem is the clock is ticking. The Angels essentially have Ohtani under contract for 14 months before he is able to negotiate with everyone else. Arte cannot and will not sign another $400 million dollar contract before selling the team and the process for finalizing a sale is a slow one. Best hope at retaining Ohtani the Angels have is if a buyer is named buy the end of the World Series and the sale is finalized before the new year. If Arte drags this into next year Ohtani probably leaves as a free agent or is traded mid-season
I would recommend reading the article and then going to see what Rosenthal and the others said about the possibility of an Ohtani trade.
Moreno would not allow Ohtani to be traded at the deadline and all of the writers I have read and the guys on MLB Network all believe that Ohtani will not be traded while Moreno is the owner.
So unless by some miracle the sale is completed in the next 3-4 months, Ohtani will open the 2023 season as an Angel.
Ohtani won’t be traded because of the advertising money he brings in from Japan and tyne United States. Listen to an Angel radio broadcast or go to a game. You can’t miss the incredibly enormous amount of video game and Ohtani inspired merchandise there is. He ought to get paid as an all-star DH and Cy-Young caliber pitcher combined along with 20% of Ohtani advertising. I think the market is $65 million a year. 60 million a year is a discount. That comes to a 10 year contract worth 600 million dollars. It’s a discount because it’s much less than Trout’s contract and he provides 2 Allstar players for the price of one.
Any group negotiating for the franchise is likely to bring in their own FO and manager.
And they’ll already have an idea of what they want to do with Ohtani. and Trout.
I would trade Trout and try to extend Ohtani with a kings ransom. You won’t get the return on Trout you would have 3-4 years ago, but he’d still net you 3-4 really good prospects, and possibly more if LAA would be willing to eat some of the contract.
Trout full no trade clause. Unless he wants out of course.
No way, his contract is already under water and he has a full no-trade. Ohtani is the path to a prospect haul and they just lost some of his value post-deadline.
Right on both points and incredibly stupid that they didn’t trade Ohtani before the trade deadline at the latest, if not before the season even began. No well-run team and no team with a good minor league system is going to clean out their best prospects for 1 single season of Ohtani. For 2 years of Ohtani, different situation. He’s probably worth around 3 promising prospects at this point whereas before the trade deadline he was probably worth around 5 promising prospects.
Arte just being stubborn and going scorched earth as usual.
Trout’s trade value is lower than the lowest rated prospect in baseball because it would be idiotic for anyone to take on the rest of the contract ($37 million per year for the next 8 years) for a 31 year old, declining physical wreck who now also has a permanent back injury that hasn’t been tested to any significant degree whatsoever (and won’t be by the end of this season, either). brian cashman is likely the only GM with enough of a combination of stupidity and resources to take on the rest of that contract.
Ah yes – You changed your name but still vomiting the same nonsense about Trout.
prov356;
Yes, he is a bit harsh in his language. But that Trout contract is bad. He is incorrect in stating that: “brian cashman is likely the only GM with enough of a combination of stupidity and resources to take on the rest of that contract.”
In fact if he can get it by his owners, AJ Preller will happily take on that contract. Than Mr. Trout and Mr. Tatis, Jr. can take turns seeing who spends more time on the IL each year, as Mr. Machado exercises his opt-out and Mr. Soto leaves in FA.
He’s also wrong to characterize Trout as a declining physical wreck. There’s a reason why he has to change his name all the time.
Right, he’s not declining or physically broken. Played at a 4-5 WAR pace in 2020 (the only season where pace matters for any player), posted 2 WAR last year, will finish with 4-5 WAR this year. SB game- used to be 1 of the best in baseball- is completely over and pitchers can almost completely ignore him on the basepaths, 2018 was his last good season in the field, can’t stay on the field and extremely fragile in general and now has a permanent back injury, lowest BA and lowest OBP of his career this year, significant decline at the plate in general 2 out of the past 3 years, BB way down beginning in 2020, Ks way up beginning in 2020. But he’s not declining or physically broken. And a no-neck having, likely HGH user (for a health issue, of course).
Trout – 4.0 WAR so far this season. That means he has incredible value. Being hurt in 2021 doesn’t change his value.
4 WAR is not incredible value by any means and he now has a permanent back injury that hasn’t been significantly tested whatsoever and staying on the field is a huge element of value so Trout’s fragility hurts his value big time. 2 WAR last year- 2 WAR to go along the 4-5 WAR pace in 2020. He will average 2-4 WAR for the next 3 years (assuming he doesn’t have to retire before the next 3 years are over) with a possible ceiling of 5 WAR in any given year. He’s a shell of what he used to be, despite of the mass delusion that he’s ‘still in his prime’.
