Arte Moreno exploring sale of Angels

Anaheim Angels owner Arte Moreno is exploring a sale of the team, it was announced today. In a statement, Moreno said the he and his family have made the “difficult decision” that “now is the time” to explore their options, including a sale:

While this doesn’t mean a sale is imminent, the announcement a sale is being explored, together with the quotes from Moreno in the announcement, would seem to suggest it is likely a matter of when, not if, the club will be sold. We won’t have Arte Moreno to kick around much longer, it appears.

The 76 year old purchased the Angels from Disney in 2003 for $180 million, and since acquiring the club has garnered a reputation for being one of the most hands-on owners in the league. Moreno’s Angels have been seen as a club that makes big, splashy signings, but then doesn’t spend to get the necessary pieces around the big money guys.

Rangers fans will recall that Moreno, in the 2019-20 offseason, got personally involved in the negotiations with Scott Boras for free agent Anthony Rendon, who was also a Ranger target. Moreno ended up committing seven years and $245M in a backloaded (as has been a frequent feature of free agent deals of the Angels under Moreno) contract that was lamented at the time by Rangers fans as a miss, but in retrospect was probably a bullet dodged.

The 2022 Forbes valuation of the club assessed the value at $2.2 billion. I’d wager the actual sales price is north of $2.5B. Not a bad return on investment.