The Angels have been in a period of some uncertainty since this past summer, when owner Arte Moreno announced he was exploring a sale of the franchise. There haven’t been many substantive updates on the process since then, and the timing of the potential sale has remained unclear.
At a press conference at this week’s Winter Meetings, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred stated the Halos are hopeful of having a sale finalized by Opening Day. “The point at which people actually see financial information is an important step forward in the process. My understanding is that the club would like to have the sale resolved before Opening Day,” Manfred told reporters (link via Evan Drellich of the Athletic). “Whether that happens I think depends in part on the bidding process and how quickly you can get documents done.”
Moreno has owned the franchise since 2003, when he purchased it from the Disney corporation on the heels of a World Series win. They’ve not won a pennant in the Moreno era, only making the ALCS once in 2009. Moreno has consistently signed off on payrolls that place the team within the top ten, but he’s drawn a fair bit of criticism among the fanbase for taking an active role in baseball operations decisions.
Precisely how much payroll room Moreno would allot the front office this offseason as he explores sale options was an open question. To his credit, he’s allowed general manager Perry Minasian and company to strike for upgrades to each area of the roster in the early going. The Halos brought in Tyler Anderson and Carlos Estévez via free agency while acquiring Hunter Renfroe and Gio Urshela in trade. None of those acquisitions was over an especially long term, with Anderson’s three-year deal the only commitment beyond 2024. Yet they did add an estimated $40MM to the 2023 payroll on those four players.
The acquisitions bring Anaheim’s 2023 payroll projection up to $198MM, in the estimation of Roster Resource. They’re just above $212MM in projected luxury tax obligations, leaving them around $20MM shy of the $233MM base tax threshold. Minasian told reporters this morning the Halos could conceivably push spending into luxury tax territory, saying there’s no ownership mandate to stay under the threshold (via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register).
Anaheim hasn’t gotten into CBT territory since 2004. Pushing into that realm in 2023 would be unfamiliar for the franchise, but they’re headed into their final season of club control over Shohei Ohtani and amidst an eight-year playoff drought. The Halos still have some uncertainty in the middle infield and behind the plate, and they could look into bullpen upgrades even after inking Estévez to a two-year contract.
Yes…please. And thank you. This should happen asap. A new direction and identity is needed.
New mascot, new colors, the works.
Weird question for you LA fans..
Where do most dodger fans vs angels fans reside throughout the city & state? is it a pretty even mixture throughout?
Newman, Orange County is definitely Halo town. But Dodger fans aren’t saturated in any particular area. They are all over.
Fairly mixed, I’d think. I’m pretty sure there are far more Dodgers fans in LA, but I’m also an LA native and prefer the Angels…
Kellin, I would say Dodger fans might be more densely concentrated in the immediate LA area yes, but outside of that it is pretty mixed like you say. I don’t think a lot of people outside of CA know how big LA or “LA County” is. Lancaster and Palmdale probably has some Dodger and Halo fans haha. A lot of people have no idea how far that is from Dodger Stadium though.
My estimation would be Angels fans 80/20 in OC and Dodgers fans 90/10 in LA. I’m an Angels fan in LA county, while we are in the minority, I do come across quite a few Angels fans in LA.
Orange, 80/20 sounds right in OC for Halo fans…And in Boyle Heights where I live it is more than even 90/10 Dodger fans. But when you say LA where are you talking? La County? I spent 30 years in Whittier and say it’s closer to 50/50 out there…It is a strange mashup..
How about in the Inland Empire area? Riverside county I think?
Yeah, I mean LA County as a whole. Whittier, La Mirada, will for sure be more evenly like 60/40 (Dodgers) or even 50/50. East LA will be heavy Dodgers fanbase. But areas like Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, Santa Monica, Hollywood, etc. you will regularly see Angels caps.
Heck, in downtown LA, just a few weeks ago, during a film production, I saw a large Angels banner on a truck filled with camera equipment.
I’m from the Inland Empire area and it’s hard to tell. Lots of Dodger fans just choose the team cause they’re good and don’t even watch baseball until playoffs. The Angel fans you find, they really into baseball not just followers
CantStop, yeah I would agree.
