AngelsWin Today: Angels owner Arte Moreno's decade long tailspin has jeopardized the future of the MLB

[AngelsWin.com]

Shohei Ohtani may arguably be one of the greatest things to happen not only to the sport of baseball, but the entire collective sports consciousness across the globe. His many accomplishments over the last half decade-plus cannot be understated; 3 All Star nods, Rookie of the Year, an MVP (should be two), Silver Slugger, and a top 5 Cy Young finish as both one of the best hitters/pitchers in the game. His short time in the league thus far has seen him quickly rewriting the limits on what a singular athlete can achieve in their sport. Yet for the Angels organization, namely owner Arte Moreno, Shohei Ohtani has enabled the worst of a perennially out of touch, self-sabotaging owner. A known headline chaser, Moreno’s sole motivation in baseball decisions lies in his desire to curtail the favor of the national media, often leaving the Angels high and dry under the shadow of his ego. Molded in the likes of George Steinbrenner yet lacking the quality of charm that allowed the late Yankee his successes, Arte Moreno stays stuck in the past in an era defined not by free agency acquisition, but by drafting and development. His inability to field a proper team around Ohtani has failed not just Angel fans, nor the entirety of baseball fandom, but the whole of baseball’s existence and its ability to push forward into a new era of true international recognition.

The untold hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars in revenue lost by failing to seize on Ohtani’s presence in the playoffs is a real problem the MLB faces in the current day. Baseball’s international presence has grown into a formidable force over the last decade ultimately culminating in this past years World Baseball Classic craze. The recent WBC saw record shattering numbers as the event cleared previous viewership totals by a large margin. Internationally, both Mexico and Taiwan saw a ratings increase of over 100% from 2017’s WBC with American viewership jumping a total 69% from the last WBC (semi-finals and onward). This immediately translated into a lucrative increase in merchandise sales with the MLB seeing a 149% increase in revenue with WBC merchandise over 2017s financial return. We now stand at a turning point where exists a very real opportunity to emulate the success of FIFA and its international stranglehold by promoting the most marketable asset in MLB history on the biggest non-WBC stage possible. To evolve from a national sports organization into an international arbiter of competition is no small feat, nor is it one you can try again should you come short the first go, making it all the more important for the MLB to get it done right with the chance they have. There exists just one element that holds the MLB back from tapping into this prime source of revenue; Angels owner Arte Moreno.

Moreno's failures to build a playoff winner for Ohtani is a failure by proxy of the MLB. An organization such as Major League Baseball has a responsibility towards ensuring the highest possible quality ownership amongst their franchises. The last decade and a half has seen the MLB free itself of multiple self-sabotaging owners in the likes of Jeffrey Loria and Frank McCourt. While you may never see a league wide benevolence amongst owners there is a duty to pay as much mind to the quality of floor as there is the quality of ceiling amongst franchises. Recent years have made it abundantly clear Moreno's presence within the sport is beginning affect its bottom line due to Ohtani’s lack of post-season presence. Perhaps in previous years it was enough for Arte Moreno to fill the seats of Angels stadium through regular season baseball, but now after experiencing the financial windfalls from the 2023 WBC it’s become clear Major League Baseball cannot fully capitalize on their international marketing campaign without Shohei Ohtani spearheading the efforts. The MLB has seen the World Series turn in historically low viewership totals over the last few seasons, making Ohtani's presence on a World Series contender all the more necessary in this day and age. The Angels recent string of bad luck is only a small part of Moreno's long running failures to capitalize on the sports biggest stars over the last decade. 

Each wound inflicted through the owners poor decision making over the last decade bears it scars still to this day. It is no coincidence the wheels began falling off the wagon once the Angels 2002 World Series talents, both in the front office and on the field, began leaving the organization bit by bit. The Bill Stoneman era of Angels baseball saw the franchise win its first World Series just four years into his tenure as GM, managing multiple playoff appearances up to 2007 before handing off the reigns to a Moreno hire. The last Angels playoff run in 2014 was led by remaining Bill Stoneman holdovers Howie Kendrick, Erick Aybar, Jered Weaver, and Mike Scioscia. The Angels have failed to field a consistent manager post-Scioscia and even then the ex-managers later years were defined by stress and tension as the oncoming era of advanced statistics clashed with the former World Series champions old-school sensibilities. Since then the Angels have continuously failed to implement a proper coaching/GM tandem that can consistently deliver a clear, cohesive message without internal fallout. Even now the Angels have seen struggles with GM Perry Minasian and manager Phil Nevin recently coming into light earlier this season over a clash with pitcher usage. The dysfunction between coaches, front office, and players on the field is nothing more than a symptom of Arte Moreno's ownership

