Tom Verducci Exclusive Interview with Arte Moreno

[Stradling]

31 minutes ago, angelsnationtalk said:

To be honest I like how Sam isn't afraid to call it as it is. It may not come off as PC or professional, but Sam does have a good point. He's saying out loud what we've all been trying to say for years.

Who’s we?  There’s a handful of 20 something fans like yourself that feel wronged and Sam is your guy.  Congrats. 

26 minutes ago, angelsnationtalk said:

Spreading the money around is fine as long as it's for impactful players. 
In terms of Free Agents we signed Drury, Moore, Anderson, Estevez and Phillips. 
Trades included Renfroe and Urshela

I just worry about how much of an impact they will make at the end of the day. 
Would have been nice for Arte to get all this + Turner.
Or - Anderson, Drury, Renfroe and Turner. 

The impact of those players has been explained many of times.  It’s more about who they are replacing.  

[Stradling]

12 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

Yeah. Obviously. It makes perfect sense that he wouldn't want to talk if he's going to be asked about that stuff.

And it isn’t like he can really speak to the pending lawsuits. 

[jsnpritchett]

1 minute ago, Stradling said:

Who’s we?  There’s a handful of 20 something fans like yourself that feel wronged and Sam is your guy.  Congrats. 

 

I genuinely do not know why he sets you off so much.  It's honestly a little weird at this point.  He provides a different perspective.  You like a more traditional beat reporter.  That's cool! Both can exist and it's totally ok if they do!

[Stradling]

Just now, jsnpritchett said:

I genuinely do not know why he sets you off so much.  It's honestly a little weird at this point.  He provides a different perspective.  You like a more traditional beat reporter.  That's cool! Both can exist and it's totally ok if they do!

Sure and you can value both. I choose to value professionals. I think he’s an attention seeking child. It’s a message board, we aren’t going to agree on everything.  
I could be wrong but here’s my perception of the way Fletcher would handle an interview article versus how Blum would handle it if they asked the exact same questions.

Fletcher would write about what was actually said.

Blum’s article would focus solely on what questions Arte refused to answer, regardless of the answers Arte actually gave.  

[angelsnationtalk]

4 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Who’s we?  There’s a handful of 20 something fans like yourself that feel wronged and Sam is your guy.  Congrats. 

The impact of those players has been explained many of times.  It’s more about who they are replacing.  

Sam isn't my guy. I haven't been a fan of him, but i'll call it where I see it and I respect him for being vocal about it. 

[jsnpritchett]

2 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Sure and you can value both. I choose to value professionals. I think he’s an attention seeking child. It’s a message board, we aren’t going to agree on everything.  
I could be wrong but here’s my perception of the way Fletcher would handle an interview article versus how Blum would handle it if they asked the exact same questions.

Fletcher would write about what was actually said.

Blum’s article would focus solely on what questions Arte refused to answer, regardless of the answers Arte actually gave.  

"Attention seeking child" is far too dismissive.  And it's not just a "handful of 20-somethings" who value his opinion.  I left that demo quite a while ago.  Ha.

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

"Attention seeking child" is far too dismissive.  And it's not just a "handful of 20-somethings" who value his opinion.  I left that demo quite a while ago.  Ha.

His pinned tweet.  He’s an attention seeking child. 

[jsnpritchett]

Just now, Stradling said:

His pinned tweet.  He’s an attention seeking child. 

Again, I don't see anything wrong with that.  Some fans want to hear from Arte.  You seem to have a very narrow and specific definition of and expectation for what a beat report should be and do.  Others want something different.  That doesn't mean that he or those people who want something different are attention-seeking children.

Clearly, we're not going to agree and that's fine.

[AngelsLakersFan]

26 minutes ago, Pancake Bear said:

Yes, it would've been nice. But it's pretty obvious from Arte's comments in the article that he seems philosophically opposed to being the top spender because he feels it's unfair to the teams that don't or can't spend as much. He's fine being top ten, but both because he wants to make money (which he undersells, but it's obviously a huge factor) and, to some degree, because he doesn't believe in spending that much comparatively, he won't ever be at the forefront on spending. That's just reality. 

So, grabbing everything we did plus Turner and another good starter and reliever would've been great, but we can't all be the Mets, apparently. And, ultimately, spending the most doesn't guarantee anything. At the end of the day, it comes down to having a smart front office. A dumb GM with all the money in the world will make a lot of bad decisions in spending. A smart GM with very limited money can still go all the way. 

That was an interesting bit. He seems to make it clear that he sees his role as being someone who will keep the franchise profitable year to year. I can't really fault him for this, but he is completely ignoring the $3 billion profit he stands to make upon a sale.

[Revad]

21 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

I genuinely do not know why he sets you off so much.  It's honestly a little weird at this point.  He provides a different perspective.  You like a more traditional beat reporter.  That's cool! Both can exist and it's totally ok if they do!

I find him somewhat abrasive in text sometimes but took to him more after I heard a couple audio interviews when he said the same sort of things.

[angelsnationtalk]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

His pinned tweet.  He’s an attention seeking child. 

