The first post-Shohei Ohtani season of Angels baseball was a difficult one for fans, as the Halos finished dead last in a weak AL West division with a 63-99 record that just barely kept them from posting the first 100-loss season in franchise history.
With Ohtani no longer in the fold and the team just having finished up its worst season yet, speculation regarding a potential rebuild as swirled around the team but owner Arte Moreno put any such rumors to bed during a phone interview with Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register earlier today. During the interview, Moreno made clear that the goal he’s laying out for the organization is to contend for a playoff spot in 2025. It’s a lofty goal considering the fact that only the lowly White Sox finished with fewer wins than Anaheim this season, but Moreno added that payroll is “going to go up” to accommodate his dreams of contention next year.
With that being said, it doesn’t appear a major increase in payroll is expected. After payroll dropped significant from 2023 to 2024, Moreno now suggests that the club’s budget for 2025 figures to fall somewhere in between the (per RosterResource) $176MM the team put forward this year and the $215MM the club spent during Ohtani’s final season with the organization. It’s not exactly clear where Moreno’s target payroll lands in between those two figures, but the Angels should have some room to maneuver this winter regardless. After all, the club’s 2025 books have just over $109MM in guaranteed contracts for 2025. That doesn’t include salaries for the Halos’ rather large arbitration class, but even if each player is tendered a contract in line with the projections by MLBTR Contributor Matt Swartz they’d still be sitting at a tidy $147MM for 2025, or nearly $30MM below last year’s payroll.
That could leave the club with as much as $50MM in payroll flexibility, should Moreno cap the club’s payroll just below $200MM. What’s more, Moreno also suggested that this offseason’s payroll increase should be sustainable for the club, though he cautioned that if payroll were to creep back to 2023 levels in the future it would have to face similar cuts to what it did last winter, with Moreno indicating that the budget for 2023 wasn’t sustainable.
“It’s just an automatic loss,” Moreno said of the club’s $215MM payroll in 2023, as relayed by Fletcher. “If I start piling up (financial) losses, then the next year I’m going to cut.”
Of course, even a relatively hefty financial investment is unlikely to drag the Angels out of the basement of the AL without significant internal improvements to their core group of players. The biggest boost would surely come from a healthy and effective season for Mike Trout, the club’s future Hall of Famer who has never been anything less than elite with the bat but has been limited to just 266 games over the past four seasons. A healthy season from Trout, even if he is no longer the perennial 8-win player he was at his peak, would be a game changer for the club’s offense. So too would steps forward from the club’s young core, including catcher Logan O’Hoppe, first baseman Nolan Schanuel, shortstop Zach Neto, and southpaw Reid Detmers.
2024 was a mixed bag for the quartet overall, with Detmers struggling badly throughout the year to the point that he spent most of the season in Triple-A while Neto enjoyed a breakout season that saw him combine 30 stolen bases with a 114 wRC+ as he locked down the the shortstop position for the Angels. Meanwhile, O’Hoppe and Schanuel both posted perfectly solid seasons, though with only average offense from both players and a step backward defensively from O’Hoppe there’s still plenty of room for both youngster to improve next year.
With Luis Rengifo and Taylor Ward among the other complementary pieces set to return to the club next year, it seems likely the Angels’ major obstacle this season will be patching up a pitching staff that ranked bottom five in the majors this year with a 4.57 ERA and ahead of only the lowly Rockies with a 4.68 FIP. Veteran lefty Tyler Anderson turned in a solid mid-rotation performance this year (3.81 ERA in 31 starts) and Detmers’s combination of strong pedigree and past success leave him likely to earn another shot as a starter next year, but a lackluster 2024 performance from Griffin Canning and midseason elbow surgery for lefty Patrick Sandoval both leave the club with few solid answers in the rotation for 2025.
The Angels have been notoriously hesitant to shop at the top of the starting pitching market throughout Moreno’s tenure as owner, so it would be a shock to see the club pursue a top arm such as Max Fried or Corbin Burnes this winter. Even so, playing in the mid-tier of free agency this winter could help the club add more certainty to its rotation with options like Luis Severino, Nathan Eovaldi, Sean Manaea, and former Angel Andrew Heaney among those expected to be available.
This organization has no idea what it’s doing.
Exactly. Increasing payroll doesn’t mean competing when it comes to this team
Artie needs to get out of the way.
