LA Angels Poll: Is Arte Moreno a bad owner?

LA Angels owner Arte Moreno has seen his fair share of criticism during his tenure. This season, the LA Angels are fighting desperately to stay out of last place in the AL West. While plenty of fans are calling for Moreno to sell the team, what classifies him as a bad owner?

The LA Angels owner is having a year, filled with injuries, multiple losing streaks, and former managers speaking out. Moreno even has a parody twitter account called @notartemoreno, if you’re a fan of the LA Angels, give this guy a follow.

Many LA Angels fans will tell you that Moreno is a bad owner. Fans have a list of ill-advised decisions that Moreno has made, resulting in mistrust and discontent among fans. However, has it been all bad? Or has he just mismanaged situations as of late?

On May 22, 2003 Arte purchased the LA Angels for $184 million from The Walt Disney Co, becoming the third owner in LA Angels history. He also became the first major league controlling owner of Hispanic background. Moreno made his money in the 1980’s in billboard advertising when he sold Outdoor Systems for $8 billion.

Moreno fought to change the name of the Angels in 2005. The Angels went from the Anaheim Angels to the Los Angels Angels of Anaheim. This is still an on going battle as Moreno reportedly still wants to drop the word Anaheim from the Angels name altogether. There has even been whispers of a relocation being talked among fans.

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In Feburary, former Angels GM Jerry Dipoto went public with his inner workings with Arte and manager Mike Scioscia,

 “I got to work with a manager who i believe is very likely to wind up in the Hall of Fame. And i got a chance to work for an owner who never spared any expense in throwing as much money at a roster as he could.”  

Dipoto went on to say that Moreno and Scioscia never listened to his ideas and their relationship wasn’t healthy because of it. Which maybe true, it was during Dipoto’s years that Moreno spent over $3 billion on players, radio, and TV deals.

The bottom line is Moreno has taken the team base salary from $70 million in 2003, to $164 million for this season. Notably the contracts of Albert Pujols and everyone’s favorite Angel Josh Hamilton are still considered the devil horns that hold up the Halos. While Pujols has given the Angels decent seasons, many don’t believe he was worth a 10-year $ 240 million deal. Pujols isn’t a free agent until 2022, he’ll be 42 years old.

Last season the Angels traded Josh Hamilton back to the Texas Rangers after signing him to a 5-year 120 million dollar deal. When Hamilton was traded, he was still owed $80 million. The Rangers have only paid him $7 million over the last two seasons. Meaning, the Angels are still paying Hamilton (roughly) $72 million throughout this season and the next.

In 2006, Moreno added some media deals to his ownership status. He bought Radio 830 KMXE and he flipped it to KLAA, making it the flagship radio station for all LA Angels games. He also inked a TV deal with Fox Sports, which most Angels fans like because of Alex Curry who is a hot reporter for the LA Angels and LA Kings. 

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We put a poll on our twitter page @halohangout, Is Arte Moreno a bad owner? Go there and cast your vote and tweet at us to say your piece on Arte and if he’s been good, bad, or meh for the LA Angels.