4.0 bWAR is $36 million in value. He has played in 85 of the teams 125 games. He is not gone for the season so because its a counting stat, his WAR for 2022 will go UP.
That is incredible value. It is top 20 in MLB even though he has played only 70% of the Angels games so far. Top 20 players are incredibly valuable.
One season on the IL does not hurt his value. He hit .333/.466/.624/1.090 last season when he was on the field. That was the best in baseball and its not really close.
fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&…
His play this year guaranteed that his value didn’t suffer.
Then you go all Nostradamus on us (you know, fake predictions) even though Trout is at 4.0 WAR already in 2022.
5.0 bWAR is $45 million in value. That gives the team a large surplus value.
Trout is a Top 20 player this season and his performance SO FAR is worth $36 million. If he sat on the bench the rest of the year the Angels broke even.
Let me repeat that. TOP 20 player THIS season. 5.0 bWAR is $45 million in value.
So please. Take your haterade and try that garbage on someone that doesn’t understand baseball.
Just like message boarders responded that it was crazy when I said he would be a 4-6 WAR player going forward after seeing his major decline in 2020. He’s now a 2-4 WAR player for the next 3 years factoring this latest injury and his 31 years of age (assuming he doesn’t have to retire before then because of his shattered, HGH body). He had 117 ABs last year, to call him ‘the best in baseball’ based on that small of a sample size is ridiculous and again, he produced 2 WAR, which is all that really matters.
Stop with the garbage of 5 bWAR being $45 million value. Only in fantasy land is that value correct. Nobody pays players by WAR because WAR means little when it comes to real world compensation. A player’s performance alone does not determine his value. Value is determined by team budgets, a player’s age, demand for the player based on his position, etc in addition to pure performance. Teams are realizing more and more a single hitter has limited impact on a team’s ability to win. Just look at the Orioles, Rays and Guardians in comparison to the Angels. Overpaying one or two players can cripple a team no matter how good that player is because not enough is left over for the rest of the team. A balanced lineup and pitching staff is more important to winning than two or three (aging) superstars (where the rest of the team is AAAA or retirment home worthy). Even the Yankees (or maybe especially the Yankees) have this problem; and the likes of the Dodgers probably will have this problem down the road too.
Trout is a 4 PLUS bWAR player in 2022. You are already wrong. Quit while you are behind.
How to say you don’t understand the value inherent in the WAR statistic without saying it.
oi0ewt, what do you think of deGrom? He’s 34 and has made only 32 starts the past three years combined. He’s extremely fragile and can’t stay on the field, right?
Ohtani will leave in free agency if they don’t trade him he wants to win titles. He will not win on that team if they have to pay him along with Trout and Rendon, two guys who won’t be traded for obvious reasons. It would be one thing if they had a solid minor league system but it’s a total joke. Moreno should have allowed his FO to trade Ohtani when they had the chance but he’s concerned with asses in seats and that’s it. He doesn’t know how to run a winning team and the fact that he’s meddled so much is troublesome. He’s a child enamored with shiny toys. $35M a year for Rendon is absolutely idiotic. It was stupid then and it’s even dumber now. I don’t see how Seattle will afford Ohtani either with all the contracts they’ve been giving and will have to give to keep the team somewhat together. Seattle is already in the thick of it so it might be too late to add a contract like the one Ohtani will command plus keep all those young stars when they come up. Rodriguez and all those young arms are going to cost a ton to keep and let’s be honest Ohtani does not have too many more years of playing two ways it’s just not possible so to pay him $30M-$40M a year for however many years could end up being a serious problem for his next team.
The full no trade clause, the massive amount of money owed, and the inability to stay on the field all say Trout isn’t going anywhere
This explains why Thor and Iglesias were salary dumps. He simply didn’t care about getting talent back for after he owns it.
Ohtani is a huge star. The type that brings in revenue on both sides of the Pacific.
A new owner would like the opportunity to make their own decision.
HalosHeavenJJ:
Any new owners decision on Mr. Ohtani is for 2023. Beyond that it’s Mr. Ohtani’s decision.
You think the desire to sell the team goes back to the off season?