Artie is Joe
The Angels have won with bad owner Moreno. They can’t win with an incompetent GM.
Minasian is incompetent. Why he kept his job is beyond belief.
Perry was given a lemonade stand and told to sell it to the neighbors as a sports bar. Every GM has either gotten out or failed under Arte’s ownership.
His 2021 draft was a stunt that failed miserably. He had a chance to add pieces in the 2021 off season and did a horrible job.
Worst record in Angel history, highest collection of picks in Angel history, 29th ranked farm system
Why any Angel fan gives Minasian a pass is beyond me.
For many fans, it’s less of a pass for Perry than it is for Arte’s inability to field a competent organization with people who actually know or played the grand game.
Perry may not be a good GM, his track record is certainly subpar, but the bigger issue is the owner. We could great the greatest GM in history, but he’s still driving the Titanic.
A rip on both is warranted. I’ve been ripping both for a long time.
Perry is horrible. I don’t think this team can win with him. With these pick, and no sacrificing picks for free agents, our system should be pretty deep. It’s a mess.
I don’t defend Moreno. I have no idea why anyone defends Minasian.
gojira15: “This organization has no idea what it’s doing.”
I disagree. Moreno knows exactly what he is doing. He makes just enough “big name” signings (mostly for past performance) to keep stringing fans along. Meanwhile he cuts corners everywhere else like scouting, player development, etc.. His personal net worth has skyrocketed. He has never prioritized building a winning organization. It was never his goal.
.
Biggest ticket seller in FA this winter will be Juan Soto. He fits in that $50MM payroll increase. Perfect replacement for Ohtani, and since he took the Yankees to the playoffs, he can put that spin on it.
It really is never a sports owner’s main goal to win. These TV deals over the past 10 years or so alone have put owners in a position to where they can streamline revenue without having to worry as much about their team’s on the field record. Angels had one of the biggest TV deals in MLB and that enabled Arte to create a marketing giant over a winning franchise, which is his profession. No one should be surprised by that given his background and the fact that the number one priority of all (business) owners is to make money.
Sure but that TV deal is no gone thanks to Bally going bankrupt
Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before
Bozos
I’m assuming his usual strategy, a splashy signing of an overpriced position player supported by the usual collection of mid 4 era starting pitchers then hoping things will somehow be different this time.
If it ain’t fixed, don’t break it?
Making sure we lose a draft pick because prospects don’t matter.
Case – What if he signs Soto?
Then Soto will get 100 hits and 200 walks in 2025 and be left on base about 250 times. Soto’s skill set needs someone to drive him in and the Angels don’t have the Padres or Yankees mashers hitting behind him. It would be just as bad a signing as all the rest.
“We have Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon hitting behind Soto”
– Arte
(Just don’t look at hitters 6 through 9 or our pitching staff)
The Yankees have Judge and Soto, and little else.
Rendon doesn’t “hit” behind anyone. Even when he’s in the lineup.
You fell into the sar chasm.
If he signs Soto and Trout returns to form they can return to those Ohtani/Trout years, an amazingly talented core that ultimately disappoints.
Trout will never again be what he was…. You have to except that
ibuit – That sounds an awful lot like what people were saying a year ago about Sale.
No not me I thought sale could come back and I’m happy he did. Sale had 1 typical arm injury . Then two freak accidents the finger and bike accident trading him was stupid looked dumb and hurts and then he missed the playoffs so there is that
Case, you nailed it. The same strategy for well over 10 years that has never worked. It’s like he wants to be baseline competitive to keep up the value of the franchise and anything more is a bonus.
“Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?”
Insanity is profitable in Anaheim.
Insanity is the norm in California
The result Arte expects is making money so he actually accomplished his goal.
Arte NoBueno is looking to add another legendary albatross contract to his failing franchise.
HAVE MERCY!
Jesse – Soto? It’s not a foregone conclusion he signs with a NY team.
It isn’t about “spending”, it’s about spending on the right players to compliment your developing players and creating chemistry with management and culture. They don’t give WS rings to the franchise that “spent” the most.
Right. I want to hear about their near-term strategic plan, lessons learned and what he plans to do differently.
It’s also spending on player research and development, especially with pitching. The last 3 Angels to have 3 or more seasons with 20+ starts and an ERA+ of 100 or better are Shohei Ohtani, Jered Weaver, and Ervin Santana.
Arte Moreno is one of those guys that never seems to learn from his mistakes. He should have stayed in the billboard business.
