Arte Moreno admits that it was his fault the Angels didn’t re-sign Ohtani

Arte Moreno publicly admitted what all Angels and MLB fans already knew: he was the reason the Angels could not either extend or re-sign Shohei Ohtani. In a seemingly innocuous, potentially accidental, statement, Moreno took onus for the fact that Ohtani no longer plays for the Angels.

In a recent piece by Rhett Bollinger, Moreno discussed a variety of topics via phone call. He discussed how they increased spending during Ohtani's last season in Anaheim, before remarking on how they needed to slash payroll before the 2024 season, "Having Mike Trout under contract for $37.1 million per season through 2030 and Anthony Rendon signed through ‘26 at $38.5 million, made it unfeasible to re-sign Shohei Ohtani, Moreno said. He added they had plenty of trade offers for Ohtani before and during the ’23 season, but the plan was to compete for a postseason berth."

I mean, are you kidding me? One has to wonder -- what is the point of being a sports owner if you will not pledge the necessary resources towards resigning Ohtani, perhaps the greatest player in the history of the sport? As Angels fans know, Moreno is a black-and-white owner. He cares about the bottom line, and the bottom line only: is he making money on the Angels? That is why he still owns the team. He is incredibly detailed publicly with what he will or will not spend. He will never eat money in order to win. He does not take on issues head on, he procrastinates and messes them up. He clings to his power like that of an aging king amidst a turbulent reign. He loves the franchise but he loves his wealth way more, despite the franchise's valuation exponentially increasing since his original investment in 2003.

According to Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated, "Moreno figured a contract for Ohtani would 'start with a 4,' according to a source familiar with the team’s planning. The Angels and Balelo agreed to play the season out and address the future then."

Moreno essentially told reporters that he had a hard cap on what he would pay to retain Ohtani's services, as he was also unwilling to defer payments. Clearly, deferring payments until after Rendon's contract was up would have been rational as Shohei received a historic level of deferred payments from the Dodgers. The Angels would have been pot-committed to Ohtani and Trout until the 2030 season, but that sounds like a pretty good place to be. This might be easier to deduce in hindsight, but come on, man. The excuses are totally invalid here.

Ohtani is capable of doing the impossible. He is going to win his third MVP in a year where nobody expected him to, as he was not even fully operational. Not to mention the countless endorsements he elicits for his home stadium to display, the merchandise sales, and the increased eyeballs via ticket sales and television viewership. He works harder than anybody on perfecting his craft, and actually respected the Angels franchise highly. He is well worth an investment of, oh, about $700 million.

Moreno is vowing to increase payroll next season in order to contend. Fruitless, pointless exercise. Without Ohtani, and under this ownership, the Angels will be buried for years to come. Moreno's words are wind.