"Now is the time;" Angels owner Arte Moreno exploring possible sale of franchise
Arte Moreno is exploring a possible sale of the Los Angeles Angels franchise, after owning the team for nearly 20 years.
In a statement released on the Angels website, Moreno said:
"It has been a great honor and privilege to own the Angels for 20 seasons. As an Organization, we have worked to provide our fans an affordable and family-friendly ballpark experience while fielding competitive lineups which included some of the game's all-time greatest players.
Although this difficult decision was entirely our choice and deserved a great deal of thoughtful consideration, my family and I have ultimately come to the conclusion that now is the time. Throughout this process, we will continue to run the franchise in the best interest of our fans, employees, players, and business partners."
He purchased the franchise, then the Anaheim Angels, for nearly $184 million in 2003, just months after their World Series Championship victory over the San Francisco Giants. The team is now reportedly worth $2.2 billion, according to Forbes.
As owner, Moreno has seen the Angels capture six American League West Division titles, and with that six playoff appearances — though the team never managed past the Championship Series to secure a World Series berth.
Moreno never showed a disinclination to spend money, always willing to pay for a slew of free agents, offering massive contracts over time, starting with Vladimir Guerrero's five-year, $70 million contract in 2004.
However, while proudly claiming that "some of the game's all-time greatest players," have worn an Angels uniform during his ownership, many of those contracts have proven less than fruitful, including those given to Josh Hamilton (5-year, $125 million), Zack Cozart (3-year, $38 million) and Justin Upton (5-year, $105 million).
The team also acquired aging-star Vernon Wells in the midst of a very backloaded seven-year, $138 million deal in 2011 and signed future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols to a 10-year, $254 million deal in 2012. While the beginning of his time with the Angels was productive, Pujols was subjected to an array of injuries and aging, which saw his numbers take a significant drop following the 2017 season.
Fans of the team are also concerned that Anthony Rendon's current contract, worth $245 million over seven years, may turn into another on a running list of disappointing acquisitions.
They currently rank No. 10 amongst all MLB franchises in payroll at $179,769,441, according to Sportrac.
After managing an 85-77 record in 2015, the Halos have failed to record a winning season since, on track for their seventh straight year with more losses than wins.
Fans of the team have often speculated that Angels ownership is ruining the careers of two of the game's best in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, failing to effectively build around them.
Trout, one of MLB's most decorated players with three MVP Awards, 10 All-Star Game berths and eight Silver Slugger Awards, has only made the playoffs once during his career in 2014, when the Halos were swept in 2014 by the eventual World Series Champion Kansas City Royals.
In 2019, Trout signed the highest-ever MLB contract with the Angels at for 12 years to the tune of $426 million.
During his own time in Anaheim, Shohei Ohtani has never seen the team finish higher than third in the AL West, despite winning his own Rookie of the Year and MVP Awards in that five-year span.
The 2022 season has seen much of the same for the Angels, who currently find themselves sitting below .500 and 25 1/2 games back of the division-leading Houston Astros, despite a stellar start to the season. Mired in disappointment, the Halos fired Manager Joe Maddon mid-season and mid-12-game losing streak.
Maddon had previously coached with the Angels from 1975 to 2005 before taking the helm with the Tampa Bay Rays, and was rehired ahead of the 2020 season. He sounded off on the franchise just last Saturday, stating that he has "dissolved my affiliation with them."
He's not the first long-tenured veteran to experience some sort of disconnect with the team during Moreno's reign, as evidenced by a tweet from Hall of Fame second baseman and coach Rod Carew, who played for the team from 1979 to 1985 before joining the coaching staff in 1992, a position he held until 1999.
The news also comes in the wake of a failed transaction that would have seen Moreno's management group acquire Angel Stadium and the 150 surrounding acres, struck down by Anaheim City Council in May. The proposed deal, agreed upon in 2019, alleged that the management group would develop the land surrounding the stadium into what they referred to as a vibrant "baseball village," full of housing, office spaces, restaurants and bars, shops, hotels and a fitness center amongst other things.
The tremendous fallout from the voided deal has since seen a federal investigation launched into the circumstances surrounding the agreement in 2019 and caused the resignation of Anaheim mayor Harry Sidhu.
The City of Anaheim issued a statement following the announcement, which read:
"We have seen three Angels owners since the team moved here in 1966. While team sales do not happen every day, they are a fact of life in sports. This is a potential decision for Arte Moreno based on his investment and family considerations. Should we see new ownership, we look forward to continuing a great tradition of baseball in Anaheim."
