The Angels owner doesn’t care about winning

For 15 years, Angels fans have waited for October baseball.

Instead, they got this.

Speaking to reporters during a recent media session that addressed team salaries and broadcast uncertainty, Malik, the billionaire Arte Moreno said:

“The No. 1 thing fans want is affordability. They want affordability. They want safety, and they want a good experience when they come to the stadium. Believe it or not, winning is not a top-five.”

Read that again. Winning is not in the top five.

This from an owner whose franchise hasn’t won a playoff game since 2009 and hasn’t even appeared in October since 2014. The Angels have posted losing records in nine of the past 10 seasons.

With Mike Trout in his prime. After Shohei Ohtani’s presence in the club – and his loss.

And let’s not forget – Ohtani’s camp said the Angels were given a chance to match the Dodgers’ offer before signing elsewhere. Moreno refused to match it.

Now, Moreno is telling the media so The win isn’t even a top-five finish.

If making a big profit without winning is Moreno’s goal, he’s doing well for himself. Moreno purchased the franchise in 2003 for less than $200 million. Today, Forbes values ​​the Angels at approximately $2.75 billion.

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Assets have grown. Stocks have grown. Brand valuation has grown. What doesn’t grow is the win column. In modern baseball, ownership can win without winning.

Meanwhile, a once-lucrative local TV deal collapsed when Diamond Sports Group filed for bankruptcy, throwing uncertainty over regional broadcast revenues and cutting into one of the franchise’s primary sources of income.

It’s unfortunate, but it’s something the involved owner was anticipating would happen and had a plan moving forward.

Add to this the recent settlement in the Tyler Skaggs wrongful death case – a tragic incident that exposed regulatory failures and resulted in significant legal and reputational costs.

These are not isolated setbacks. They are symptoms of instability.

Angels do not work in a vacuum.

Drive 30 miles north, and the Dodgers run like a machine built for October (full disclosure: I’m a lifelong Dodgers fan). Property alignment. Development pipeline. Stacked depth upon depth. They consistently rank in the top five in the payroll and farm system.

They are willing to absorb tax penalties on luxury goods because the cost of irrelevance is worse.

They’re not talking about affordability surveys. They talk about championships.

They are chasing a third straight World Series title.

This contradiction is devastating.

The Angels have brought in some big names over the years. They made occasional nudges suggesting that Moreno, at least for a moment, felt a passing inclination to invest some of his personal wealth. But it was sporadic.

There was never a sustainable, disciplined plan to tie it all together. There is no fixed development engine. No long-term chassis is built to compete year after year.

Just isolated movements. This is not how championship organizations are built.

This is what happens when you see property as an asset to be managed rather than a title to be chased.

And when you look at it through the lens of Moreno’s own words – that a win isn’t even a top-five finish – this pattern stops appearing so accidental.

If tournaments were not the organizing principle, building would not be done with relentless consistency. You don’t create depth that survives injuries. You can’t create a menu designed for October.

You’re building something that’s designed to remain respectable. Respectable does not win divisions.

Look south from Orange County to San Diego. The Padres’ project ambition. They have made it to October baseball four of the past six seasons.

But player development only flourishes within a culture obsessed with winning. Without that, talent stops.

You can’t rebuild enthusiasm by announcing low expectations. You can rebuild it by raising it.

Instead, Angels fans heard confirmation of a fact: a man who always wanted to own a ballclub — but whose heart wasn’t in the game.

There is only one solution if the Angels are to resume the upward trajectory toward October baseball and legitimate World Series contention: Arte Moreno must sell the team to an ownership group whose primary goal is to win championships.

The Angels have a much-discussed young core, led by Zach Neto, and have been fairly invested in the draft. It can help.

Not affordability surveys. Not an increase in the value of assets. Winning.

Right now, winning in Anaheim is optional. The fans can feel it. Just go to the game. And you will feel it too.

Jon Fleischman is a lifelong Dodgers fan and political analyst. Writes in http://www.SoDoesItMatter.com.