Anyone who writes on here or any social media platform is attention seeking. We all want our opinions to be seen.

Otherwise none of us would have social media or be on here....

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, angelsnationtalk said:

Anyone who writes on here or any social media platform is attention seeking. We all want our opinions to be seen.

Otherwise none of us would have social media or be on here....

Not at all. Sharing opinions isn’t attention seeking. Being outlandish or being purposefully controversial is attention seeking. 

[Revad]

Matter of degree, perhaps.  Chuck has cleverly set up a reward system for those of us seeking approval.  It matters but I enjoy seeing what others think.

[Jay]

20 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

When he says he had several offers that were huge. But decided not to sell. Just because. The whole thing is weird... and seems stupid, honestly. Not just to back out. But essentially indecisive and short sighted... like a lot of the moves over recent years.

Piggyback that with "we aren't trading Ohtani". Seems sort of the same problem... not going with the smart move. Almost like a hoarder, who keeps stuff for sentiment, when everyone around is pointing out reality.

[greginpsca]

My feeling about Blum is that he is trying too hard to make a name for himself. He seems out of place on the west coast. He would fit in better in NY or Boston. Him posting that tweet sort of demanding Arte meet with local rag writers shows his youth and immaturity. Arte has no obligation to meet with local press. Zero obligation. When he has done so in the past, we haven't heard anything earth shattering or unusual. Mostly spin. We can get that thru his PR team. This is why the org pays to have a PR department. Like Fletch said, a lot of owners don't talk to reporters.

[BTH]

2 minutes ago, greginpsca said:

My feeling about Blum is that he is trying too hard to make a name for himself. He seems out of place on the west coast. He would fit in better in NY or Boston.

Why can’t southern California have a “NY or Boston” type beat writer?

And as an aside, I actually think that some of the “softness” of Southern California has contributed to the Angels lack of success. Clearly, there were clubhouse issues that had to be addressed, considering that Minasian has made clubhouse chemistry and makeup a point of emphasis. Nevin is more of a “tough” manager than Maddon or Ausmus were.

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, Trendon said:

Why can’t southern California have a “NY or Boston” type beat writer?

And as an aside, I actually think that some of the “softness” of Southern California has contributed to the Angels lack of success. Clearly, there were clubhouse issues that had to be addressed, considering that Minasian has made clubhouse chemistry and makeup a point of emphasis. Nevin is more of a “tough” manager than Maddon or Ausmus were.

No

[Pancake Bear]

3 hours ago, Trendon said:

And as an aside, I actually think that some of the “softness” of Southern California has contributed to the Angels lack of success.

What the actual f....

[Taylor]

The Angels make me soft.

[BTH]

5 hours ago, Trendon said:

And as an aside, I actually think that some of the “softness” of Southern California has contributed to the Angels lack of success.

 

4 hours ago, Stradling said:

No

 

2 hours ago, Pancake Bear said:

What the actual f....

You don’t think the fact that 3 million+ Angels fans showed up year-after-year despite a lack of team success allowed Arte to get away with operating a losing team?

Fans in this market will still show up if the team doesn’t win.

[Stradling]

4 hours ago, Trendon said:

 

 

You don’t think the fact that 3 million+ Angels fans showed up year-after-year despite a lack of team success allowed Arte to get away with operating a losing team?

Fans in this market will still show up if the team doesn’t win.

I think you are relating two things that aren’t related. 

[Revad]

7 hours ago, Trendon said:

 

 

You don’t think the fact that 3 million+ Angels fans showed up year-after-year despite a lack of team success allowed Arte to get away with operating a losing team?

Fans in this market will still show up if the team doesn’t win.

From an owners point of view, Arte has done a remarkable job.  You can blame the fans for showing up, but you have to admit that in this market Arte’s star-driven approach has worked.

[Stradling]

5 hours ago, Revad said:

From an owners point of view, Arte has done a remarkable job.  You can blame the fans for showing up, but you have to admit that in this market Arte’s star-driven approach has worked.

I think Arte has spent a lot of money on guys who the casual fan no very little about. Fans were never coming to games to see Upton, Wells or even Rendon. Maybe Hamilton, for sure Albert and Trout. But most of these guys that we call stars aren’t household names that drive ticket sales. They were brought in to win which would drive attendance, but they for the most part didn’t help us win. 

[Revad]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

I think Arte has spent a lot of money on guys who the casual fan no very little about. Fans were never coming to games to see Upton, Wells or even Rendon. Maybe Hamilton, for sure Albert and Trout. But most of these guys that we call stars aren’t household names that drive ticket sales. They were brought in to win which would drive attendance, but they for the most part didn’t help us win. 

Even Arte says he maybe didn’t spend wisely.  But the proof is in the attendance and in the projected return of about $3B, he has been successful financially… but no playoffs.

[Lou]

1 hour ago, Revad said:

Even Arte says he maybe didn’t spend wisely.  But the proof is in the attendance and in the projected return of about $3B, he has been successful financially… but no playoffs.

No playoffs?

Sigh...