Moreno has done little to ensure the continuation of the Angels decade long run that saw the franchise nearly enter a state of dynasty before derailing completely come the 2010s. Nine of the last thirteen Angel seasons have seen the team finish below .500, this stretch coming immediately following a decade that saw the Angels finish under .500 just twice across ten seasons. This organization is far removed from the successes that painted the near entirety of the 2000s with the Angels now standing at the cusp of their long-term future as Ohtani plays out what may be his final season with the franchise. The Angels lone saving grace, beyond the actual stars on the field, has been the recent addition of Perry Minasian at GM, who in just three years has managed to undo a majority of the decade long damage done by Moreno. Shrewd drafting strategies have seen the Angels bring in near immediate big league help through the likes of Zach Neto, Sam Bachman, and Chase Silseth; all drafted within the last two seasons. It’s hard to imagine the Angles being anywhere near arms reach of success were Arte still in control of roster decisions. Would he have it his way the Angels would have blown their checkbook on Trea Turner this past offseason while leaving immense holes all across the board. One can only imagine the state of this team were they to once again go down the Moreno route. 

Is it possible that Angel fans, and by extension fans of baseball in general, may soon be free of Arte’s grasp on the current state of the sport? Logically speaking, he could be moved to sell the team should the Angels make a post-season run in 2023 and retain Ohtani going forward. At this point, however, we all know Arte moves not through logic, but through emotion, making it hard to truly quantify a scenario in which he gives up control. The key factor here not being profit, but control of a valuable asset. Should the Angels lose their value; i.e Ohtani leaves, Trout somehow becomes a non-factor, and the rest of the roster crumbles, then perhaps we do see a scenario in which he sells the team. Given recent behavior by Moreno it seems doubtful the Angels owner would do something logical such as selling the team at peak value considering he turned his back on a near three billion dollar profit on an initial $183.5 million dollar investment back in 2003. A stark display of the ailing business sense that has guided his decision making with the Angels. The state of this team will become much clearer in the coming weeks as the Angels teeter the line between pawnshop sellers and playoff contention, yet between all of that one thing is certain. The Angels, without Arte Moreno, are a World Series championship organization. But with Arte Moreno? The results have spoken for themselves.

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[Second Base]

Not a Moreno apologist, I just don't think he's been a bad owner as much as he's made decisions that in hindsight all backfired. 

The Moreno-Stoneman-Sciosia alliance was effective and successful. So when he brought in Reagins, it was meant to maintain the status quo....can you blame him? 

But then Reagins lays an egg and complaint is that the Angels are falling behind the rest of MLB in modernity, so they bring in Dipoto who many believed was one of the brightest young front office execs in the game. Dipoto and Scioscia can't get along and he destroyed the Angels farm and razed their international presence. Damage that would take years to undo.

So what did Moreno do? He brought in Eppler, who was accustomed to getting along with different personalities with high expectations in New York. A perfectly justifiable hiring. Eppler tries to rebuild the farm and simultaneously build a winner on a budget and establish an analytics department. Scioscia clearly isn't getting the job done anymore, so they make the change to Ausmus, a more analytically minded manager. 

Again perfectly justifiable hiring. Ausmus fails to navigate the Angels into the playoffs, and Joe Maddon becomes available and is interested, and is regarded as the best manager in the game. Another justifiable hiring. Maddon fails to make a difference, and after five years, Eppler still hadn't built a winner. So Arte hires Perry, another justifiable hiring. 

Perry gives it a go with Maddon at the helm, but it just doesn't work. So he gets the ax and Nevin is brought in, who is a players manager and can implement Perry's vision of a confluence of analytics and scouting. 

Every one of these moves in terms of direction of the team, has been justifiable. And every single one of them has failed. I'm not be saying it isn't Arte's fault, I'm saying hindsight is 20/20. 

