Angels Owner Arte Moreno Has No Plans to Sell the Team

Maren Angus-Coombs | Oct 7, 2024

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno has his sights set on a 2025 playoff run.

He also intends on being the owner of the Angels when that happens.

In his first interview since spring training, Moreno discussed various topics by phone with the Southern California News Group.

Having owned the team since 2003, Moreno experienced a successful initial decade but has witnessed the Angels struggle in recent years. The team hasn't made the playoffs since 2014, marking the longest postseason drought in Major League Baseball, and they haven't had a winning season since 2015. Moreno has frequently faced criticism for the decisions that contributed to these losing seasons.

Among the off-field discussions, Moreno, 78, emphasized that he has no immediate intentions of selling the team, maintaining his position from spring training.

He briefly placed the team on the market in 2022 but decided to reverse that decision at the beginning of 2023.

“I can’t tell you about the future,” Moreno said to the Southern California News Group. “If someone makes some stupid, crazy offer, I’ve got to do what’s best for the family. I do the best I can to run it as a business.”

Moreno believes he has the talent in the organization which includes the farm system to turn the Angels around in a hurry.

“Look at a roster and see how many homegrown players we have playing for us,” Moreno said. “When people look at our system, they say, ‘Oh geez, they’ve got a low-rated system.’ Why do we continue to produce major-league players? We need to find the mix of players that are going to win. We have to win. At the end of the day, it’s all measured in wins and losses.”

Moreno is also ready to "supplement" his young core.

“We have to make sure we’re deep enough,” Moreno said. “We have to make sure our bench is deep enough if somebody gets hurt. It’s a little bit hard to be in a situation where there’s $72-73 million and they give us no production. It’s hard for me to just sit here and tell you, honestly, that I’m going to put $73 million more money on this payroll next year.”

While Moreno doesn't appear inclined to significantly increase the payroll, he expressed a desire to compete for victories again in 2025 by making some additions to the team and building around the current young players.

“That’s our goal,” he said. “We’re looking at ’ '25-’26, because of the young people coming, but our goal is to be in the playoffs in ’25.”