Angels Fans Deserve Better: The Case for Arte Moreno’s Exit
Arte Moreno bought the Anaheim Angels in 2003 for $183 million. Shortly after buying the team he changed the name of the team to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim before eventually dropping the name Anaheim in 2016. Fans of the team have shown their dislike of the name as it doesn’t represent the Orange County area. Along with Arte changing the name he has shown lack of investment in the team and stadium facilities.
Angel stadium is currently the 4th oldest stadium in the MLB and hasn’t had any major renovations under Arte. Moreno has also not invested in minor league facilities and spring training facilities until recently leaving the Angels behind the rest of the MLB. Along with the lack of investment in the facilities, Moreno has been cheap when it comes to signing big free agents, for example letting Ohtani go to the Dodgers. This has left fans frustrated because the Angels have been stuck in 4th place in the AL West and haven’t made the playoffs since 2014 being the longest drought currently in the MLB. The most frustrating thing for the fans has been when Arte does spend money it has been on older stars who aren’t what they once were and their play on the field has rapidly declined. For example, since Anthony Rendon joined the Angels in the offseason of 2020 on a 7 year $245 million contract, he has only played 257 games playing below average defense and being horrible at the plate. Arte has continued to spend big on players who only hurt the team in the end. Under Arte, the Angels have also had one of the worst farm systems in the Major Leagues ranking dead last at 30 as they are known to rush their top prospects to the Majors never giving them a real chance to develop into a star one day. Arte has also publicly stated that he is going to be cutting spending numerous times. This not only affects the team the Angels put out on the field but it also affects the fans. The past couple years fans have tried to put together a boycott of Angel games in retaliation for Arte cutting spending. Although the boycott didn’t work it did show that fans were starting to get tired of Arte owning the Angels.
Under Arte, the Angels had the two best players in baseball in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani and still couldn’t put together a winning year. The Angels have been the laughing stock of the league for a couple years now and are known as a place where players’ careers die. Under a new owner the Angels can hopefully return to the Anaheim Angels, along with finally investing money into both the team and the facilities. Under Arte the team has had little to no success and it is time for him to leave as the fans deserve better.
