Former MLB Pitcher Claims Angels Owner Arte Moreno Wanted to Forget Albert Pujols During Budget Meeting

Maren Angus-Coombs | Oct 7, 2024

Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno just continues to dig his hole even deeper.

After going the entire season without publicly addressing the mess of a season his Angels had, a former big league pitcher revealed one of the dark details that makes Moreno unpopular with Angels fans.

Trevor May told a story on his podcast about Moreno and what went on during a budget meeting in 2019.

"There were still two or three years left on Albert Pujols' deal and they bring him up in the meeting and Arte says, 'I don't want to hear that name.'"

It was like Moreno wanted to go through the meeting but he didn't want to think about Pujols' contract because if it was out of his sight then it was out of his mind.

Moreno wanted to operate as if the Angels didn't owe Pujols a penny while the rest of his team had to make internal notes that his salary had to be included in the budget.

"Having to work around an owner's ego sounds like the worst thing to do on the whole planet," May said.

After leading his club to a franchise-worst 99-loss season, Moreno finally spoke up about what needs to be done for the Angels to improve.

According to former MLB pitcher Trevor May:

When Albert Pujols name was brought up in a budget meeting around 2018 to 2019, Arte Moreno allegedly said, “I don’t want to hear that name. Like we can go through this, but let’s act like he’s not there.”https://t.co/EnUKC9bTlC pic.twitter.com/R7wkoSmXs4

— BTH (@BeyondTheHalo) October 5, 2024

Moreno spoke by phone Saturday to the Southern California News Group, it was his first interview since spring training.

Despite facing increased criticism throughout this challenging season, Moreno remains optimistic about the franchise's future. He is encouraged by the development of the young talent and is dedicated to bolstering their efforts with a larger payroll.

“It’s going to go up,” Moreno said.

While Moreno discuss a wide range of topics, he didn't elaborate on anything that he wanted to forget about, similar to Pujols' contract.

This season, the Angels reduced their payroll by approximately $40 million, just shy of the luxury-tax threshold, primarily due to Shohei Ohtani's $30 million salary coming off the books. Moreno stated that the Angels plan to increase spending in 2025 compared to 2024, though it will be less than their expenditures in 2023.

“We won’t go there again,” Moreno said. “It’s just an automatic loss. If I start piling up (financial) losses, then the next year I’m going to cut.”

Don't expect Moreno to go out and spend money like the Los Angeles Dodgers but he might open his checkbook for a player or two. If he gets his way then the Angels will make the playoffs with the young core that they have.

“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.”