He ballooned his wealth and the value of the franchise so he didn’t really make any mistakes. It all fell right into his goal of making money. As long as Mike Trout (in his prime), Albert Pujols, and Shohei Ohtani were on the field, kids still came to see their favorite players, creating a cash cow. And even without any of those three on the field, the Angels still drew 2.5 million. Angels have always drawn well any way, and that will keep Arte’s pockets filled. There’s no mistake there. The on field performance is just a byproduct of marketing over winning.
He bought the team for 180 million they carry a value of 2.8 billion….. I lease show me the mistake
It’s like us cowboy fans and Redsox fans you have to stop going to the games break the owners they sell…..
Last season aggressive meant a reliever that they knew was going to miss the season, and Aaron hicks. Plus a bunch of triple a players.
He’s so full of it. They said they were going to be “competitive” this year. He was raking it in in Ohtani merch, the TV contract. He pays nothing in stadium improvements and gets the parking noney. The “losses” are imaginary.
.
And ticket sales of course all go to him. They just drew 3 million again. So why would he spend more if he’s gonna make the same either way
2.5 mill, but that for a 99 loss team with no Ohtani? Baseball heaven!
Arte is delusional at best. Idiotic at worst.
This would be a good year to sign Bieber and let him recover while the young pitchers mature. Hopefully he’s a stud leading the rotation for the next 3 years.
Maybe pick up Moncada to cover third and make Rengifo available at the deadline.
Add some lottery ticket relievers and ficus on getting younger and the end of Rendon’s contract.
Decent ideas. I was thinking the Braves should get Beiber. You should be the GM.
The difference between me and Arte is I realize I’m not qualified to be a GM.
@halosheavenjj I can see them going after lorenzen. a couple one year deal relievers. I’ll be fine if they kick canning out of the rotation.
Canning is good in odd years. Bad in evens
Anderson is the opposite.
“This would be a good year to sign Bieber and let him recover while the young pitchers mature.”
HalosHeavenJJ;
Do you think Mr. Bieber will have any other options?
Based on the Angels record with pitchers, why would he go there?
The Angels will need to overpay for sure.
But we won’t really compete next year so there will be no rush to get him on the field. So we are a good spot for his long term health.
HalosHeavenJJ;
It’s not a matter of overpaying.
Mr. Bieber has been in the best organization in MLB that works with pitchers. He’s trying to resurrect his career. The Angels have next to no track record in developing pitchers.
I’d suggest Mr. Bieber will have at least 8-10 better options. If’ he’s hoping to go back to SoCal he’ll head for San Diego where one of his coaches with the Guardians – Ruben Niebla – is now pitching coach of the Padres. Most of the pitchers there love him. He’s turned around so many of them, Am sure the Padres will speak with him.
Who in their right mind is going to want Rendon in a trade unless the Angels pay 75-80% of the remaining 3 years on his deal.
95% would be more accurate
Fortunately his contract only runs for 2 more years – 2025 and 2026
My post says make Rengifo available. Not Rendon.
Moncada and Rendon?! Race ya to the IL.
$50M in flexibility won’t move the needle. 4 guys on offense that might be good, but probably none at an AS level. Maybe one good SP. Maybe 1-2 decent RPs. Weak farm.
Had they traded a couple more guys at the deadline, and finished 29th, they’d be a lot better off.
Moreno is lying.
Not lying just has no clue.
Not really a great offseason to spend money. Notable free agents are limited and the Angels would be better off keeping their product homegrown.
No farm plus very little MLB talent and an owner that has no clue equals 2024 Angels! It’s so sad to see a star like Trout’s career get wasted away by an organization like the LAA. Reminds me of Barry Sanders career in Detroit really. A HOF player surrounded by meager talent and a team that puts nothing around him. Pretty good comparison IMO.
It is a pretty good comparison. Barry at least made it to the NFC title game, Trout has been near the MLB equivalent.
Sign more overpaid bums?
Guys that get injured from Dandruff
Pray to Saint Jude Arte for the Angels lost cause
I Will help you out
I will give you
Mike Elias
Ziggy the Super Computer
Brandon Hyde
For Mike Trout to DH and only DH
In a three 4 one trade
Worst run team in baseball?
Colorado-no contest.
