The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- Twins right-hander Pablo López requiring Tommy John surgery (3:20)
- The Orioles losing Jordan Westburg due to a partially torn UCL in his elbow (13:15)
- The Guardians signing Rhys Hoskins to a minor league deal but doing little else this winter (23:45)
- Angels owner Arte Moreno making some curious statements (35:50)
- The Braves and Chris Sale signing an extension (47:35)
- Tony Clark resigning as executive director of the MLBPA and being replaced by Bruce Meyer (53:40)
Check out our past episodes!
- The Tigers’ Rotation, A Brewers-Red Sox Trade, And Late Free-Agent Signings – listen here
- Twins Front Office Shake-Up, The Brendan Donovan Trade, Eugenio Suarez, And More! – listen here
- Examining MLB’s Parity Situation – Also, Bellinger, Peralta, Robert, And Gore – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Jonah Hinebaugh, Imagn Images
There is a point you are all missing about Artie’s comments. He isn’t talking about winning or losing in general. He is talking about going to a specific game, in person. The gameday experience depends on a lot less that whether or not your team wins on that specific day. Things like affordability, ease of access, quality of concessions etc. end up being more important.
The “survey” Arte is referring to doesn’t even include questions about whether fans care or not if the team wins. Its all about everything else, which tells you everything you need to know about how he runs this team.
Winning isn’t even in HIS top five. Making money is. He’s basically acknowledged that he’s proud of the fact the team has never run in the red during his tenure.
Angels stadium was one of the safest places to watch a game long before Moreno bought the team…safety is not an excuse for not even trying to win.
Moreno bought the team for $184M…it is now valued at around $2.74B. The OC is a big, wealthy, baseball crazy market and the team has been drawing over 2 million even after a decade of losing seasons. Poverty is not an excuse for cutting corners for everything except stupid contracts for recognizable names based on past performance. And even with the big marketing signings, the payroll is still only middle of the road for the MLB. Let’s call it like it is….he’s just greedy.
The Angels could send me a limo, offer $3 dogs and $2 beers, and give me tickets for free….and I still would not be interested in watching a team that doesn’t even try to win. I’d rather go see a college game.
Angels have been a top 10 spending team all but 1 year where they were 13th since 2004.
I question some of the way the Angels have spent on roster, but they absolutely have spent and done so more than middle of the pack. The biggest issue Id say has been the reluctance to spend on pitching.
As for the poll, the guy provides a product and if he is which is the game of baseball. I dont think it takes a poll to see how fans feel about winning. As for the rest of the game experience, polling fans is a good thing. Well most would like to see there team win, nobody wants to see their time and $ wasted on a lousy experience going to a game even if it is a win.
I generally dont side with the owners much. But the guy is a perennial top 10 spender and appears to care for the game experience provided with his product. Fault him all you want for roster construction, but that seems only place the ire is justified here.
Tigers3232: “Angels have been a top 10 spending team all but 1 year where they were 13th since 2004.”
They were 13th the last two seasons….despite being in a big supportive market. Arte had to make the stadium safe, I guess. And fix that darn A/C too. And put stupidly rigid budget constrains on everything except marketing signings.
Also, the projected payroll for 2026 ranks the Angels 15th.
So, let’s recap…. In the MLB’s 2nd largest market:
13th in payroll in 2o24.
13 in payroll in 2025.
15th in projected payroll 2026.
And, he cuts corners on non-payroll things. And he will spend on marketing signings….but make really stupid penny-wise and pound-foolish restrictions on the rest of the roster.
The verdict is in….the gaslighter is just greedy.
The Rockies drew nearly 2.5 million to Coors last year to see a team that went 43-119 and does the bare minimum of investing in the on field product. Obviously the game day experience is carrying the day out here in Denver but they used to draw 3M+.
I guess it depends on the fan. I go maybe once when the Orioles come out and only go because I get tix heavily discounted through employer discount. I also take my own food in. I’m there to see the Orioles, but yeah I guess the result doesn’t matter much in 1 game versus 162 in a season.
Sports have priced me out of attending in person no matter the team quality or ownership outlook. I haven’t been to NFL in 17-18 years (Broncos tix are crazy expensive) and only 2 NHL games in the past 10 years when I used to attend 8-10 a year back in the 90s when I only had summer jobs.
Thornton Mellon: “The Rockies drew nearly 2.5 million to Coors last year to see a team that went 43-119 and does the bare minimum of investing in the on field product.”
Rockies ownership is also terrible. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Arte Moreno is a terrible owner. Every baseball fan deserves to know their owner actually wants to win that’s the bare minimum.
But Arte keeps sending the same message to the entire league: winning isn’t the priority. He won’t invest in scouting, he won’t build out a real baseball operations department, and he won’t even hire a certified HVAC specialist you can hear Arte Moreno coming from a mile away squeak squeak squeak squeak
Jim Rome absolutely torched Arte Moreno on the air and honestly, he just said what every Angels fan has been screaming for years. The moment Arte said winning isn’t a top‑five priority for fans? That was it. That was the mask slipping. That was the owner of a Major League Baseball team admitting he doesn’t think winning matters.
