OC Register: Angels owner Arte Moreno says he’s around ‘for the long term’

[AngelsLakersFan]

24 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Ok. Tell me how anyone in the world thinks Anderson provides $13 million in fan experience in 15 home starts.  The ONLY way is if he helps the team get to the playoffs. 

If Arte does not make any attempt to be competitive then it will damage the brand. If the fans stop showing up, and stop watching on tv the value of the team will drop. This is what happened with the A's who are now moving out of one of the largest markets in the nation for one of the smallest. You cant really run a team that way long term without publicly declaring yourself to be a grade A douche bag.

[Taylor]

22 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

If Arte does not make any attempt to be competitive then it will damage the brand. If the fans stop showing up, and stop watching on tv the value of the team will drop. This is what happened with the A's who are now moving out of one of the largest markets in the nation for one of the smallest. You cant really run a team that way long term without publicly declaring yourself to be a grade A douche bag.

Arte is going to drive the team to the ground then bankrupt it.

[totdprods]

I think this board's falling into a little bit of tunnel vision re: Arte.

First, let me preface by saying that I do think Arte should sell, Arte is owed more than a fair share of criticisms, Arte does hold a large share of the blame...I'm by no means an apologist. 

But Arte has done things a little differently the last couple of years that I believe are blurred by the decade of missteps he made before. 
Arte wanted big splash Trea Turner, Perry convinced him to spread the money around instead. 
Arte was set to pay luxury tax following the deadline acquisitions last year for the first time in years. 
Arte has largely stepped back, at least publicly, which may or may not mean he isn't involving himself as much in baseball ops decisions. 
Arte did not kneejerk respond to Ohtani leaving by signing another big-name, despite clear FAs available, money to spend, fan backlash...
You could even say not giving Ohtani a blank check was atypical - he's never shied away from giving unprecedented contracts, and as much as we wanted Ohtani back, it was still a $700M deal for a DH coming off two elbow surgeries.

I'm not saying these were all the right moves or are good moves, or even that Arte is 100% responsible for how those played out, but his behavior the last 18+ months or so deviate from what he's done in years before.

I also don't think you could also say the Angels are 'cheap' or have done nothing...they've still plopped down what, $40M this winter? Stephenson, Moore, Garcia. They have room to keep spending now, at the deadline, or in locking up the new young core. Has he been cheap in regards to the minors, lower-tier FA, staff, development? Hell yes, no doubt - but the Angels are still spending more than most of the league, even this winter. 

From a baseball sense, it made all the sense in the world to trade Ohtani at any time the last couple of years, but he's never shied away from saying he's in the entertainment business and he felt having Ohtani as long as he could was more entertaining to a much larger fanbase than the diehard fans here who "know baseball". Sure, winning brings in plenty of bucks and fan excitement too - but Arte was getting that just by having Shohei. Bad baseball move to keep Ohtani? Sure. Bad fan experience decision? Nope. More parents got to bring their kids to see Ohtani a couple more times, perhaps some even knowing it'd be their last chance. Not to romanticize the decision, but we here are a different breed from the fans that bring in the Angels' revenue.

In many ways, I actually think the way the Angels have operated the last 18+ months is sneakily the way we've wanted them to operate - we just haven't seen the fruits of those labors yet, so it's hard to buy-in. They haven't committed dumb money (even to Ohtani), and they've seemingly turned an emphasis to developing youngsters - O'Hoppe, Neto, Moniak, Detmers, Joyce, Silseth, all while never actually tearing down the team to where they were a tank job that would turn off the casual fan, which is the biggest pipeline of revenue. 

All of this is why I've maintained the Angels org, and us, need to just take a deep breath, exhale, and enjoy 2024 without the intense pressure we've had hanging over us the last decade. Wouldn't be surprised if we were already in the dawn of a new age of Angel success, but that sun just hasn't yet risen. Give it a few more mornings.

Edited February 15 by totdprods

[Dgar24]

16 minutes ago, totdprods said:

I think this board's falling into a little bit of tunnel vision re: Arte.

First, let me preface by saying that I do think Arte should sell, Arte has more than a fair share of criticisms, Arte does hold a large share of the blame...I'm by no means an apologist. 

But Arte has done things a little differently the last couple of years that I believe are blurred by the decade of missteps he made before. 
Arte wanted big splash Trea Turner, Perry convinced him to spread the money around instead. 
Arte was set to pay luxury tax following the deadline acquisitions last year for the first time in years. 
Arte has largely stepped back, at least publicly, which may or may not mean he isn't involving himself as much in baseball ops decisions. 
Arte did not kneejerk respond to Ohtani leaving by signing another big-name, despite clear FAs available, money to spend, fan backlash...
You could even say not giving Ohtani a blank check was atypical - he's never shied away from giving unprecedented contracts, and as much as we wanted Ohtani back, it was still a $700M deal for a DH coming off two elbow surgeries.

I'm not saying these were all the right moves or are good moves, or even that Arte is 100% responsible for how those played out, but his behavior the last 18+ months or so deviate from what he's done in years before.

I also don't think you could also say the Angels are 'cheap' or have done nothing...they've still plopped down what, $40M this winter? Stephenson, Moore, Garcia. They have room to keep spending now, at the deadline, or in locking up the new young core. 
Has he been cheap in regards to the minors, lower-tier FA, staff, development? Hell yes, no doubt - but the Angels are still spending more than most of the league, even this winter. 

From a baseball sense, it made all the sense in the world to trade Ohtani at any time the last couple of years, but he's never shied away from saying he's in the entertainment business and he felt having Ohtani as long as he could was more entertaining to a much larger fanbase than the diehard fans here who "know baseball". Sure, winning brings in plenty of bucks and fan excitement too - but Arte was getting that just by having Shohei. Bad baseball move to keep Ohtani? Sure. Bad fan experience decision? Nope. More parents got to bring their kids to see Ohtani a couple more times, perhaps some even knowing it'd be their last chance. Not to romanticize the decision, but we here are a different breed from the fans that bring in the Angels' revenue.

In many ways, I actually think the way the Angels have operated the last 18+ months is sneakily the way we've wanted them to operate - we just haven't seen the fruits of those labors yet, so it's hard to buy-in. They haven't committed dumb money (even to Ohtani), and they've seemingly turned an emphasis to developing youngsters - O'Hoppe, Neto, Moniak, Detmers, Joyce, Silseth, all while never actually tearing down the team to where they were a tank job that would turn off the casual fan, which is the biggest pipeline of revenue. 

All of this is why I've maintained the Angels org, and us, need to just take a deep breath, exhale, and enjoy 2024 without the intense pressure we've had hanging over us the last decade. Wouldn't be surprised if we were already in the dawn of a new age of Angel success, but that sun just hasn't yet risen. Give it a few more mornings.

I think you’re correct , nice write up. Seeing Arte yesterday got my blood flowing. Calmed back down ready to watch this rebuild, Washington doing his thing. And for me also can’t wait to see if we draft another kid first to the bigs this year.