Ohtani’s decision was an easy one. This isn’t about him. It’s about us. The Angels made it very easy for him. I’m not going anywhere but am not jaded enough to not realize that the team I pour my heart and soul into is easily the most dysfunctional and mismanaged team in professional sports. If Ohtani wants to win, this ain’t the place.
Don’t get me wrong, we are a sleeping GIANT. We are the Dodgers with the McCourts. All we need is ownership that, instead of meddling, will get out of the way and let real baseball people make baseball decisions. An owner that won’t force management to sign a shiny name that wont help the team win, just to put fans in the seats. An owner that isn’t going to offset poor free agent spending by completely neglecting his minor league system at the expense of the development of young players. An owner that wont cut the entire scouting department before a draft. Absolutely pathetic. We had every opportunity be the Dodgers. We had every opportunity to keep Ohtani. Give the man a chance to win and he would have had no desire to leave.
But the writing is on the wall. This is a bad team. Poorly constructed and even worse without Ohtani. Trout’s contract may very well turn into the same boat anchor as Puljols’. Drafting low ceiling but quick-to-the-majors types doesn’t sound so sexy when we are on the brink of being a bottom feeder in need of a full rebuild. Our farm is completely depleted and devoid of any talent. When the farm rankings come out in the spring, I fully expect evaluators to say that this is the worst collection of talent on record.
Times are bleek my friends, and nothing is going to change until Arte sells.
Signed,
A very sad Angels fan
16 comments
You had me at “SELL THE TEAM, ARTE”
Team has so much potential to be great one day under the right ownership. No reason a team in SoCal should be this bad for this long
If Arte had sold the team we probably never would have lost ohtani, but here we are.
Only thing is to move forward.
I trust Perry will get us back to the playoffs. Losing ohtani hurts, but the angels wouldn’t have been able to afford a 700m guarantee.
Looking for the silver lining, the angels are now going to be able to afford multiple impact level players before the get to the lux tax, instead of just ohtani and a reliever or something.
If we can get one front line starter, one back end bullpen guy, and an OF/1B guy who can hit 20-30 hrs- we can probably do that for under 60m and be in a better competitive spot than if we just had ohtani.
lol. It was an easy decision because 10/$700m. Well above anybody’s predictions.
We alllll have bitched for years at Pujols, Wells, Rendon contracts stifling the org. Yet you are wanting to pay Ohtani $70m/y through age 39? And that’s with no guarantee he will ever pitch to the level he’s been at.
Would I have loved to keep Ohtani? Sure. But nowhere near that price, because you just cripple yourself with what you can surround him with, and it’s not like having him even guarantees we finish above .500
I’m not rooting or paying any attention to the Angels until this Asshat is gone. Single handily destroyed this franchise and let one of the greatest generational players the league has ever seen walk to a team down the street that actually cares about winning. Fuck you Arte.
Arte operates the Angels like a family run mom & pop shop, not a successful and efficient corporation.
Very well said.
Any self-professed love of the game that Arte claims is a distant second to his love of money. He doesn’t care about us, and he doesn’t care about the team any further than its financial viability.
I won’t be going to another game or buying another piece of merch until he sells, and I encourage everyone who is pissed about Ohtani walking to do the same. It’s 100% on Arte and it’s well past time for him to go.
Arte has all the money in the world. Doesn’t he care about his legacy? At what point do you say hey I have lots of money, multiple generations of my family are set for life. Why not try to win? Why not be known for that instead of being known for being a piss poor owner. When he’s gone, he’s going to be viewed poorly by the majority of sports fans.
I agree with everything you said. Can’t get mad at Ohtani for getting out while he could. Gotta respect it because he has been clear on wanting to win. I really liked you comparing our current situation to the McCourts dodgers. Close enough market size, similar SoCal desirability (maybe even more depending on if players like the more chill Orange County vs LA vibes). Arte has made all of the wrong decisions either intentionally because he’s evil or unintentionally because he’s brain dead. Probably a bit of both. As long as he remains the owner there’s no chance of building a good franchise. I hope trout request a trade while he still has value
Moreno needs to learn he can be a fan without owning, managing the team. If he passes control to his children or any of his lackeys, good grief.
With the shine of Ohtani gone, the blight in Anaheim will be clear as day to the entire sports world and Arte will be in the hot seat like never before.
I hope the media continues to pound away at his poor ownership because it seems like only us locals are aware that these failures solely fall on his lap.
We all knew the type of owner Arte was when he rebranded us to be an LA team. He didn’t care how a vast majority of fans felt about that. It’s not shocking how he’s never cared about how us fans feel since then.
Oh I’m out until then just rooting for my fantasy team only
Best case scenario – Arte sells and in 3 – 5 years we win a World Series!
Meanwhile, Ohtani never pitches again and Los Doyers fail to win shit.
😈
Change the name back to Anaheim.
Can the clippers owner buy us 👉👈🥺