I think the desire to sell the team goes back to when Arte got pulled into all that mess with the Anaheim city hall that cost the mayor his job. Article says June and late May is when the mayor resigned.
Makes you wonder if Arte is looking to skip town like said disgraced Mayor before someone starts looking at him more closely
@Samuel
If the new owners don’t plan on paying Ohtani, better to let Moreno play the villain for trading A popular player.
Iglesias and Syndergaard make about 30 million combined
If Ohtani was resigned, he’d be expected to get a raise somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 million
That is why they were salary dumps; Moreno was trying to find the money to try and pay Ohtani this upcoming offseason
Are you a bug in his brain?
Or get a SS, or a C or more pitching. Or still need all those things, but keep Ohtani.
The Lerners have to hate the timing of Arte’s announcement. It can’t help to have another MLB team go on sale while you’re taking bids.
Not necessarily. I imagine while there may be some interested in both franchises, being that they are on opposite sides of the country they will both likely have several different suitors as well
@Rsox and @pads fans
I never said it would lower the cost or cause bidders to drop out. I said the timing was bad for the Nats, and that’s because they’re currently hoping for a bidding war. Now 2nd place knows they can pivot to Anaheim as a consolation prize. It might not hurt them but it certainly doesn’t help, like I said before.
The Lerner’s started the process of selling the Nationals before the season started and are in final stages of sale. They have 5 offers on the table including one from a group that includes Mark Lerner (current managing partner of the Nationals) as a minority partner.
They are at the point of choosing which offer works best for them and getting that group approved by the other MLB owners. None of those offers will be pulled just because the Angels are exploring a sale. Those buyer groups are too far into the process and have spent too much money.
Moreno is exploring a sale. Meaning that he has hired a company to put together market research on the value of the team and engage with potential buyers. No offers have been made. He is still 8-9 months away from a sale being finalized.
The Angels being on the market will not change anything for the Lerners
I didn’t say it would change anything for the lerners but every MLB owner would prefer to be the only belle of the ball. Now Arte is stealing some of the Lerners spotlight while discouraging 2nd place to bid up the cost because it only increases the asking price on the Angels upcoming sale.
Arte’s gotta go big regardless. Maybe it takes 7 months, maybe it takes 17. This could be the last time we see one of the greatest hitters in history + the greatest 2-way player ever … on the same team! A postseason is the only way Ohtani stays. They need a lot of help… but RODON, KLUBER, and SWANSON should set them up for an A grade of the off-season.
I feel sorry for Moreno. He was a good owner, but made too many emotional decisions by signing big names, and not putting money back into player development and scouting. His first mistake was re-signing Mike Scoiscia to a 10 year contract extension. That was a tattletale sign of what was to come.
I loved his vision for a Angels baseball town. I’m sad that didn’t happen.
Arte was a bad owner because he made too many emotional decisions and because he constantly overrode the decisions of his GMs.
he is a bad owner for hiring bad GMs that he could override on anything. and hiring his rear-kisser for president.
Do you have a boss? Do you have veto power over your bosses actions?
30 GM jobs in baseball. People rarely turn them down. Even if they have to work for Arte Moreno. They can always move on to another job later if the boss turns out to be undermining their work.
DiPoto moved on and has built a great team in Seattle under an ownership that allowed him to do what he felt was in the best interest of the team. Good GM with the Angels and a good POBO now. The problem was always Moreno.
If it hurts he can always rub a couple billion dollars on the owie. I’m sure it will feel a whole lot better.
Its not coincidental that the Angels biggest run of success (2002-2009) the teams were built by Bill Stoneman (Tony Reagins took over after 2007 but the last ALCS team in 2009 was still mostly Stoneman). After that it is when Moreno started switching GM’s regularly and undermining every decision (like DiPoto wanting to re-sign Grienke but arte wanting Josh Hamilton instead). Arte hampered this team and whoever purchases it is inheriting a bottom feeding farm team with a less than mediocre big league roster sans Trout and Ohtani
New owners should move team to Las Vegas.Their new unis could have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other.Instant top seller.
only a fool like you would do that.
Lol nice. But in all seriousness as a Bay Area transplant to OC..people want this team to be successful and will come out if it is. They already draw great for those markets that have moved here. Having the giants and padres, cubs and Mets in town every couple years will help. Just be better and the casual fans will come out in droves for something to do. Ohtani is the reason I go to Angels games right now. Whoever buys this team needs him
Are there really Angels fans outside of Orange County?
