Ex-Angels players, coaches react to Arte Moreno selling team: ‘This needed to happen’
Standing on the field in Pittsburgh a couple of hours before his San Francisco Giants would play the Pirates, Ron Washington picked up his cellphone.
He knew what the Tuesday afternoon call was about. His former boss Arte Moreno, who’d hired him to manage the Los Angeles Angels only to let him go less than two years later, had become the talk of baseball.
The news of the Angels’ sale found its way to the Steel City, and Washington wanted to say his piece.
“It probably broke his heart,” said Washington, whose tenure ended after last season. “He really loved the game of baseball. The things he did, he felt like he did them for the right reasons. He wanted to hold onto his team, that’s for sure. To let it go, that’s why I said it probably broke his heart.”
While Washington expressed sympathy for Moreno, few in the outer circles of the Angels’ orbit shed a tear for an owner whose 23-year tenure ended with a $4 billion sale to real estate magnate and sports owner Stan Kroenke.
The sentiment among ex-Angels aligns with the fan base, which expressed euphoria. A form of joy that can only be associated with regaining hope that had been sapped by 11 straight losing seasons, 12 without a playoff run and 17 without a postseason win.
“My first thought was, this needed to happen,” said Scott Spiezio, who played a key role in the Angels’ last World Series title in 2002 and played in Anaheim when Moreno bought the club the next year.
“I think it will be great for everyone. I wish I had the money to buy it myself,” said C.J. Wilson, who pitched for the team from 2014 to 2015, its last two winning seasons.
The Angels became a rotting husk of a franchise under Moreno. Playing in an outdated stadium, the team was known more for off-field embarrassments and constant coaching turnover than player development and victories. The few positives over the years came about despite ownership, not because of it.
One ex-Angels executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, called the club a “circus” under Moreno, pointing to how much of the team’s dirty laundry had been aired publicly over the years. “Where there’s smoke there’s fire. … Happy for the fans that they get a fresh start.”
Added Yankees bench coach Brad Ausmus, who managed the Angels in 2019 and was at Angel Stadium with his current team when the news broke. “They certainly have the capability to change the trajectory. That comes at a cost, usually. I think Angels fans are great fans. They want a winner.
“They want to win, and it’s been a little while since the Angels have had that.”
Fans’ hope is rooted in Kroenke’s vast wealth and successful track record. Each team he owns has won a title during his ownership tenure. Not 35 miles west of Anaheim, the Los Angeles Rams won a Super Bowl in their second year playing in the sprawling new SoFi Stadium.
How owners can spend on future rosters will be ironed out after the collective bargaining agreement expires in December, but, sans a salary cap, the Angels would be expected to become big spenders after years of operating as a small-market team with Los Angeles branding.
“Knowing Arte over the years, it’s clear he really enjoyed the game,” said prominent baseball agent Scott Boras, who was also in Anaheim for Tuesday’s Yankees-Angels game. “I think, after a while, the game — the complexities of it — certainly changed his metaphor from the start to the end.
“(Kroenke’s) won in the NFL, the NBA, NHL, soccer. Who doesn’t want championship owners to come to the game? He seems as though he appoints his staff and doesn’t micromanage. Kind of an ideal owner.“
Moreno’s exit gives fans hope for something different. That a sleeping giant can finally awaken. That prayers for a miracle in the rubble of a broken culture can be replaced with reasonable expectations of yearly success. Like all the other big-market teams.
The Angels’ culture revolved around Moreno in the worst possible ways. Now that’s changing. Or, at least it will in the first quarter of 2027, when the handoff is expected to become official.
“Is it official this time, or is it just another …” asked Andrew Heaney, an Angels pitcher from 2015 to 2021, before he trailed off. He was referring to Moreno announcing his intention to sell the team in 2022, before eventually changing his mind.
This week’s announcement is more official. There’s a buyer, a price and a plan. However, there’s always the wild card of Moreno. Angels fans and people who have played for the team are ready for that to never be a concern again.
“I’ve got a lot of feelings,” Heaney said. “I think it’ll be good for the fans, good for the players. It seems like Kroenke really went all in with the Rams. Hopefully, he can do that in Anaheim. … Change is sometimes needed and usually good.”
— Fabian Ardaya contributed to this report