Arte Moreno sells Angels as MLB’s gold-standard owner failure | Opinion

Compelling arguments can be made in favor of John Fisher of the Athletics, or Bruce Sherman of the Miami Marlins or Bob Nutting of the Pittsburgh Pirates for being the worst owners in Major League Baseball.

But Arte Moreno is in A League of his Own.

Moreno, who has agreed to sell the Los Angeles Angels to Los Angeles Rams

owner Stan Kroenke, did something unfathomable during his 23-plus years as the Angels' owner.

The club had Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout on the roster for six seasons. During that stretch from 2018 through 2023, they failed to post a winning record.

In brief defense of Moreno, injuries limited Trout to 36 games during the 2021 season and to 82 games during the 2023 season. Now here’s the indictment:

In 2018, Ohtani was the AL Rookie

of the Year, Trout was runner-up for AL MVP and the Angels went 80-82.

In 2019, Trout was the AL MVP, Ohtani was one of the Angels' top producers and the team went 72-90

A season shortened in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic resembled seasons past, with the Angels going 26-34.

Angels sale: MLB-record $4 billion sale was long time coming for aimless LA Angels

In 2021, Ohtani was the AL MVP, Trout was an All-Star and the Angels went 77-85.

In 2022, Ohtani was the runner-up for AL MVP, Trout finished 8^th in the MVP voting and the Angels went 73-89.

In 2023, Ohtani was the AL MVP, Trout was an All-Star and the Angels went 73-89.

The Angels, who at 53-85 through Sunday were tied for the second-worst record in the majors, will finish with their 11^th consecutive losing straight season.

Being the worst is expensive

Not all of the failures under Moreno should be measured simply by wins and losses. Buying a team from the Walt Disney Company and gradually turning it into a Mickey Mouse club involves front office bungles.

For example, the Angels overpaid Albert Pujols, the slugger-turned-slug, when in 2012 they signed him to a 10-year, $240 million contract, posting a 1.4 WAR or lower from 2016 until his final year with the Angels in 2021. He would go on to play the next season and a half with the Dodgers than Cardinals.

Then the Angels overpaid Anthony Rendon before the 2020 season by signing him to a seven-year, $245 million. Over the past seven seasons, he's spent more time sidelined with injuries than in the lineup.

But the club's biggest failure was not trading Trout when he still could command young talent the Angels needed to rebuild their roster. Instead he's become novelty, a chance for fans a chance to cheer one of the best future Hall of Famer to play for a consistent loser.

Again, if you’re inclined to blame general managers or the manager, the common denominator is Moreno.

A winner and a loser?

Among long-suffering Angels fans, Moreno might rank as the worst owner in the MLB. There's no denying that after buying the the team from the Walt Disney Company in 2003, he gradually turned the club into a Mickey Mouse outfit of a different kind.

Yet it’s unlikely MLB owners will mock him.

Moreno paid $184 million for the Angels. Now he’s expected to get $4 billion, the most ever paid for an MLB team.

That’s more than 20 times Moreno’s original investment, and it makes him a financial winner even though his team is an on-field loser.

Moreno is in A League of His Own.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Arte Moreno sells Angels as MLB’s gold-standard owner failure | Opinion