No
Yes been an Angels fan since 82. Born and raised in LA county. Never was a fan of that other team.
Uhhh, there are a ton of us in Nashville.
@Prov356
Angels fans or Mike Trout/Shohei Ohtani fans? Because there is a difference
There’s international Angels fans!
Yes.
I think watching Pujols success finally made Arte realize that his vanity idea at baseball was clueless and he’s better off selling cell phones in a non-competitive environment.
I’m hoping someone with big pockets keeps Ohtani. and sees his international appeal and Trout’s stature as building blocks. Being that there are some good free agents. A new owner mostly likely won’t be able to obtain the team and make a FA splash with some notable FAs
Trading him can help the team in so many ways.
The Angels averaged 90 wins a season from 2002-2015 and were simply great on an organizational level. They pumped out 20+ WAR guys like Weaver, Lackey, Kendrick, Aybar, Figgins, Napoli, etc. like it was nothing while also having success with FA signings like Guerrero, Abreu, and Matsui. Their past success and large market engendered a perpetual win-now mindset, but they haven’t had the supporting cast to win in quite some time.
Their drafting and development just hasn’t been up to snuff in the last 10 years. They’ve bet on raw, toolsy guys in drafts like Jordyn Adams and Jo Adell and haven’t been able to unlock their upside. As mocked as their 2021 draft was, about 6 members of that class are already performing well in the high minors. In fact, their strategy the last 3 drafts has been quick-to-the-bigs college players and things look promising, but the system’s current problem is that they have a lot of future role players and middle relievers instead of a strong contingent of impact players.
I’d love to get to a point where the org can get impact from unheralded prospects like how Tampa and Houston always seem to do, but that would require a much-needed facelift to the front office, coaching staff, and scouting department. The new ownership allows such an overhaul and should lead to a rebuild (that I think will be quicker than most would think.) If Perry (or whoever the next GM is) are competent and the team is sold to a hands-off owner by the start of next season, I think they can be competitive by 2025. Hopefully Trout can stay healthy and hold off his inevitable decline past his age-33 season.
Extending Bengie, Kendrick and Aybar would have given team time to develop replacements. Napoli was too drunk to keep.
What is eternally frustrating for Halo fans is this article from 2016 (6 years ago) almost word for word still applies today.
cbssports.com/mlb/news/six-reasons-the-angels-look…
@dirkg, thanks for the read. A lot of relevancy to the Halos current situation.
If Art is sincere here, sell the team “as is”. No shake ups on the field or in the front office. Let the new owner make those calls. Maybe the newbie goes with a complete tear down/rebuild, maybe a mini one or stays the course with big contract free agency. Regardless, bow out graciously Art.
One caveat. Cause for pause? Whenever I see something like “retained financial advisors to explore….”. I question the seriousness of wanting to sell. This wording is so vague thus meaningless? Designed to calm down the fan base enough for Art to continue being the owner including maybe launching a different business model on his own watch?
I think the financial advisors are retained simply to do the exploratory work for him. Arte is 76 years old and a billionaire. He could hire people to poor his Cheerios. Ha.
The writing was on the wall when he basically wrote his farewell letter. It was absolute. He’s going to sell the team.
I agree that it would be preferable to see him hand over the keys as is and let the new owner sort it out.
@dirkg; Liked “It was absolute”. Happy for that Halo fan base.
Cheerios? No thank you. I’m a Corn Flakes aficionado. Always had a gut feeling that it just wasn’t about the Hamilton contract that gets me all restless & discontented at the mention of Arte’s name. Thanks for that morsel of a nugget of intel. Cheers!
Retaining financial advisors is always the first step in the sale of a company. They examine the team’s books including revenue and help determine the market value. From there, they engage with the potential buyers. For lack of a better word, they act as the salesperson.
If you are at the stage that you are putting out the millions to hire a financial advisor for a property with the value of an MLB team, then the sale is going to happen.
@Pads Fans; great to hear! You and @dirkg bringing some needed knowledge to this little pea brain of mine. Appreciated, fellas, appreciated. Halos fans rejoice! Change is finally here!
Angels 2022 player loyalty and development.
Cut veteran Justin Upton after solid spring for, Sierra, Lagares, Duggar, Thomas, Whitefield, Harrison and even Adell to play instead.
