How Arte Moreno ruined LA Angels' chance to trade for hotshot Dodgers rookie

If Andy Pages revitalizes the heretofore broken portion at the bottom of the Dodgers' lineup, remember to blame Arte Moreno! We don't have to tell LA Angels fans to do that, though. They already know to blame Arte for their own malfeasance anyway. What's another team?

The Hollywood area Super Team swiped plenty of headlines from the Angels this winter when they nabbed Shohei Ohtani, and while Moreno is likely thrilled to have avoided the bad press surrounding Ohtani's interpreter, it certainly would've been preferable to being buried in the Irrelevance Bin, which is where the Angels currently find themselves.

Add in the revenue Ohtani's already brought from team to team, and you've got one unhappy fanbase that probably can't find much joy in the Dodgers' early bullpen struggles.

And now they've called up Pages, potentially plugging another April hole before it got too late.

You may have seen Pages' line drive single in his first MLB at-bat, which was very nice and well-executed, but his 2024 Triple-A heater is more indicative of his true talent level (and more likely to make your skin crawl). He posted a 1.146 OPS through 62 at-bats, more than proving himself recovered from last year's shoulder surgery -- and, if not for Moreno's impatience, he could be doing it for the Angels and displacing Jo Adell.

Dodgers' Andy Pages could've been LA Angels rookie instead. Thanks, Arte Moreno.

Pages would've been the prospect headliner of the infamous "Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling for Luis Rengifo and others" trade, which was supposed to help the Dodgers balance some of their budget after the Mookie Betts/David Price deal.

Ultimately, Moreno declined to help his neighbors get their house in order, and his gambit worked! They had to wait all of eight more months to win the World Series.

Moreno later admitted that he grew impatient and ended talks while they stalled, though it remains unclear exactly what led to his frustration: "It wasn't all impatience. There were other things involved, too. ... I just would rather not talk about it. That wasn't going to happen, and it's not happening."

It's certainly not happening now; Pages has realized his potential at the highest levels of the minors, and will follow in James Outman's footsteps as a key contributor -- immediately -- for one of the best big-league clubs/development pipelines in the game's rich history.

In Anaheim? Several stalled prospects are all fighting it out to accompany Taylor Ward and Mike Trout in the outfield. Different vibe. Just a little bit.