Arte Moreno’s recent comments on team sale, 2024 budget are nightmare for Angels fans

Arte Moreno is not making any friends this offseason. The Los Angeles Angels fell short of the MLB Postseason once again in 2023, allowed the best player on the planet to join an inter-city rival, and have failed to rebuild the roster this winter.

Moreno quelled all of the "LA Angels are for sale" rumors earlier this offseason, and that has only fueled the anger among the Halos' fanbase. It appears as though that's all Angels fans had left; the idea that Moreno was going to sell the franchise.

But that idea, much like Shohei Ohtani, is now gone. According to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (subscription required), Moreno is sticking around for the long term. The Angels' owner also reportedly has no plans to expand the team's budget in 2024.

Arte Moreno’s recent comments on team sale, 2024 budget are nightmare for LA Angels fans

About the only owner in all of Major League Baseball who's currently more despised by his team's fanbase is John Fischer of the Oakland A's. But at least he's getting out of town -- well, maybe.

Moreno has had two of the best players of a generation in the same clubhouse during his tenure as owner, and the team hasn't just failed to win a World Series championship. They've failed to even make the postseason. Mike Trout, one of the greatest players to ever pick up a baseball bat, has been to the playoffs once, and that ended in a three-game sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals.

The Angels have turned into a laughing stock, and things aren't getting better. While LA has some decent young players in the organization , GM Perry Minasian made the unwise decision to rush some of their young prospects up through the farm system. Though advanced, there was no need to accelerate the development of players like Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel to this degree.

But it sounds as if Angels fans better get used to seeing a crop of young players. If Moreno is slashing the budget, free agent spending is not going to increase. Robert Stephenson's three-year deal might be the most money Moreno is going to dole out this offseason.

There'd been rumors earlier this winter that LA was involved on players like Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery. But these latest reports would seem to indicate that Arte Moreno has no intention of opening his wallet for some of these high-dollar free agents. Sorry Angels fans, but it's going to be a long season.