Keep drafted and delvolped Thaiss in AAA who has nice numbers at the plate and give Stassi an extension and bring back 38 Suzuki, when those guys went down they went with Romine and Wallach instead. It was early I get it, but it’s almost Sept before the call. I get it he’s not the best for the young arms butttt…
Instead of letting 29 Rojas, who you keep on the 40 man, get the ABs after Rendon again went down, you give it to Mayfield, Gosselin, Wade, Mckinnon, Duffy who I liked and Villar who I wanted in the spring and they gave 13 games to prove his stick.
When Fletch went down they let Velasquez play full time and called up Stefanic instead of letting Rengifo loose.
They pitched 25yr Ortega like crazy early with plus results to be replaced with guys like Perguro and Jesse chavez..
Yikes
Huge Upton fan from when he was a Padre, but I totally understand why he was released by the Angels. He hit .211 over 3 previous years and was hitting .125 with reduced bat speed and contact rates when he was released this season.
Don’t know much about Angels catching, but I do know that Thaiss has only played 3 innings at catcher in the majors and that the Angels moved him from 3B to 1B to catcher because they thought he hadd a good bat but his defense stunk wherever he played.
He is playing at catcher part time in Salt Lake, but he is leading the PCL in PB, he is throwing out just 17% of baserunners, and his CERA is 3rd highest in the league. That says to me that his viability as a catcher is questionable.
A quick look at Thaiss’ MLB hitting stats over the last 3 seasons (.197/.285/.388/.673) don’t look good. I can see why they went with a veteran backup that had hit .251/.318/.418/.736 over the past 3 seasons.
He seems more suited to the regular business world than one where everyone has similar resources to compete.
Now he can go back to pushing workers around and lobbying for tax cuts. Like every other billionaire.
Pretty sure after selling the Angels he’s going to retire.
njbirdsfan;
What you and others posting cheap shot, belittling comments don’t get is this: Mr. Moreno is set financially and doesn’t need to do anything other than enjoy the rest of his life unless he wants to take on a new challenge.
I’m considering purchasing them as a Christmas present to myself.
Elon?
Pure speculation on my part but my guess is Moreno already has a buyer who is talking to him and that potential buyer told him they wanted Ohtani on the team. That would explain why Moreno didn’t trade Ohtani this year when it clearly made sense to do so. Just my thoughts with nothing to support it other than speculation.
Or it would be more attractive with Shohei Ohtani on the team For the new buyers
Not trading Ohtani has more to do with not wanting to play infront of 1500 people everynight as opposed to the 19000+ they average now
I went to the series against the Twins because a friends son from the DR pitches for them and it was packed. Probably 40k on Friday and Saturday. Considering they were 15 games under .500 going into the series I was surprised by the attendance.
Not sure what they drew against the Mariners for the weekday series that followed.
Will be interesting what announcing he is selling the team will do for attendance down the stretch.
shows what a clown show morena has been. if he knew he was going to sell the team in june why take Ohtani off the market in august?
Probably because he was advised by professional financial people that handle billion dollar sales that the franchise might be more attractive to some potential buyers if he kept Ohtani.
Rule #1 of negotiations is to keep all your options open.
he could have had a nice haul of highly talented players instead of a guy who’s going to want the moon. i enjoy watching Ohtani as much as any fan of baseball but i guess the new owner can make that decision beginning of 23. i’d just do everything opposite of what arte’s done.
Saudi Arabia or Qatar need to pick up the Angels. Money in abundance and no penny-pinching when it comes to things like excessive payroll and luxury tax.
In the end it’s insignificant where the new oligarch owners come from. U.S. fans have shown to support their teams as long as there’s enough overpriced beer and fattening fast food at the venues. Oh yeah, and bobbleheads… I almost forgot about those bobbleheads from China.
And they can operate it like their new golf venture. Throw massive amounts of money at any player they want and not give a hoot about blowing past the luxury tax penalties.
Or suceed massively like Man City of EPL.
I don’t think anyone in Qatar knows what a baseball looks like.
Arte doesn’t seem to know too much about baseball either and yet he ran the Angels for 20 years. The Arabs can’t do much worse than missing the postseason, like most of Moreno’s teams did.
And with Qatar’s own beIN Sports representing one of the world’s largest sports media companies, I’m pretty sure they know enough about baseball and MLB to buy themselves a championship.
Maybe Scott Boras will buy it, then he can sign everybody to $300 Million contracts and be disappointed with the results.
I was curious about it, so I cross referenced Boras Corporation clients with WAR of players over the last 3 full seasons.
