“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 the process, we will continue to run the franchise in the best interest of our fans, employees, players, and business partners.”
Moreno, who earned his fortune in billboard advertising, purchased the Angels for $180 million from the Walt Disney Co. in 2003, becoming the first Mexican American owner in major U.S. professional sports. The franchise was coming off its lone World Series title in 2002, and though the Angels made five playoff appearances in Moreno’s first seven seasons as owner, they have yet to return to the Fall Classic, have not made the MLB postseason since 2015 and have not won a playoff game since 2009.
Moreno has not hesitated to sign big-name players such as Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Vernon Wells, but those high-priced signings have come at the expense of the franchise’s overall infrastructure, with the team’s scouting, analytics and player development systems seen as lacking.
In 2019, the Angels signed infielder Anthony Rendon to a seven-year, $245 million contract, but he has been plagued by injuries over the past two seasons, and his sizable contract is seen as another impediment to progress for the Angels.“The infrastructure needs to be improved. There’s a lot of things that need to be improved there,” Joe Maddon, who was fired as Angels manager on June 7,the Tampa Bay Times in a story published Sunday. “These guys can’t do it alone, obviously.
“They need to do the infrastructure better in order to get to where we had been in the past. That was my goal, to get the Angels back to where we had been in the past. That was it. Nothing but pure intentions. I was an Angel. They had every ounce of me. And now that’s done.”the sale of Angel Stadium to a Moreno-affiliated management company, which had plans to redevelop the area around the stadium.
If the Angels really want to go way beyond just middling they could sell the team to the owner of the Cleveland Browns.
He was great in The Santa Clause