MLB free agency overhaul could spark a winter signing frenzy
MLB proposes free agency overhaul that could turn the Winter Meetings into a fast paced signing frenzy.
In a startling transaction that ends Arte Moreno’s once-successful and ultimately mercurial 23-year ownership and provides a fresh start for a doddering franchise, the Los Angeles Angels have been sold to Rams owner Stan Kroenke for $4 billion, adding to the Walmart heir’s burgeoning and increasingly sucessful sports portfolio.
The club announced Tuesday, Sept. 1 that it expects the sale of controlling interest in the club will close in the first quarter of 2027. A high-ranking baseball official confirmed the sale price to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity because terms of the deal were not immediately public. The sale would be slightly above the $3.9 billion that Jose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones recently paid to purchase the San Diego Padres.
Moreno, 80, bought the Angels for $184 million in 2003, inheriting a World Series-winning club and keeping the team’s championship infrastructure in place as they won five division titles from 2004-2009.
Yet Moreno’s impatience with and alienation of baseball operations staffers and addiction to signing fading veterans to massive contracts – such as Josh Hamilton ($125 million), Albert Pujols ($240 million) and Anthony Rendon ($245 million) – undermined the work of his front office. And ultimately, it lowered the championship ceiling for future Hall of Famer Mike Trout, who debuted in 2012 and has not reached the playoffs since 2014.
That failure led to dysfunction as the Angels have employed four general managers in the past 11 years, as the club failed to capitalize on the surprise acquisition of superstar Shohei Ohtani in 2018 and did not move to re-sign him after the 2023 season.
Current field manager Kurt Suzuki is on a one-year contract and unlikely to be retained after this 53-85 season.
As the Angels careened toward their eighth fourth- or fifth-place finish in the past nine years, cries of “Sell the team!” grew louder and louder at Angel Stadium. Moreno did attempt to do just that earlier this decade, putting the team on the market but pulling it off in 2023 when acceptable offers did not emerge.
Yet in Kroenke, whose purchase terms were not immediately available, there could be a scintilla of hope.
Kroenke’s sports portfolio includes the Rams, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, MLS’s Colorado Mammoth and the Premier League champion, Arsenal. The Avalanche won Stanley Cup titles in 2001 and 2022 under Kroenke’s leadership and the Los Angeles Rams, after moving from St. Louis and ultimately into state-of-the-art So-Fi Stadium in a deal engineered by Kroenke, won the Super Bowl in their home stadium in February 2022.
The Nuggets won the first NBA title in franchise history in 2023.
“The Moreno Family has been honored to steward the Angels for 23 years,” Moreno said in a statement to news media outlets, “and we believe with KSE’s experience and success they are the best next owner for the franchise. The Angels Organization looks forward to continuing its commitment to the fans, our employees, the players and our business partners.”
The transaction also represents a curious inflection point in L.A. sports ownership. Kroenke has added an MLB franchise to his SoCal portfolio at a time Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter sold the Lakers for $12.5 billion less than a year after purchasing them. While Dodgers executives insist the club is not for sale, Walter faces a federal investigation over $21 billion in loans not disclosed to state insurance regulators that were made by two Delaware insurers he owns.
“The Angels are a storied franchise anchored in a great market,” says Kroenke in a statement released by the club. “We look forward to an exciting future with the Angels organization.”
Contributing: Bob Nightengale