Los Angeles Angels fans are making it clear that they want owner Arte Moreno to sell the team.
Buoyed by the operators of various Instagram accounts -- such as Angels Boycott and Angels Central -- fans have held organized protests at Angel Stadium recently. The protests are expected to culminate with Sunday's game against the Texas Rangers in a matchup that will be aired nationally on Peacock from Anaheim, Calif.
On Friday, Angels fans were asked to wear all black and be vocal. On Saturday, more than
100 fans gathered at the main entrance to the stadium before the Angels-Rangers game to protest Moreno's ownership.
That followed a protest on Thursday among fans seated in an otherwise empty upper deck, who drew attention to their cause by following the new shirtless "tarps off" trend. Chants of "Sell the Team" and vulgar expressions directed toward Moreno have been heard throughout the stadium.
Angels fans have many issues with the team, but they boil down to performance. The Angels have not had a winning record since 2015 (85-77), and they are on their sixth manager, Kurt Suzuki, since Mike Scioscia departed after the 2018 season.
The Angels enter play Sunday with an MLB-worst 19-34 record.
The Angels Central page said this about the campaign:
"The chants will continue all season long because this is no longer just about wins and losses. It's about accountability, leadership, and the future of the franchise. We are not rooting for wins anymore, we are rooting for change.
"For the first time in a long time, Angels fans are united behind one common goal, change in ownership. And the frustration is directed at the person that is responsible for holding this organization hostage. Arte Moreno."
The Angels joined the American League in 1961 with entertainer Gene Autry as their owner. Upon his death in 1998, his widow, Jackie Autry, took over the team.
The Walt Disney Co. took over ownership until 2003, selling the Angels to Moreno after the team won its only World Series title in 2002.
Moreno paid $183.5 million for a franchise now valued by Forbes at $2.8 billion, placing it No. 11 among MLB teams in valuation.
In August 2022, Moreno announced he was taking the first steps toward selling the club. And with several interested suitors, a sale was considered a done deal.
But the follwing January, Moreno said the team had "unfinished business" and was off the market.
A perennial contender in the first decade of the 2000s, the Angels have made the playoffs just once since 2009, being swept in three games in 2014 by the Kansas City Royals in the American League Division Series.
Those are the only three playoff games in the career of Mike Trout, a three-time American League MVP.
The Angels' issues are numerous.
First, Moreno has been criticized for his failure to spend money on free agents to pair with two of the biggest stars of this generation -- Trout and Shohei Ohtani, who combined to win five MVP awards in an Angels uniform. And when Moreno did spend money, it turned out to be poorly spent.
Before the 2012 season, the Angels signed 32-year-old Albert Pujols to a 10-year, $240 million contract, and his numbers with the Angels didn't come close to replicating his first 11 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals.
After Anthony Rendon won the 2019 World Series with the Washington Nationals, the Angels signed him to a seven-year deal worth $245 million. He is no longer with the team -- an agreement was made to make deferred payments to honor the final year of his contract -- and he played in only 257 games. He produced 22 home runs and 125 RBIs. In 146 games with the Nationals in 2019, he hit 34 homers and drove in 126 runs.
Off the field, the Angels and the city of Anaheim -- the owner of Angel Stadium -- have been trying to reach an agreement about a stadium lease and renovations.
The team's lease runs through 2032, and the team wants renovations to the stadium, which opened in 1966 and doesn't include the upgrades of modern stadiums. It is the fourth-oldest venue in the majors.
Anaheim mayor Ashleigh Aitken has informed Moreno that the team needs to shed its Los Angeles designation and become the Anaheim Angels again -- the franchise held that name from 1997-2004 -- before substantial talks can take place.
The California state Assembly also unanimously passed a bill called the "Home Run for Anaheim Act," which would require the team to reinstitute the former team name as a condition for any future stadium redevelopment, lease or sale agreement. It requires approval by the state Senate.
--Field Level Media
