Latest / Foul Territory / Sam Blum on Stan Kroenke buying the Angels, New ballpark plans, Arte Moreno’s holding-them-back meter

Transcript

Sam Blum on Stan Kroenke buying the Angels, New ballpark plans, Arte Moreno’s holding-them-back meter · Foul Territory

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I can't believe it. Sam Blum joining us right now
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: as he covered the Angels for a long time. Now,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: a little bit of Angels, but a lot of national
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: headlines for the athletic. He knows this team as well
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: as anyone. And we're talking about the sale of the Angels. Wow, Sam,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the first year you stop covering this team daily, they
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: finally deliver the ultimate gift. The mayor said it felt
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: like her birthday. I mean, if that doesn't describe how
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: elated Orange County is right now, what does?
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: For people, right?
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Like, I think that's, you know, this team means a
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: lot to people. And I know that already said before
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: the season that winning wasn't, you know, a top priority
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: for the fans, top five priority for the fans necessarily,
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: but it is, right? And like, I think when you
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: go for, you know, a dozen straight seasons where that
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: hope doesn't even exist and it just slowly just chips
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: away and you just, you get to the point where
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: you were this year where it was just fans chanting
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: and you put that tweet up there, sell the team
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: and they were doing it every night and it was
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: just this anger And, I mean, to have a day
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: like you had yesterday, not only for Artie to sell,
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: but to sell to an owner who, by every measure,
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: has a proven track record of delivering and has the
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: net worth to back up. And we'll see what the
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: state of play is with spending next year. But, I mean,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: this is a guy that can do the job. And
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: I think that's where this emotion comes from. It's like
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: the fortune just flipped in one announcement. And credit to
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: Bill Shaik in getting that scoop. Scoop of the year,
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: scoop of the decade, right? Artie Moreno is done in Anaheim,
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: and that is a very, very, very positive thing for
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: Angels fans.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: Sam, as happy as this is, how come no one
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: saw this coming? There was not one word of this
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: at all until the report came out. No one had
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: mentioned it. Artie had said he took it off the table,
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: and then all of a sudden it was like, wham!
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: Artie Moreno sold the team. Really good question.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: That's a good question.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: I don't fully understand it either. I mean, the timing
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: is a little strange to me in general. Like, they
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: had just made a lot of different transition-type moves, right?
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: They had, you know, John Carpino had retired as the president,
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: Molly Jolly had taken over, and, you know, the Chia
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: had fired Perry Manazzi with John Moselak taking over, and,
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: you know, the front office, you know, you had Kurt Suzuki,
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: and you still have him on this one-year deal, and,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: you know, I think there was a lot of kind
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: of things that were coming into place here that, like,
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: maybe billed for something that looked a little more sustainable, right?
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: And so now everything's out the window. I mean, who
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: knows where this is all headed?
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: Who knows who's going to be in charge of anything
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: once this sale goes through and it's expected to go
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: through early next year? Yeah, the timing is strange. I
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: think I never would have thought it would happen before
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: the lockout. If there is a salary cap, if there
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: is some sort of change in the owner's favor, that
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: could increase the value of the team. So I mean,
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: you're selling maybe before you can get a peak value
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: for the sale. That being said, $ 4 billion is $ 4
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: billion and already bought that for 183.5 million. So I
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: don't think he's, you know, necessarily, you know, going to
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: be upset about the, you know, the business side of it,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: but it's just, it's a little surprising. And I don't
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: know if that you could, you could speculate, you could say, well,
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: maybe the Carpino move was more of a breadcrumb for
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: this larger decision that ended up happening and that Molly
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: Jolly was more of a transitionary person.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying that is the case.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: I just think these are answers that are going to,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: we're looking into, we're figuring this out as, as the
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: story progresses, but- Yeah. I mean, it doesn't, it just,
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: it's nobody knew. And, and, and last time in 2022
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: and already put the team up for sale, he announced
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: I'm putting the team up for sale. And, uh, you know,
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: you waited six, seven months and then it was, it
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: was over, but, uh, this was, this was, I'm not
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: putting the team up for sale. We had the price,
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: we had the seller, we had the buyer and it was,
