{"id":795051,"date":"2026-09-02T19:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T19:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/795051\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T19:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T19:18:18","slug":"new-angels-owner-stan-kroenke-wont-repeat-arte-morenos-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/795051\/","title":{"rendered":"New Angels owner Stan Kroenke won’t repeat Arte Moreno’s mistakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why didn\u2019t the Angels match the offer from the Dodgers that Shohei Ohtani ultimately accepted? Because Arte Moreno didn\u2019t want to<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why did the Angels blow $245 million on Anthony Rendon? Because Moreno said so.<\/p>\n

Why didn\u2019t the Angels finalize an agreed-upon trade in which they would have received Andy Pages from the Dodgers? Because Moreno didn\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n

Why did the Angels invest $240 million in Albert Pujols or $125 million in Josh Hamilton? Because Moreno believed in them.<\/p>\n

Almost every major decision that resulted in the Angels missing the postseason for the last 11 years can be traced back to Moreno.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDylan Hernandez<\/p>\n

Under Moreno, the Angels\u2019 most important decision maker wasn\u2019t the general manager.<\/p>\n

It was the owner.<\/p>\n

The anticipated change in this dynamic is the primary reason the Angels will have a chance to return to prominence once Stan Kroenke officially takes over as the team\u2019s owner. Kroenke, who owns the Rams, has agreed to purchase<\/a> a controlling share of the Angels from Moreno.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke raises the Lombardi Trophy at the conclusion of Super Bowl LVI between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. The Los Angeles Angels have been sold to Kroenke, adding to the Walmart heir\u2019s burgeoning and increasingly successful sports portfolio. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Judging by how Kroenke operates his other sports teams<\/a>, expect baseball decisions to be made by baseball people rather than a super fan who happened to become wealthy enough to buy the team.<\/p>\n

Unlike Moreno, Kroenke is not a micromanager.<\/p>\n

Kroenke is what a sports team wants in an owner. He trusts the people under him to do what they were hired to do and provides them with financial support.<\/p>\n

Which is why head coach Sean McVay is the most important person on the Rams<\/a>. Or why manager Mikel Arteta holds that distinction with Arsenal of the English Premier League.<\/p>\n

In football or soccer, a franchise\u2019s vision is often provided by the head coach or manager. In baseball, the vision comes from the head of the baseball operations department.<\/p>\n

But former general managers Jerry Dipoto, Billy Eppler or Perry Minasian were never granted the level of autonomy McVay and Arteta have received from Kroenke.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McVay was the driving force behind the Rams\u2019 trade for quarterback Matthew Stafford. Arteta played a similar role in Arsenal\u2019s acquisition of midfielder Declan Rice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay reacts after a touchdown by Dean Connors during the second half of a preseason game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Thursday, August 27, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Moreno stuck the Angels with Pujols and his massive contract, then tasked Dipoto, Eppler and Minasian to work around that mistake.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I would say this on Arte\u2019s behalf,\u201d interim general manager John Mozeliak said. \u201cHe cared about this team as much as anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem with Moreno wasn\u2019t that he didn\u2019t care.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The problem was that he cared too much and couldn\u2019t resist making decisions he lacked the expertise to make.<\/p>\n

His temper further complicated the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get too pissed off to be on Instagram,\u201d he once said.<\/p>\n

While the joke demonstrated a measure of self-awareness on Moreno\u2019s part, it wasn\u2019t a laughing matter for the Angels, who were at the mercy of his impulses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most egregious example of this came before the 2020 season. Wanting to clear payroll, the Dodgers agreed to send Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling to the Angels for infielder Luis Rengifo and two minor leaguers. As part of the deal, the Dodgers threw in a 19-year-old Pages.<\/p>\n

But the trade was contingent upon the completion of a separate deal the Dodgers were making with the Boston Red Sox for Mookie Betts. In his impatience, Moreno scrapped his team\u2019s trade<\/a> with the Dodgers.<\/p>\n

Whoops.<\/p>\n

Moreno did Kroenke at least one huge favor by clearing the decks for the new owner to rebuild the team as he wants.<\/p>\n

Rendon\u2019s contract will be off the books, and the only players currently under contract for next season are Mike Trout and Yusei Kikuchi.<\/p>\n

In Mozeliak, the Angels have an interim general manager<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Kurt Suzuki, they have a lame-duck manager.<\/p>\n

The challenge for Kroenke will be to find the person who will be to the Angels what McVay is to the Rams, what Arteta is to Arsenal \u2013 or what Andrew Friedman is to the Dodgers.<\/p>\n

That won\u2019t be easy.<\/p>\n

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta celebrates after the match on Monday, August 31, 2026, at Villa Park in Birmingham, Britain. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Steve Cohen has committed significant resources to the New York Mets since he purchased them in 2020. Cohen thought he found his Friedman in David Stearns, but that Stearns\u2019 appointment hasn\u2019t translated into the kind of success the owner envisioned.<\/p>\n

Kroenke knows there aren\u2019t any guarantees. Before McVay, there was Jeff Fisher, and before Arteta, there was Unai Emery.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Kroenke\u2019s first step as owner promises to be a step forward for the Angels.<\/p>\n

Moreno won\u2019t be calling the shots for them anymore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why didn\u2019t the Angels match the offer from the Dodgers that Shohei Ohtani ultimately accepted? Because Arte Moreno…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2390],"tags":[7268,291,97476,11478,5,2178,30274,1165,446,3223,774,56,16072,3224,3222,4,468,185,97367],"class_list":["post-795051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-angels","tag-albert-pujols","tag-angels","tag-arsenal-fc","tag-arte-moreno","tag-baseball","tag-california","tag-josh-hamilton","tag-la","tag-la-angels","tag-laangels","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesangels","tag-mlb","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-sports","tag-stan-kroenke"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117203062176776690","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795051","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=795051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}