That’s been true ever since the rock-ettes won like a zillion in a row, starting in September of ’07, all thru the post season, then got wiped 0-4 in the WS. Not recovered since. Bad FA signs, bad trades, bad drafts. It’s got to be hard being a fan of the franchise and not saying in a hateful way, just everything they have done since 10/07 has turned to crap.
The Rockies have made both the playoffs and World Series more recently while spending far less money.
I’ll believe it when I see it …..
I plan to buy a house on the beach and have a fling with Riley Reid .
God Arte is an idiot-the only hope halo fans such as myself has is that he sell, sell, sell the franchise to a successful person
The Jerry Jones of the MLB. The Angels could have prime Ruth, Mantle and Aaron with the worst pitching staff in baseball. But instead of signing Nolan Ryan in the offseason. He would sign Willie Mays.
So the translation is he plans to sign Juan Soto and a motley crew of middling pitchers and AAAA position players. If Moreno says, “That’s crazy!”, the answer is, “Well that’s what you usually do.”
Announcing your team is going to “compete” is a bad sign – not trading Ohtani will haunt this franchise for a decade.
Arte’s never met an over the hill bat he wouldn’t sign so I’m guessing we know at least one team that will be in contention for guys like Goldschmidt and Turner
Insanity !!!!
Same old Sh!+
Please rebuild for at least the next two years and start fresh once Rendon contract is off the books. Plus maybe the core will be established and a few decent prospects from the next few drafts on the pipeline.
But for this to happen Arte and his clowns need to go.
I’m pissed and will not attend until we have a leader with a real plan.
As far as the Angels ever doing anything smart with their payroll, I’ll believe it when I see it. But the description the author gives of the rotation is incomplete information. Forget Canning and Sandoval. It’s going to be Anderson, Soriano, Kochanowicz, Silseth, and Aldegheri or Dana. If Minasian fills out the position player roster with competent major leaguers, there could be some hope. If he dumpster dives for 4A players again, expect another year like 2023.
I agree, although they need at least a no. 2 SP to front the rotation. And the bullpen appears to be fine next year too. And I’m not sold on Schanuel being a playoff caliber 1B.
Playoffs!? Playoffs!?!!
cptitan10;
Mr/ Minasian said a few days ago that 2025 would be another transition year.
This is not rotisserie league where 2025 is all that counts till the following years draft (e.g. free agency).
To be a fan is to look at what teams are doing and see how they’re progressing….or not. The Angels have a young core and are brining along players in the minors. Either get with the program or find another team to follow. Your goals are not Perry Minasian’s or Arte’s. Putting it on them in an Internet chatroom is worse than banging your head against the wall.
Klassen mixes in there too.
Arte Moreno looks like the child of Salvador Dali and Arthur Blank. In centuries passed such hideous creatures would be left in the woods for wildlife to take care of after birth, so as not to burden the village.
How many billion-dollar business have you built, Mark?
You’re so sharp, why not pony up and buy a MLB franchise?
I own 7 multi-billion dollar businesses that I have built from the ground up. I already own 3 MLB franchises and 32 jack in boxes.
So, please keep slurping my billionaire nut.
Boomer nut hugging billionaires?? Embarrassing. Wipe your chin.
It’s amazing that kids under the age of 7 can type on a computer.
Your parents must be proud.
Kudos!
I’d rather be a seven year old than some septuagenarian milking billionaire nut into my mouth like some raccoon under a cow.
You disgust me Samuel.
I actually only post on mlbtr from my samsung smart fridge.
Get with the times, you sack of garbage.
Is the widdlow boy upset?
All your widdlow fwrinds are with you.
Mom let you guys stay up late, or on you on West Coast time?
A sensitive group of respectful trolls with high standards for others. Set a high bar for the rest of us to live up to.
Now, go back to your playpen.
lol. You’re big mad.
Who is the Widdlow boy? Is it like the Lindbergh baby?
I plan to go on a date with Sydney Sweeney and make more money in 2025. Somehow, I think I have better chances at achieving my goals than Moreno
I bet there are a couple dozen Sydney Sweeney’s in the world. And if you don’t earn more next year, I will Venmo you enough to take whatever Sydney Sweeney you find to Arby’s for a romantic date, so then technically you earned more than in 2024.
We all need to work together to take down Arte Moreno.
I’m glad to hear there are still good people in this world!
“We all need to work together to take down Arte Moreno..”
LOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOL
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Stop it!