I’m in Riverside and have always been an Angels fan (since about 1980). The Angels were the closer team to our house, so I believe that’s mostly why we went there. But that’s how I became a fan. In Riverside and the Inland Empire it’s pretty heavily tilted towards the Dodgers, maybe 65/35 in favor of the Dodgers.
Why do they have to change the colors.?
Lots of good dialogue and breakdown. Keep in mind that the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn in 1957 and were the only game in town. So NY transplants to CA also had a new team to root for. The Angels started in 1961 and didn’t settle in Anaheim until 1965. So besides the obvious Dodger geographic advantage, the Dodgers were able to establish their team as the baseball foundation in SoCal first.
All this being said, when Frank McCourt was driving the Dodgers org into the ground and the Angels were the hot team and ticket, the Halos were making serious headway in popularity. Then Magics group came in and restored order and put the Dodgers back on top.
I personally think MLB is terrible at marketing because having Mookie Betts and Mike Trout both in LA (plus Ohtani), there should be even more attention and fanfare.
Hello Newman — First you must realize there is no real “city” as the LA Metro area is spread out pretty wide and far. Most folks from outside don’t realize how spread out. LA Metro area is roughly 34,000 square miles. For comparison the entire state of NY comprises 54,500 square miles.
The stadiums are 25mi apart. The closer you get to each respective stadium the % of fans skews toward the closer stadium. Although overall I’d still say it’s 60-40 in favor of the LAD.
I don’t know where you got your info about LA Metro area. What is it you consider that? I’ve seen a couple numbers, but even Wikipedia says its only 4000 square miles for LA county. This area includes as north as Palmdale, as south as Long Beach and as far east as Pomona. It is a large area, but nowhere near as much as you state. Even the state of California is just under 164,000 square miles… Your estimate doesn’t add up.
@kellin maybe he isn’t solely using all of California and going into Nevada to parts of New Mexico? Then it could make sense. Otherwise I agree with you on that half the state of CA being LA Metro. Wouldn’t make much sense. He could also be reaching into Mexico since it’s really a quick walk to the border. Who knows?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Los_Angeles#:~:text=…
Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021,[6] encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the east, with Los Angeles County in the center and Orange County to the southeast. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Los Angeles–Anaheim–Riverside combined statistical area covers 33,954 square miles (87,940 km2), making it the largest metropolitan region in the United States by land area.
But the facts tell us that you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Riverside and Anaheim ARENT LA COUNTY. But go ahead and talk like you know you think you live here.
But Riverside and Anaheim (not a county) are most definitely part of the Los Angeles Metropolitan area see link below. And I’ve lived here for over 50 years dumb****.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Los_Angeles
They should make some trades and take one last crack at this Trout/Ohtani identity. Dunno why they go into every year with mediocre SP and think things are gonna change.
Case, Us Halo fans ask ourselves that every season as well.
Hoping you have new ownership in place for 2023. Bad teams can be improved. Managers fired. GMs replaced. There is always hope. There is no hope when you have a bad owner. May you be blessed with new ownership for the new year.
LordD, practically scipture….Thanks amigo.
My guess is you won the world series with a so-so starting rotation (Washburn an “ace”?) backed up by a brutally effective bullpen and ownership just didn’t see that as the complete aberration that it was.
The team was built around the old school small ball mentality, and yes a very solid lock down bullpen. Getting through Shields, Donnelly and Percival was rough, and then you add in K-Rod who came out of nowhere. Washburn sounding like an ace does sound odd, but he had the best ERA at 3.15 for the season, followed by Lackey and Ramon Ortiz who had ERAs in the mid 3s.
Angels could always have Bob Nutting as owner. At least Art spent money regardless of how bad the pitching was. Bob doesn’t open the wallet if pitching and/or offense is struggling. He will sell you a Bob Walk bobble head doll and 30 dollar tickets to appear at the game for 3 innings though. Then offer you discounted cold hot dog as a token of his appreciation.