[VladdyforHOF]

19 minutes ago, Second Base said:

So what did Moreno do? He brought in Eppler, who was accustomed to getting along with different personalities with high expectations in New York. A perfectly justifiable hiring. Eppler tries to rebuild the farm and simultaneously build a winner on a budget and establish an analytics department. Scioscia clearly isn't getting the job done anymore, so they make the change to Ausmus, a more analytically minded manager. 

Never even had a winning season under Eppler, but he at least he came in and undid the mess that Dipoto made of this organization. Great GM. What Dipoto did takes years and years to fix.

[Revad]

When considering Artie’s performance as owner we tend to focus on wins and losses, any of our complaints would be softened if we had been making the playoffs during this period.  Artie is more focused on the average fan’s experience than wins and loses.  He sees his responsibility as owner differently, valuing having two of the greatest players in the sport playing in Anaheim more than winning.

He wants to win, but his priorities are different.

[jsnpritchett]

[Swordsman78]

6 hours ago, Second Base said:

Not a Moreno apologist, I just don't think he's been a bad owner as much as he's made decisions that in hindsight all backfired. 

The Moreno-Stoneman-Sciosia alliance was effective and successful. So when he brought in Reagins, it was meant to maintain the status quo....can you blame him? 

But then Reagins lays an egg and complaint is that the Angels are falling behind the rest of MLB in modernity, so they bring in Dipoto who many believed was one of the brightest young front office execs in the game. Dipoto and Scioscia can't get along and he destroyed the Angels farm and razed their international presence. Damage that would take years to undo.

So what did Moreno do? He brought in Eppler, who was accustomed to getting along with different personalities with high expectations in New York. A perfectly justifiable hiring. Eppler tries to rebuild the farm and simultaneously build a winner on a budget and establish an analytics department. Scioscia clearly isn't getting the job done anymore, so they make the change to Ausmus, a more analytically minded manager. 

Again perfectly justifiable hiring. Ausmus fails to navigate the Angels into the playoffs, and Joe Maddon becomes available and is interested, and is regarded as the best manager in the game. Another justifiable hiring. Maddon fails to make a difference, and after five years, Eppler still hadn't built a winner. So Arte hires Perry, another justifiable hiring. 

Perry gives it a go with Maddon at the helm, but it just doesn't work. So he gets the ax and Nevin is brought in, who is a players manager and can implement Perry's vision of a confluence of analytics and scouting. 

Every one of these moves in terms of direction of the team, has been justifiable. And every single one of them has failed. I'm not be saying it isn't Arte's fault, I'm saying hindsight is 20/20. 

Why do you include the Nevin hiring as a "failed move"?   Please revise.

 

Otherwise,  this is an excellent take. 

[Stradling]

  “Jeopardized the future of MLB”. 
 

[jsnpritchett]

17 minutes ago, Stradling said:

  “Jeopardized the future of MLB”. 
 

[Stradling]

When I read hyperbole like that in the title, I realize I’m not the intended audience. 

[Dtwncbad]

42 minutes ago, Stradling said:

When I read hyperbole like that in the title, I realize I’m not the intended audience. 

It’s a jerkoff.

And I’m sure his 9th grade composition teaching is beaming.

[fan_since79]

There has also been a lot of bad luck with this team, the injuries to key players and such, and just general baseball unpredictables. The Cardinals were picked by almost everyone to win their division. Baltimore was picked by few to be where they are now. Many other examples. How about Pittsburgh, who after Francisco Cabrera delivered the walk-off dagger in the 1992 NLCS, had 20 straight seasons under .500. What happened there, to a previously excellent team?

The tough truth is that we might not sniff the playoffs for a good number of years to come...just because. I hope that's not the case. The third wild card gives more teams a fighting chance.

 

[Duren, Duren]

A lot of extreme speculation about 'saving baseball' by Ohtani being in the playoffs. The WBC was an entirely different scenario. A self contained, time limited tournament. With built in rivalries, must win games, advancement by head to head play, plenty of pressure confrontations. Generating lots of curiosity world wide. I don't think you can project the financial and viewership data the same way over a one league, long, seven month season. Nor do the playoffs have the same world wide appeal. As in the World Cup and WBC,  nationalities are a factor in viewership. 