Of Boras 175 baseball clients, 61 are in the top 100 in WAR in MLB.over that time frame.
Just a guess, but I would bet the teams are not disappointed with Boras client’s performance overall.
Steve Ballmer has the financial resources to pull it off and a history of letting his front office do their jobs. As one of the richest people in the world, I would absolutely love to have him as the new owner.
And yet, the ick factor is strong in this one.
Ballmer said last night that he is not interested in purchasing the Angels.
He mentioned one reason as being that the Angels are locked into the Anaheim stadium site through 2029 with no option to negotiate with other possible stadium sites prior to the end of the current lease.
Moreno really screwed the pooch in agreeing to that.
If I was an Angels fan I’d be relieved. Ballmer is an overbearing nincompoop as far as I’m concerned. I’m sure there’s two sides to the stadium site lease. For sure Moreno got something he wanted for making that commitment. If it was a mistake he will have to console himself with a couple of billions.
For all of the people clamoring for Ballmer. How many championships and conference finals appearances do the Clippers have? 0.
Wow! Sounds like your suggesting Ballmer is a terrible owner, and bad for the Clippers. What a terrible take, did u ever think a second where the Clipper franchise was before him. Nope!
So regularly losing in the playoffs makes them a tick above where they were when Donald Sterling owned them.
I’m saying no such thing, i know nothing of the man, only the product on the court. A Baseball team is significantly tougher to run than an NBA team as they are far more moving parts, maybe he can turn the team around but he hasn’t won anything in one sport yet
New owners relocates Angels to Las Vegas and changes team to One Armed Bandits. Oakland A’s relocates to Anaheim after approval from 29 owners and the Commissioner.. This solves the problem with A’s owner begging for a new stadium plus he won’t have rebuild his roster every 3 years because he is a small market club.
Here’s an out of the box suggestion for a new owner: Rick Caruso. Probably hardly anyone outside SoCal has ever heard of him, but he’s an ultra-successful commercial developer. If anyone can figure out how to redevelop the land around the stadium, it’s Caruso. He’s currently running for mayor of LA, but he’s probably going to lose, so maybe he’ll be looking for his next big project.
Caruso is running for Mayor of Los Angeles therefore he couldn’t even be a possibility until after the election
Did you read my entire post or just the first sentence?
And FWIW, I seen no evidence that Caruso has put his business on hold while he’s running for office. In fact he’s come under some criticism in LA for mixing the two, which is one of the reasons he’s likely to lose.
He is down to Bass in the polls by 7 points so he hasn’t lost yet. Putting his hat in the ring to buy a MLB team that is in Anaheim would probably put the nail in his coffin though.
He would be an interesting suitor for the team. My wife was at Pepperdine Law School when he was a student and he seems to be a genuinely nice guy. Not sure about his interest in baseball, but he has proven to be a sharp businessman.
Ballmer said last night that he is not interested in buying the Angels, so other buyers will have to step up to the plate. Great Call on Caruso!
Caruso came in second to Bass by 7 points in the June primary. In the runoff according to a poll released just today he’s down by 12 points. No he hasn’t lost “yet” but as I said unless the polls are completely wrong he is likely to lose. I can’t say I know Caruso but I did some work for him a number of years ago and met him in that capacity. I assume if he was interested in the Angels it would be as part of an investment group. A long shot maybe, but I did say it’s an out of the box idea.
I had not seen today’s polls, so thanks for that info. Karen Bass is a political animal that was the speaker of the house in the CA legislature so it makes sense that she would be beating Caruso.
I think its a great idea to get some new blood into the baseball arena and he is definitely committed to the LA area. Great call.
Caruso is pouring his own money into the race but still is not making a very coherent argument for why he should be mayor. I feel like he’s feeding his ego, and if he is going to burn money it should be for a more productive purpose. But go ahead and try to tell that to a massively rich person.
does mlb still have that rule about having 5 years of payroll in cash (or cash equivalents) still in play?
cause unless the angels cut down big time, new owners would have to have at least $750 million in cash on top of purchase price (shoot, rendon and trout alone are what? $65 million or so, both with no trade deals).
at least if they don’t trim it to the bone in order to sell, their record as the only team in mlb to never lose 100 games in a season stays intact (on the off chance anyone cares, the yanks and dodgers have lost 100 games in a season…. but not when they were known as the yanks and dodgers. cards have the longest streak of not losing 100 games in a season, though, as they last lost 100 in a season back in 1908).