Let me catch my breath….LOLOLHAHA…fnniest thing I’ve ever read on this or any other baseball chatroom!!!!!!!!
LOLOLLOLOLHAHAHAHA……
Man, you are such a sensitive boy, Samuel. I didn’t know this small level of prodding would make you react this way.
I am a little scared for your family.
I needed a good laugh this evening. Thanks Art!
They need to have a plan with the increase in salary. I’m hoping they learned from the Rendon, Wilson, Hamilton contracts. I don’t include Pujols is the bad contracts because he did produce. Everyone knew he wouldn’t at the end but he was driving in runs for several years.
Wilson? You mean CJ Wilson? That was a good one.
Puljos was the original bad 10 year deal come on
Who’s going to want to sign with this team?
How many productive healthy years does Trout have left?
Does he have a No trade clause (or limited) where he can be traded? Some team like the PHI might take him along with a healthy bag of $.sent over.
I’d love to see that, but Trout doesn’t want to split.
Making the playoffs begins and ends with pitching; something Moreno doesn’t care about.
From the top the entire organization stinks.
We all *plan* to compete I suppose
Arte has the concepts of a plan.
They had Trout and Ohtani and couldn’t win anything.
Good point.
Two players make a baseball team.
How does MLBTR attract these people?
I think that’s to Scott’s point. Probably the two best players over the past ten years. With almost any type of scouting, anyone could be in the playoffs.
I assume he means competing to get to .500?
Arte ass hole Moreno. His favorite movie is liar liar with Jim Carrey.
Arte needs to listen to who? He looks like a ftm. Have not gone to a game now for the last two seasons. I lost that loving feeling for stupid arte, his stupid mustache, and his stupid staff
I apologize for not giving proper credit, but I concur with a recent MLBTR poster who wrote, “until Arte sells the team everything the Angels do is just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.”
Only if Arte spends $20 mil on scouting and another $20 mil on development. And improve coaching in both MLB and MILB.
You could have shopped Ohtani with either/both Trout and/or Rendon as a package when you had the chance. You failing to do so tells a lot about your so-called “ability” to contend.
When I first read the headline, I thought MLBTR must be going into comedy spoofs. Then I realized it was just Arte Moreno promising to contend for a playoff spot.
Maybe he’s thinking he will compete with John Fisher for worst owner in the sport???
Fisher let’s his baseball staff make baseball decisions, but drives fans away.
Moreno interferes with his baseball staff, but welcomes fans (and their $$)
Hard to decide which is worse.
Right now I’d say Fisher, but the competition is close
Ok you know your a BS org when you announce you plan to complete
The only ones who have no clue are fans who keep believing that owners are there to win. Making money is the first priority. Arte Moreno has created a deep streamline of revenue because his profession is marketing. No one should be surprised by any of this. Arte did say last offseason that he was going to operate on a lower budget, and it happened. With the amount of young players the Angels had without a full season of experience, that screamed rebuild to me. Arte also said something similar I believe before 2017, and they had a hodgepodge of a team that clawed their way through the season and the pennant race to 80-82. So when he’s saying he’ll raise the payroll this time, I actually believe him. I just don’t expect a World Series. The young core they have needs a couple of center piece bats and needs more solid/consistent starting pitching. So even with a higher payroll, 2026 is more realistic for getting back into contention with a higher payroll.
The frustration for fans is that some franchises, like the Yankees, see winning as an avenue to increase profits. More wins = more eyes on YES Network = more advertising = more profits. Some franchises are fine taking their revenue sharing check and going away until the next one comes next March.
When I want to watch a real major league team in action live, I have absolutely no problem making the 1 hour and 20 minute drive to Dodger Stadium from south. OC.
They were one of the worst offensive teams in baseball in addition to having one of the worst pitching staff’s. It’s going to take a lot more than throwing $40 million at this team to get them to make a playoff run.
At this point you just have to let the Rendon contract run its course and make Trout a full time DH. This is a team that at best won’t see the playoffs for another 2 or 3 seasons, and that’s assuming they don’t blow their money on horrible overpriced free agents.
Same promise, new season. When will we Angels fans learn this is all nonsense and stop spending money on this team?
mlb.com/angels/news/arte-moreno-expects-angels-to-…
Moreno sells lies and sadness.
Moreno has a plan: raise beer prices. If he really knew how to put together.a winning team, he would have done it by now. Sell the team, Arte, it’s the best thing you can do for the Angels.