MLB Insider clears up rumors about potential sale of Angels

Aside from rumors concerning what the Los Angeles Angels roster might look like next season as they prepare to take the field without Shohei Ohtani for the first time in six years, there has been quite the recent speculation that Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno has been holding a quiet sale of the organization.

However, according to Robert Murray on the most recent episode of the Baseball Insiders Podcast, he believes those rumors might be false.

"As far as the selling rumors go, I have not heard anything about that. I've seen that publicly a lot and i've been asked about it seemingly a million times in the discord, in this chat, but I personally have not heard anything about it there for whatever that's worth."

- Robert Murray

Before Murray spoke about the rumored sale of the Angels, those rumors began to start up this past weekend, as Jim Menlo claimed on the MLB Hot Stove Show on XM/Sirius that the Angels have conducted a quiet sale of the organization. He believed that former majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, was in the front of the line to buy the team.

"It has been suggested by this person to me because, according to this person the Angels are about to sell. Arte Moreno is about to sell."

- Jim Menlo

Before stating that he heard the Angels would be sold soon, Menlo also stated the reason they haven't signed someone like Blake Snell and Cody Bellinger, both players they have been rumored to sign this offseason, is because of the potential sale.

As of right now, it appears the Angels will not be sold, but the possibility could still be there, as Moreno recently expressed interest in selling the team back in 2022.

After spending four months of last year's offseason thinking about selling the team, Moreno decided to pull the plug on any potential sale and took them off the market in January 2023.

Moreno originally purchased the Angels for $184 million in 2003, just a year after they won the franchise's first World Series. At first, everything was almost perfect for the organization, as they were consistently winning the division, making deep runs in the postseason and having one of the best farm systems in baseball.

However, in the second half of Moreno's tenure as owner, things have gone almost polar opposite, as the franchise has not reached the postseason since 2014 despite having two of the biggest names in baseball (Ohtani and Mike Trout) over the last six years. Their farm system has also consistently ranked amongst the worst in baseball during this time. There have also been internal issues within the organization, including the circumstances of the tragic death of Tyler Skaggs, the relapse of former outfielder Josh Hamilton in 2015, and poor living conditions for their minor leaguers.

While Moreno has not released any information about whether he would actually sell the organization, the Angels have been known to work in secrecy, meaning anything could happen.

If Moreno and his team were to explore a potential sale again, Moreno could net a very high profit, as Forbes recently valued the Angels at $2.2 billion in March of 2022.