Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno surrenders after two decades of futility | Opinion

Arte Moreno dropped the price of beer on his first day on the job in 2003 as the new owner, drawing the adoration of Los Angeles Angels fans.

It all went downhill from there.

And now, it’s going to get even worse.

You want to be the owner who trades Shohei Ohtani because he doesn’t want to keep playing for a loser?

How about when Mike Trout requests a trade to experience what winning feels like?

Moreno is already detested enough in Southern California, so why be a punching bag through even tougher times ahead?

Moreno, after owning the Angels for 20 seasons, announced Tuesday that he’s considering putting the franchise up for sale.

Close friends of Moreno say they knew for months that Moreno planned to sell the franchise, but Moreno wanted his intentions to be kept private until he retained a financial advisor, Galatioto Sports Partners, to begin soliciting offers.

Simply, it was no longer fun for Moreno.

Really, it was misery.

The Angels haven’t had a winning season since 2015.

They haven’t been to the postseason since 2014.

They haven’t won a postseason game since 2009.

And they haven’t won a World Series since 2002, right before Moreno purchased the team for $183.5 million.

Moreno will make a killing financially, with the team now worth about $2.5 billion, but he leaves heartbroken and even bitter, knowing that they never won despite having some of the biggest stars in the game.

It’s going to be awfully tough to explain one day how a team never won with Albert Pujols, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani in the same lineup.

Moreno loved his stars, but after initial success (2004 AL MVP Vladimir Guerrero) it was free-agent blunder after blunder, from the $240 million given to Pujols, the $125 million given to Josh Hamilton, and now the seven-year, $245 million for Anthony Rendon.

The Angels’ front-office landscape is littered with stories of Moreno waking them up in the morning or late at night, screaming in the phone, demanding that things better change – or else.

Moreno has hired six GMs since 2007, firing five of them, with current GM Perry Minasian the latest under fire.

They are on their fourth manager in five years, with Moreno overruling his own GM and hiring the last three times.

In the past two years alone, they have swallowed more than $60 million in contracts with the release of Albert Pujols in 2021, Justin Upton in April, and Maddon two months later.

Maybe it's too much watching Pujols’ resurgence in St. Louis where he could hit his 700th home run. Or Jerry Dipoto, the GM he fired, celebrating in Seattle next month when the Mariners end their 21-year playoff drought.

Perhaps it would have been different if the Anaheim City Council didn’t pull the plug on the Angels’ stadium development deal in May, with Anaheim mayor Harry Sidhu resigning over an FBI corruption probe.

Instead, Moreno was left trying to reach a new deal, move the franchise to another Southern California city, or sit back and do nothing until the stadium lease expires.

The way life was going, Moreno’s love for beer was almost needed for medicinal purposes, besides quenching an adult thirst.

“I love my beer,’’ Moreno told USA TODAY Sports one day over breakfast. “Really, all beer. Beer makes me smarter.’’

Still, it didn’t wash away all of the pain, with Moreno becoming almost a recluse, rarely publicly seen and spending more time at his Phoenix home. He hasn’t granted a public interview in years.

“It’s one thing to be criticized,’’ Moreno once told me, “but when people start taking attacking someone personally, really personally, that's a line you cross. You can’t go back. And some of these people are just flat-ass cynical.’’

Moreno, who turned 76 last week, is the latest owner to put his franchise up for sale. In just this past year, a minority interest of the Cleveland Guardians were sold, the Washington Nationals are for sale, and the Baltimore Orioles will soon be, too, once family legal matters are solved.

Now, for just the third time in the 61-year history of the franchise, the Angels are for sale, too.

“It has been a great honor and privilege to own the Angels for 20 seasons,” Moreno said in a statement. “As an organization, we have worked to provide our fans an affordable and family-friendly ballpark experience while fielding competitive lineups which included some of the game’s all-time greatest players.

“Although this difficult decision was entirely our choice and deserved a great deal of thoughtful consideration, my family and I have ultimately come to the conclusion that now is the time.’’

Moreno certainly tried to make the Angels winners, but too often let his heart overrule head, let alone the front office. He wanted a World Series title so bad, believing the biggest stars would push them over the top, only for the rest of the organization to decay.

The Angels, 52-70, stink at the major-league level. They have one of the worst farm systems at the minor-league level. They have an antiquated and deteriorating major-league ballpark.

Moreno will depart quietly, truly believing he was on a path to grandeur, only to instead be littered with potholes of failure.

“I want this generation of fans,’’ he once told me, “to experience a World Series championship.’’

He never came close.

Follow Nightengale on Twitter: @Bnightengale 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Angels owner Arte Moreno surrenders after two decades of futility