Everyone Is Mad at the Angels Again

Now that they're out of the playoff picture, Anaheim has decided to give away five good players for nothing, shaking up the playoff races.

Hey, at least Moreno put his team back in the playoff conversation! (Getty Images)

---

When Shohei Ohtani signed with the Angels, it was never going to end well. The best player to ever pick up a baseball opting to join a team with a thin history of winning and a thick track record of terrible decision-making? Woof.

But a search through Getty Images for pictures of Arte Moreno to headline this newsletter highlights just how spectacularly awful it has gone during Ohtani’s six seasons with the Angels.

Moreno isn’t professionally photographed often, but he does show up to the team’s press conferences announcing major news events. This is how I realized that since the Angels introduced Ohtani at a media gaggle at Angel Stadium on Dec. 9, 2017, the club has gone through four managers: Mike Scioscia, Brad Ausmus, Joe Maddon and Phil Nevin. Moreno attended Ausmus’ introductory press session on Oct. 22, 2018, then fired him 11 months later.

On Oct. 24, 2019, Moreno rolled out the Angel red carpet for Maddon, the savant manager who spent the first 30 years of his career coaching in the Angels’ system. After a few decades of yuck, Maddon was supposed to fix everything. Moreno fired him two months into his third season in June 2022, and elevated Nevin to the position. (It’s not looking good for Nevin to last much longer).

There was one good Moreno press conference in the Ohtani era, that happened on March 24, 2019, when Mike Trout was inked to a long-term extension. Three months later marked one of Moreno’s worst press events as owner of the Angels, however, when pitcher Tyler Skaggs was found dead in a Texas hotel room after an apparent drug overdose.

The only major free-agent player to be feted by Moreno after signing with the Angels (according to Getty) since Ohtani was