And it seems dubious to start the article about Arte not maximizing Ohtani's drawing power to spread the wealth  as the main reason to build a winning team. Suggesting a guilt complex for not helping the other teams get richer. As if it was a civic duty to boost Ohtani's exposure as the main reason for the Angels to be more highly visible in the post season. In other words, the other players on the team are just the supporting actors to allow the one star to have the spotlight. A mindset Ohtani himself would find repugnant. 

 

 

[Angel Oracle]

3 hours ago, Revad said:

When considering Artie’s performance as owner we tend to focus on wins and losses, any of our complaints would be softened if we had been making the playoffs during this period.  Artie is more focused on the average fan’s experience than wins and loses.  He sees his responsibility as owner differently, valuing having two of the greatest players in the sport playing in Anaheim more than winning.

He wants to win, but his priorities are different.

Basically, he wants to win at revenue, just like in his billboard days.

But, advertising and baseball are two totally different things.

Two biggest beefs with Moreno:

Seeming unwillingness to put enough money into the org’s infrastructure 

Seeming unwillingness to go over the tax threshold after the first off-season

Edited July 25, 2023 by Angel Oracle

[AngelsFaninGA]

He's a terrible owner, but saying he's jeopardizing the future of the sport is ridiculous

[fan_since79]

39 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Basically, he wants to win at revenue, just like in his billboard days.

But, advertising and baseball are two totally different things.

Two biggest beefs with Moreno:

Seeming unwillingness to put enough money into the org’s infrastructure 

Seeming unwillingness to go over the tax threshold after the first off-season

...and being attracted by expensive, aging free agents who already had a great career, and expensive 30-something players with one great season.

 

[Taylor]

3 hours ago, Stradling said:

When I read hyperbole like that in the title, I realize I’m not the intended audience. 

White boomers?

[Dtwncbad]

2 minutes ago, Taylor said:

White boomers?

Ever wonder what your world could be like if you took off the “everything is race” glasses?

[T.G.]

I had no idea Moreno had that much power.

[T.G.]

When did Bill Plaschke start writing for AW?

[ten ocho recon scout]

3 hours ago, Dtwncbad said:

It’s a jerkoff.

 

[Angelsjunky]

I won't add to the pile-on about hyperbole, but while I agree with elements of the article, feel that it is a bit over-simplistic. I don't think Arte is a "good owner" and that the Steinbrenner comparison is apt, which essentially means he's similar to Peter Angelos, who has been majority owner of the Orioles since 1993. While the Orioles have had a handful of playoff runs since then, they've struggled to find the sustained success they had from the 1960s into the 80s, and had a penchant for trying to buy good teams, but in a sort of half-ass way.

In that sense, it is unsurprising that as Angelos has gradually aged out of operations over the last decade, the Orioles have quietly built a good team, almost entirely from within. 

In that sense, I do think there's validity to the notion that Arte is taking an out-dated approach - and really, one that never really worked.

That said, there are other factors. Yes, the post-Stoneman front office landscape was a disaster, but part of the problem--especially over the last decade--is a confluence of challenges that weren't adequately addressed: the "Trout Window" that prevented rebuilding when it should have happened 7ish years ago; the injury-storm of the young rotation of 2015ish; Dipoto's over-eagerness; Eppler's almost uncanny ineptitude with mid-level free agents; poor drafting, poor scouting and no international presence, etc. Some of this was caused or at least impacted by Arte, but not all of it. 

I do think that the Angels would be better off with new ownership (depending, of course, on who that is) but two things are implied and/or outright stated in the article that I just don't think are true, or solely determined by his influence: One, that the Angels' woes over the last decade and a half are entirely on Arte's shoulders; and two, that they can't do better than they have with Arte. One could argue that they're heading in the right direction, even if it feels like it is half a decade late.

And the fact is, Arte did not make a big splash (aka albatross contract) with Trea Turner, nor anyone since the ill-fated Rendon contract; he did back up the truck for Trout; Ohtani came under his tenure (thank you, Billy Eppler!); he did sign Minasian, whom the author seems to like. And, perhaps due to his big ego, he was willing to cut his losses on both Josh Hamilton and (if only eventually) Albert Pujols.