And Rome didn’t let it slide.
He hit him with the truth:
If you can’t afford to win in this league… SELL. THE. TEAM.
If you can’t keep up, step aside. If you can’t invest, move on. If you think fans don’t care about winning, then you’ve completely lost the plot.
Arte Moreno is so out of touch it’s almost surreal. Angels fans show up, year after year, pouring hard‑earned money into a stadium that hasn’t seen a real competitive plan in a decade. We’re loyal to a fault. We deserve better. We deserve an owner who actually wants to win not one who treats the franchise like a billboard company with a baseball team attached.
At some point, you start asking the real question:
Why are fans giving more effort than the owner?
tiger – You are playing semantics. Whether it’s a single specific game, or a season, Moreno stated fans don’t prioritize winning. That is objectively false by the mere definition of what a fan is, which is short for fanatic. Fanatic is referring to someone extremely dedicated to a team, (etc.)… (the googles). No where in any arena has anyone who considers themselves a fan of a team not prioritize their team winning. Moreno is trying to shift the blame of his miserable ownership to the fans. It’s actually a clever strategy if everyone were as dumb as he thinks they are.
Can you believe Arte Moreno actually said winning isn’t in the top five things fans care about?
A Major League Baseball owner… openly admitting that winning baseball games isn’t even a priority for Angels fans who show up, buy the tickets, buy beer, hotdog, spend their hard earn money who fans live and die with this team.
So what is the priority?
Attendance. Concessions. Cutting corners.
And apparently claiming mid misfit players from other teams instead of building a real roster that can compete for a World Series.
How are fans supposed to get excited for a season when the owner himself is basically telling us, “Relax, winning doesn’t matter”?
What are we looking forward to another year of bargain hunting, waiver-wire experiments
At this point, what’s the point of going to Angel Stadium?
Why spend the money, the time, the emotion… when Arte Moreno doesn’t even pretend winning is the goal as an Angels fan winning is everything Arte you need to walk away from this game you’re a disgrace to baseball
Honestly, I’d rather stay home than support an owner who treats the Angels like a hobby instead of a franchise with history, heartbreak, and fans who actually care.
Angel fans wanna win
Steve, I’ve followed the Guardians/Indians for many years, I want a World Series, but if ever a team should get a pass on not spending this year is it. People keep saying you’re returning with the same people but we’re not. We have Delauter, Kayfus, Valera, Bazzana and Brito looking to snap up PAs that were eaten up by players who never should never had seen so much activity vs RHP — Carlos Santana 320 PA for a .603 ops, Angel Martinez 315 PA ..545, Gabriel Arias 336 .626, Nolan Jones 398 .638 to name a few.
Put Delauter, Kayfus or Valera around Kwan or Bazzana at 2B over Arias who struck out nearly at a 40% clip to close the season and shoot me if the figures drop down as low as last year. These are high profile picks who need their day in the sun. Yeah, I’d have preferred Wilson Contreras in trade to Hoskins but the important thing was bringing in a RH bat with more def flexibility than Johnathan Rodriguez, a good hitter btw vs lhp but an awful glove. The only way I’ll be really disappointed is if Antonetti stalls the process in bringing top prospects forward. If he does, I’m right with you, Steve, then it’d be a wicked con job on the fans.
@Pickles McGhee
For Steve Adams to continue to make inane comments about a team that consistently punches WAY above its weight, which manages to outwit and outplay teams who possess far greater advantages, only demonstrates his threadbare understanding of how this team must operate to be successful.
On top of that, he sneers at the “discomfort” Chris Antonetti and the rest of the organization must feel having to lie about the position they are “put in” by ownership, as if all these successful people from Chris on down to Steven Vogt, are chained to the team against their will, enslaved by a Scrooge-like owner who makes their lives miserable, when in truth the owner has established one of the most supportive, collaborative, and winning cultures in the game.
Adams is a clueless hack who dares speak for all Cleveland fans, as if we are all a bitter, unhappy lot. Hey, a lot of fans are, in every town, but there are a heckuva lot of fans of other teams who would love to have the consistently fun summers we have, much to the surprise of the national pundits who can’t stand the team confound their “expertise” yet again.
I’m not someone that boycotts very easily. But when the owner of your team says that winning isn’t important, it is time to move on.
During the press conference for the Ramirez extension, Antonnetti addressed FA additions. He pretty much said they had offers to players that were competitive in terms of dollars/years but players ultimately signed elsewhere due to playing time concerns.
The best (realistic) fits for the Guards seemed to be guys along the lines of Bader, Garcia, Hays, Andujar etc.
Assuming that is true.. it doesnt seem unreasonable to just roll with what they have, opposed to overextending on a guy that is best in a platoon setting or just signing somebody for the heck of it.
In my opinion, the biggest decision of the offseason was tendering Nolan Jones a contract. That roster spot and playing time has really limited what they can do in free agency. They see something they like there and I sure hope it works out.
No one is going to Camden Yards for the concessions I tell you that.