Breaking Tatis bro Elijah crashed his own motorcycle
Padres2019ha;
Please put the Tatis news with that of the Kardashian family where it belongs..
This is a baseball site.
Samuel
No need to say please when being a condescending, annoying db.
Enjoy your kardashians
Lol of all the people to accuse others of being a “condescending annoying db”
Motorcycles outnumber all other vehicles 2 or 3 to 1 in the Dominican Republic. If you haven’t wrecked your bike there you are so poor you are on foot.
That would be the best news in a while for the team..
“They’ve not won a pennant in the Moreno era, only making the ALCS once in 2009.”
They also made the ALCS in 2005.
Ah, the last highlight season for my wsox.
Well, technically they did only make the ALCS once in 2009. If they could have done it twice that year, maybe they would have.
Touché
Let’s talk about those “Goldilocks” balls, Manfred.
They also used the Goldilocks ball in the playoffs too. Makes sense why the teams with more power hitters did well. Houston, Philly, etc
Was thinking about how they used them in Yankees games. They surely helped Aaron with that record just to make people watch baseball and I know that he doesnt deserve Mike Trout money. Mike does it year in year out. He does it with the help…let that sink in
What does Mike do year in year out? lose?
What’s there to talk about? People will keep watching regardless and Manfred will keep messing with the balls at will to suit his goals while lying to everyone in the process. Rinse and repeat.
So you’re saying the league is morally corrupt but people don’t really care?
The next 2 sales, the Angels + Nationals, should be telling. Let’s not forget that for the better part of the past decade interest rates (cost of debt) was super cheap and now it is not. That’s a negative to prospective buyers.
On the other hand, prior the pandemic MLB modified ownership rules allowing private equity to take stakes in teams as limited partners. This adds a new cash rich potential buyers to the prior pool of possible buyers.
The new national TV contract is in effect as is the new CBA both which are beneficial to the process as “known-knowns” Arte Moreno I think is the sole owner of the LAA so I think it’s possible his sale process can proceed more quickly? The other reason to want ownership resolution prior to Opening Day is it would be ideal if the new owners make the call on Ohtani, extend, trade, etc
On the other hand as noted on MLBTR a while back, the unresolved WAS/BAL media spat I believe is still unresolved. That complication likely needs resolution for a WAS sale to get to completion.
Big picture teams rarely change hands so it should be interesting what the ultimate price tag of these teams is.
I don’t think any prospective buyers are too concerned with what the interest rates are.
While MLB limits the amount of debt a prospective owner uses in a purchase, debt financing is very much part of any deal. and when borrowing costs double, buyers are going to care.
Los Angeles is still a marquee market so it will be see interesting to see how many groups actually bid, that in itself will be an indicator as to how much or little the macro economic environment is impacting the sales process.
Now would a Steve Balmer care, nope! Like Cohen in NYM he’s more a unicorn than the typical group that buys as team. Time will tell.
Lot of hands changing hands in that post.
We’re so sorry, Uncle Arte
But we haven’t done a bloody thing all day
We’re so sorry, Uncle Arte
But the kettle’s on the boil and we’re so easily called away
Hands across the water (water)
Heads across the sky
Hands across the water (water)
Heads across the sky
Well said.
As to Was/Bal media deal, it was in place at the time of the first sale, and got the Lerner family a pretty discount on an MLB team. Either the same discount is calculated in the sale, or not, but the outstanding issue of media rights won’t go away quickly. It’s THE reason Bal signed off on a Was team. Each time MLB has tried to flex on Bal, Bal went to public court…which MLB doesn’t want to happen. Basically, MLB can’t ‘make’ a resolution happen. (Unless, the Nats leave the area….then they get their Media stream w/o Bal ‘tax’)
…and Baltimore keeps losing in public court.
If they were loosing in court, it would be settled. NY judge vacated MLB’s arbitration of MASN deal, because it was soooo unfair. Getting out of Arbitration is virtually impossible…unless it was exseptionally egregious. Which it was.
It should be very telling that a Judge would find in Orioles favor. It means MLB/Nationals are trying the janky-est of BS in dealing w/ Orioles.
