Their cheap approaches to farm system, scouting, player development have been problems for a LONG time<\/a>; decades. Here, he\u2019s been wrong. \u2026 Winning is WAY higher on fans\u2019 radar than 5th. But it\u2019s not everything if one can\u2019t afford to see them. Here he\u2019s mostly wrong \u2026\u201d<\/p>\nTherein lies most of the fan dissatisfaction. Not only haven\u2019t the Angels made the playoffs in 11 seasons, they usually haven\u2019t been close. It can\u2019t be said that Moreno hasn\u2019t spent; the sunk money from big contracts to ineffective players like Josh Hamilton and Anthony Rendon would refute that, as well as the 12-year, $426 million extension he gave Mike Trout in 2019.<\/p>\n
But the longest playoff drought in baseball, one year longer than Pittsburgh\u2019s decade-long absence from the postseason, seemed to most of these responders as ample evidence that the owner doesn\u2019t care as much about winning as the fans do, even before he opened his mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care what his surveys say, Arte Moreno has it wrong,\u201d Linda Adler wrote, noting that winning fills seats, helps sell hot dogs and can increase broadcast revenue. The Angels announced last week that they were taking over the former FanDuel cable channel \u2013 they\u2019ll resume televising games with the Freeway Series beginning March 22 \u2013 and now can directly generate revenue through advertising sales and providing streaming subscriptions for cord-cutters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are probably more revenue benefits that I haven\u2019t even considered that would also enable increased spending for talent, on and off the field,\u201d Adler wrote. \u201cMy heart breaks to think Mike Trout may never be on a World Series winning team. It shatters into tiny pieces when I think of (Shohei Ohtani\u2019s) probably multiple rings.<\/p>\n
\u201cHas Mr. Moreno been getting really bad advice, making really bad choices, and\/or does he really not care about winning?\u201d<\/p>\n
Some other comments from this particular fan survey:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Glenn Anders, who sent letters both to the Angels and to the MLB Players Association to express his feelings, wrote: \u201cArte is completely out of touch. This is not a small market team and there should be plenty of opportunities for increased resources to compete with other larger market teams. \u2026 Arte needs to retire and sell this team to someone or company that can run the organization properly. A perfect example is the team up the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Edward Sussman has his issues not only with the owner but with Roger Lodge, the afternoon host on KLAA\/830 AM, which is owned by Moreno: \u201cRegardless of how many times the Angels sign over-the-hill players and\/or pitchers who are coming off of poor seasons or injuries, Lodge goes on and on about them and how they have improved a team that is destined to once again have a season that will result in missing the playoffs and have a record under expectations. \u2026 I can no longer support a team that now admits that winning is not a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Marc Levine notes that when the opposition\u2019s fans take over Angel Stadium \u2013 Yankees and Red Sox fans, for example, not to mention those of the team right up the 5 \u2013 \u201cif anything (it) should shock an owner into making changes, I thought it might be that. However, since all money is green, Moreno may not have cared who sat in the seats, as long as the seats were warm.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 From Bill Bedsworth of Laguna Beach: \u201cArte thinks he owns a theme park, not a baseball team. And as long as it\u2019s pulling in money, the fact he never gets to see them win and the fans hate him doesn\u2019t seem to matter much. Expect an announcement any day now that he\u2019s traded Zach Neto for a roller coaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Chris Coon of Arcadia wrote that his main loyalty is to the Dodgers but he has attended Angels games as well because \u201cI\u2019m a die-hard baseball fan, I love the game to the exclusion of most other sports.\u201d That said, he stopped going to games in Anaheim \u201cbecause the team and ownership didn\u2019t seem to care about winning. I\u2019m sure most of the players did, but now that Mr. Moreno made his attitude clear, I guess it rubbed off. I\u2019ll go back when the Angels start demonstrating a desire to win that matches that of the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shouldn\u2019t caring as much as the fans do be one of the requirements for ownership in any sport?<\/p>\n
\u2022 Paul Snyder, who said he switched from the Angels to the Dodgers a couple of years ago, wrote that since Moreno seems to prize affordability and the fan experience over winning, maybe he should own a minor league team instead. And, he added, \u201cI am a big fan of Mike Trout thus the next opinion hurts. I think Mike should be traded to a winning team, that will accept his contract, for top line pitchers. Mike still has some value and maybe this can be a win\/win for all. It would get Mike in a playoff experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Hazel Smetanka attended games during the Nolan Ryan years in the \u201970s, but losing dampened her interest, and she\u2019s probably not alone. \u201cI wonder how many non-surveyed (Angels) fans out there are like me?\u201d she wrote. \u201cAs the perpetual losing seasons mounted up, I stopped going to games, then I stopped watching games on TV, now I don\u2019t follow them at all \u2013 in print or social media.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 John Hollowell grew up following the Dodgers, but that changed when his father brought home tickets for an Angels-Orioles game \u2013 and Ryan was the starting pitcher, which turned him into an Angel fan. \u201cCome on like the good guy, lower beer prices, who doesn\u2019t love beer and a ballgame,\u201d he said of Moreno. \u201cAnd then reality struck, the man sold billboards for goodness sakes. Said he loved the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cArte Moreno, if you love baseball, at all, sell the damn team. Hopefully to a person\/group who loves the game maybe just a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 But, yes, there are Angels fans who take Moreno\u2019s view. Scott Hayward of Long Beach appreciates the prices, and the ability to get in and out of Angel Stadium quicker and easier than it is to escape Dodger Stadium\u2019s parking lots. \u201cFor those sad fans for whom \u2018winning is everything,\u2019 let them be Dodgers fans,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAs for the rest of us, we\u2019ll continue to love the Angels, and appreciate the much criticized stewardship of Arte Moreno.\u201d<\/p>\n
The responses would indicate he is in the minority.<\/p>\n
\u2022 From Jordan Prell: \u201cMy wife and son defected when Ohtani signed with the real L.A. team. I\u2019ve been a quiet Dodger supporter since but I think it\u2019s time to stop pretending to be an Angels fan. I willingly let my wife put up a Dodgers lawn flag this week. We live in Orange, \u2018Anaheim Angels\u2019 territory. I didn\u2019t spend a dime towards Arte last season, and don\u2019t plan to this season either.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 From Al Korn: \u201cWe still love the team, but between Moreno and (general manager Perry) Minasian, they have ruined it. GO ANAHEIM Angels.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 From Steve Benoff of Beaumont: \u201cThe best hope for the Angels was when Moreno indicated he was putting the franchise up for sale. It\u2019s a shame he changed his mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 From Linda Willason of Redlands: \u201c(Moreno) is projecting an \u2018I don\u2019t care attitude.\u2019 So why should I care? I watch almost every single game and have for years but my patience is running thin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 And the last word from William Stremel, longtime Angels fan: \u201cI have had enough of the losing! A faithful fan can only take so much, and I\u2019ve taken all the losing I can bear.\u201d<\/p>\n
You paying attention, Arte?<\/p>\n
jalexander@scng.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe McDonnell, the late radio host, used to have this recurring segment on the sports talk show he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2390],"tags":[291,5,13588,1165,446,3223,774,56,3224,3222,4,185,558],"class_list":["post-617142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-angels","tag-angels","tag-baseball","tag-jim-alexander","tag-la","tag-la-angels","tag-laangels","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesangels","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-top-stories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116206023932580319","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}