Arte Moreno Doesn't Sound Like He's Going To Sell The Angels After Losing Ohtani
Arte Moreno is not especially popular with fans of the Los Angeles Angels. Moreno bought the team from The Walt Disney Company back in 2003, and while the organization initially saw a run of success, winning its division five times in six seasons, it's been a mostly downhill slog ever since. Despite having two of the best players in the history of the sport, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, for the better part of the last decade.
Moreno in 2022 effectively put the Angels up for sale, drawing substantial interest from prospective buyers. But in 2023, Moreno announced he'd decided to stay, an important development for a franchise needing to retain its all-world superstar.
That didn't happen. Ohtani instead chose the Los Angeles Dodgers and a record-setting, 10-year, $700 million contract with $680 million deferred into the mid-2030's. Initially, it seemed like the Dodgers had skirted high luxury tax payrolls by suggesting the deferrals to Ohtani. But soon after he signed, Ohtani's agent revealed they'd made the same offer to every interested team. Including the Angels.
Moreno turned him down. Which makes his recent comments about future ownership that much more frustrating.
ANAHEIM, Calif. - Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels gets a bump from Arte Moreno before being given the Angels Most Valuable player award on September 25, 2021. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images)
Ohtani Debacle Should Leave Fans Questioning Arte Moreno's Intentions
Moreno spoke to both The Athletic and Orange County Register in recent days, giving a short one- word "no" when asked about selling the team. Then following up with a longer explanation to the Register, where he said he's not going anywhere anytime soon.
"I am here long-term," Moreno told the Register. "There are some people that came back … I basically said it’s not on the market."
But why?
Moreno's one of the few owners in a major market who's refused to pay any of MLB's luxury tax penalties. Though initially it seemed like he'd go over the first threshold in 2023, the team's front office gave players away for nothing in order to avoid paying even the slightest amount of tax. While Moreno has run high payrolls, he hasn't been willing to go higher to cover up for under performance, poor signings or lackluster player development.
Then, when given the opportunity to make a franchise-altering decision, to keep Shohei Ohtani in Anaheim, Moreno wasn't even willing to match the offer accepted by the Dodgers and Giants. While Ohtani still may have chosen to move to LA, Moreno's decision eliminated any possibility of the 29-year-old staying put.
That's bad enough, but considering Moreno is already 77-years-old and the deferrals wouldn't come due until he'd be nearly 90, what was the realistic downside to saying "yes" and forcing Ohtani to turn him down?
Money First, Winning Second
Moreno bought the team for $180 million in 2003. It's likely worth at least $2.5 billion today. For someone worth an estimated $5 billion well into his late 70's, what's the point of hanging on to a competitive team when you have no interest in competing?
The Angels made the playoffs once with Trout and zero times with Ohtani. Not all of the blame falls on Moreno, but he's also made the hiring and firing decisions in the front office and set the team's budgets. At some point, the responsibility has to go to the top.
Angel Stadium is also uninspiring, and efforts to rebuild or find a new site have been stymied by poor relations between Moreno and the city. What's the goal here? Keep chugging along winning 75 games until you can blackmail local taxpayers into shelling out hundreds of millions of dollars? Certainly seems that way.
Moreno took the massive savings from losing Ohtani this offseason and invested it in reliever Robert Stephenson, Matt Moore, Aaron Hicks, and Zach Plesac. That ought to be enough to placate frustrated Angels fans. And based on his remarks, they're set to be frustrated for the foreseeable future.