((Petty ass MLB, following the Judges decision, even Revoked the Orioles All-Star game. How dare someone stand up for their legal rights!!))
Liking, “there’s no ownership mandate to stay under the threshold”. Let’s go then, sign up Correa and win the West! 😉
Plugnplay, grab Swanson, save a little cash and grab Bassitt too.
I like it! But might as well aim even bigger then, and add Correa and Senga. Hehe
Screw it, I can settle with that too. Get it done!!
Angels fans can rejoice.
Kinda sad the Angel didn’t win with Mr. A Moreno.
Gene would.be sad too… I know I am.
Maybe the sale won’t officially go through until after the 2023 season and the Angels win it all. “It could happen.”
Maybe they’re spending more freely and willing to go beyond the luxury tax as the potential buyers are all big spenders and driven to field a competitive team.
Yeah, that and a lot of the contracts are short-term. Gives the new owner the option to contract spending too.
So are we going to hold Manfred accountable for actively interfering with games and threatening employees trying to do the ethical thing with firing them, or is this whole Goldilocks thing just going to be ignored? He’s a crook and he doesn’t deserve his job even a little bit.
I think most baseball fans would agree with you 100%. Manfred screwing with the balls should be the top story and cost him his job.
Same is in the works.
Payroll is at a new high.
None of the recent additions are big money deals.
Those three facts are related.
HHJJ, yeah it’s a bit of a strange mix. One would have to reside here to fully grasp it like you say. Here in East LA i’ve seen 2 Halo hats in 5 years. I would like to ask someone what the Yank/Met fan ratio is like in The Big Apple.
East LA will be heavy Dodger fans for sure. But I see Angels caps throughout LA on a regular basis (i.e., Pasadena, Burbank, Glendale, Downtown, Hollywood, Santa Monica)
Ok now I’m with ya Orange
There’s a large Tyler Skaggs mural in Santa Monica.
Orange, I can’t believe I didn’t know that. Thanks I’ll check it out.
If ohtani has another year like his last 2 i cant imagine what he will make on the open market. His free agency will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Probably 8–12 teams offering in excess of 400-500 million? It will be nuts.
Yeah. Seems like $50 mil/year for 10 would be the baseline.
great news.
Are Angels fans dancing in the streets in Orange County at this news?
No reason not to spend money on a shortstop and RP. If they wasn’t to keep Ohtani, they are going to have to spend.
I have a question for Orange County crowd? Does anyone still care about the Ducks , other than the ones in the building ?
007, heck yes we love the Ducks!!! Practically everyone in OC but lots of Ducks fans everywhere in SoCal.
The Kings? Still popular ? Is hockey behind mls in popularity in Sc?
007, definitely many Kings fans….I think a lot of people out here know the “Galaxy” play in LA but that’s about it..
I got the Angels/Ducks logo tatted on me. Been a fan since back when they were the mighty ducks!
CantStop, That’s pretty rad haha And I feel like young people these days will not even be aware of the MIGHTY Ducks…If one hasn’t seen the movies and been properly introduced it’s just not the same.
Trumbo,those were the days when both of the teams were the best in the early 2000s. I just turned 30 and some people my age don’t even know how great those movies were. These newer generations just make me get sad.
You mean they’re no longer called the “Mighty” Ducks?!
The Paul Kariya days..
OG Mighty Ducks logo was the greatest!!!!
Yeah it is!. I wanted to get that one tattooed but one of my best friends has one in his hand and didn’t want to copy but thinking about one with Jason from Friday the 13th look
Steve Rucchin (can’t remember how to spell it)
Oleg Tverdovsky
Guy Hebert
Travis Moen
Dan Bylsma
JS Giguere
Rob Niedermeyer
Freddy Olausson
Stanislav Chistov
You mean guys like that?
007, somehow Seagulls actually make their way to East LA at times. 20 miles plus from the beach haha. They aim for the cars at store by me and trot around in the parking lot all the time..Not quite Ducks but yeah..
They are The Mighty Seagulls and they should be aiming at the Lakers. Whew. Horrid tonight
Hahaha Yes I named them that myself last summer.