Barring him selling the team, I think what we can hope for is that he has learned his lesson and will stay out of baseball operations and focus on the business side of things. And it does seem that Perry has his ear in a way that Eppler and Dipoto didn't. So while I don't think we're totally out of the woods, there are some positive indicators that the "Moreno as Despot Ruining the Franchise" (not to mention MLB) isn't, at the least, as bad as it was 5-10 years ago.

Edited July 25, 2023 by Angelsjunky

[Dtwncbad]

2 hours ago, AngelsFaninGA said:

He's a terrible owner, but saying he's jeopardizing the future of the sport is ridiculous

Agreed ridiculous.  It’s more than that.  He is jeopardizing the future existence of mankind on this planet.

[UndertheHalo]

11 hours ago, Stradling said:

  “Jeopardized the future of MLB”. 
 

The whole premise is ridiculous.  Oh this thing that has always happened in baseball since the beginning.  Traditionally, in Major League Baseball, only a handful of teams make the playoffs.  Obviously only 1 team wins the World Series.  Like what the fuck are you talking about man.  All time great players have played extended periods for bad teams since the beginning of professional baseball.  Shut the fuck up.  
 

also? Ohtani is a part of these failures.  I am a huge fan of Shohei Ohtani and I might as well add Trout to this point.  I am also a big, big fan of Mike Trout.  I don’t think they’re particularly responsible for the Angels problems.  But also, they don’t get to totally discharge any accountability for the Angels failures.  They are out there on the field, literally playing the games(or often times actually not playing the games - which is also part of this).  The Angels failures are also *their* failures.  
 

All these scalding hot takes.  Shut the fuck up.  Ohtani isn’t owed the playoffs.  Trout isn’t owed the playoffs.  Some asshole national pundit isn’t owed the opportunity to cover them in the playoffs. And absolutely no fans of other baseball teams are owed shit from the Angels. Shut. The. Fuck. Up.  

Edited July 26, 2023 by UndertheHalo

[T.G.]

@UndertheHalo I get where you're coming from.  I hear you, brother.

Baseball is hard.  If the Angels don't win another WS or if they lose Ohtani to FA, it's not the end of the world.  People need to stop pretending like it is.  Do I want them to win? Of course.  Do I want to see Ohtani as an Angel for his entire career?  Of course I do.

That being said - nothing is promised.  Nothing is guaranteed.

It's just baseball.  Yes, it can be fun.  Yes, it can be entertaining.  Yes, sport can often reveal character and teach valuable lessons, but it's still just baseball.  The idea that Moreno has "jeopardized the future of baseball" is one of the stupidest things I've ever read.  Ever.

I don't think Moreno has been a good steward of this franchise, but putting the responsibility of the future of baseball on him is ludicrous. 

 

 

[UndertheHalo]

47 minutes ago, T.G. said:

@UndertheHalo I get where you're coming from.  I hear you, brother.

Baseball is hard.  If the Angels don't win another WS or if they lose Ohtani to FA, it's not the end of the world.  People need to stop pretending like it is.  Do I want them to win? Of course.  Do I want to see Ohtani as an Angel for his entire career?  Of course I do.

That being said - nothing is promised.  Nothing is guaranteed.

It's just baseball.  Yes, it can be fun.  Yes, it can be entertaining.  Yes, sport can often reveal character and teach valuable lessons, but it's still just baseball.  The idea that Moreno has "jeopardized the future of baseball" is one of the stupidest things I've ever read.  Ever.

I don't think Moreno has been a good steward of this franchise, but putting the responsibility of the future of baseball on him is ludicrous. 

 

 

Ya, Absolutely.  Moreno has a done a bad job with the Angels.  I’m not defending him.  But get this shit out of here about the Angels not deserving good and great players.  And even more so, stop making things up about how it’s “hurting the sport” 

These guys want to talk about that? How about they start with fans having to pay for 10 different bullshit streaming services to watch their favorite team.  Why don’t they address how I can’t watch the angels without paying a $100 dollars a month for some cable service that I will use approximately 1.5% of.  This because of the my crime of living in their media market.  Fuck off with this bullshit about Ohtani not being in the playoffs. 

Edited July 25, 2023 by UndertheHalo