You can’t say Arte didn’t try. The guy spent the money. Its obvious once the deal with city of Anaheim collapsed Arte said to himself F it.. let someone else deal with it. Whom ever buys the team I’m sure they’re aware the they’re going to have to build a new ballpark. And sign Ohtani longterm.
Leach – We all can say Moreno didn’t try. The money he spent was squandered on nonsense contracts that never addressed the need for pitching. He was way too involved in the day to day operations of the team instead of letting the guys he paid do their jobs. He has been a horrible owner and our results are the only evidence anyone needs to draw that conclusion.
Imho not really understanding where all the Moreno hate is coming from. From a lifelong Angel fan, from day one he lowered prices, or kept them relatively in check, and has never shied away from spending on payroll. Hindsight being 20/20, of course you could focus on Albert and Josh Hamilton deals, but Trout stayed and Ohtani and Torii came… we may never know how much Arte was involved with the deals that didn’t work out, but he deserves credit for getting players to come/stay. As far as ownership goes, Angel fans could have had it a lot worse… I just questioned his ability to surround himself with the right “baseball” guys making decisions… Thank you Arte for the last 20 years… more of them having baseball relevance than not…
He doesn’t just sign checks, he’s too involved in day to day operations and takes authority away from his baseball people. He’s not a bad guy, just too much oversight.
i think his biggest fault was not signing extensions in early years. molina bros, kendrick, aybar and so on. another thing was not hiring players that were in the world series squad.
I think he was OK as far as Owners go. Part of the problem was injuries and no depth; A big blow was when they had something like the top 7 starting pitchers get major injuries in one year. It was no wonder that would be a problem going forward. I don’t think those extensions you (aragon) talked about would have helped. I don’t recall them doing anything after leaving. Kendrick maybe OK but Heaney was more valuable. Funny thing about Arte was that I find his dealings with Anaheim a little dishonest. I think there has been prof since the name change show he was just lying. Problem is bringing a customer to court can be a no-win situation. I just wish Angel fans would at least hold them to the “LA is part of the Nickname. Anaheim is the location.
The only real gripe i have with Arte is he hired a frat brother Carpino as team president. When he should of hire someone with the acumen to run a MLB team.
Not to change the Subject but I was driving North on the 5 freeway right by Disneyland, and they have a sign on the freeway shoulder “The Tommy La Sorda Memorial Freeway A true leagend “. In Orange County of all places. But I know why. He lived Fullerton which is in the OC.
8 – Moreno has surrounded himself with fine baseball people. He didn’t give them the autonomy to do their jobs. Over 20 years of ownership, he has gone through several GMs and managers and here we are. Moreno is the only constant over the last 20 years. He is why we have the record we have.
The Angels need a hands off owner who isn’t obsessed with wanting to be the Dodgers.
Arte Moreno was the the Jerry Jones of the MLB. Every big move he made had just as much to do with wanting the headlines as wanting to improve the team.
Arte Moreno tried to keep his high school from integrating, as well?
Or did Moreno gouge electricity customers during a storm so shamelessly that they now have basically second mortgages to pay for it?
I know both lose ALL the time.
Since there are a lot of negative things being said about ol Arte Ill try to fit in one good thing.
As a lifelong Angel fan and one who was at game 6 and 7 of the World Series, I can say that under his tenure, I never felt like big free agents were impossible to sign and that was at least exciting each year.
At least Arte tried. Unlike that bag of ass, fisher.
Sell to Disney and bring back Danny Glover as manager! Skip bringing back Mcconaughey for the outfield.
The last time the team sold we won the WS! Let’s send Artie out with a trophy.
The last time the team sold it was to Arte in 2003, after the Angels won the ’02 World Series. As the ’22 season is over, he can’t be sent out with a trophy. Well, not a World Series trophy. The front office could give. him a fun #1 BOSS-type trophy as a fun parting gag, I guess.
It would be great to see what new ownership could do for this team. The foundation is there for a great team, it would be a shame to see it squandered
Angels should get Kim from San Diego. Bet the Padres could use some cash after today’s deal with Xander.