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: it's all kind of, you know, in line right now.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: And, uh, it's, it's shocking how it all plays.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: It's not usually how you see these things happen, but, um,
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: you know, I, I, I think you also have to
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: then realize Artie Moreno is 80 years old. His kids
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: don't want to own this team. He's, you know, the
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: increased pressure to sell it. I think, you know, you're
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: also coming in nine months after, you know, just a
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: devastating wrongful death civil trial with Tyler Skaggs' family. I mean,
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of things that also kind of make
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: sense with the timing, too. So I think, you know,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: we'll figure out more as this plays out.
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: One of the things I said yesterday was when you
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: buy a business, low hanging fruit, how can you bring
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: added value immediately to an organization? With this new ownership
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: group coming in, where's the lowest hanging fruit where they
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: automatically add value?
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's, we'll see what the spending
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: situation is next year. But I mean, like the Angels haven't,
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: they've been a small market team now since about 2020.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: I mean, they've not spent Yusei Kikuchi is their, we've
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: talked about it here before. Yusei Kikuchi is their highest,
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: you know, paid free agent.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: In the last six years.
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: So, I mean, I think this, like the lowest hanging
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: fruit is you now have the richest owner in baseball
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: who is probably not going to, you know, hold out
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: in the same way that already had begun to hold
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: out in the last, you know, half decade.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: So I think that's the low, I mean, then you
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: talk about small things.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: I mean, you can get rid of the Anaheim, get
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: rid of the Los Angeles Angels, go back to the
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: Anaheim Angels. You could, I think one of the things
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: I'll be really interested to see is if he purchases
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: the stadium and the land around it. I'm not sure
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: the last time you guys have been out to the
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: Big A. It's not a nice stadium. It's not a
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: nice area, really.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: It's like the.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: Anaheim Ducks across the street are building this whole miniature
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: city around their venue, and the Angels are just way,
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: way behind on this. So I have to imagine this
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: is a real estate play to some extent as well.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: We'll see how that goes. I mean, these are low-hanging fruit.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: You should.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: Retire Tim Salmon and Garrett Anderson's number. I'm shocked that has,
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: you know, Artie Moreno never retired a former player's number
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: as far as I'm aware during his 23 year tenure.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's why Mike Trout is wearing Vladdy's number.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: So I think there's, there's a lot of like small
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: things that could happen.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, who knows? Maybe they won't even wear red.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: There's just so many changes I expect to see. But
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: you know, this has to, there's the sale has to
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: go through. And I think, you know, you'll start to
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: see a drip drip of a lot of different things
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: kind of being updated and, and maybe some really significant
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: changes happening, not just with the team, but with the ballpark,
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: with the cosmetics of the organization overall.
• 6:28
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• 7:29
  Speaker 4: Sam, this sounds like if you remember the million dollar man,
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: Ted DiBiase. Everyone has a price, right? It's like Stan Kroenke.
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: came to Artie Moreno and said, hey, here's $ 4 billion.
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: The Padres just sold for less than that. Boom. You
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: can have more than that. And Artie Moreno was like, sold.
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: I'll sell out for anything.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: But that was going to be my question is about
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: the area around the ballpark. I know the Angels don't
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: own the stadium or the land around it. Is Stan
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: Kroenke the guy that could come in, buy all that
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: and make a battery type? Because again, there's a lot
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: of land around Angel Stadium. It's parking lots and Older
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: buildings and there's some strip malls and there's some Del
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: Tacos and all that stuff around there. Right. But there's
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: not there's not a lot of things to do. That
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: was one of the complaints as a player. You go
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: to Anaheim, you go to the stadium and then there
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: was that old mall, whatever that Orange County mall was outside. Right.
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: And we used to stay at that double tree. I
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: don't even know if it's still there. But there wasn't
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: a lot around the stadium. Is Stan Kroenke the guy
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: that can come in and say, I'm going to buy
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: all of this, revamp the stadium, and revamp the land
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: around it and have a destination?
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: I think that has to be the plan here. There's
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: no other reason.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: Look at SoFi Stadium. That's Dan Kroenke.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: He's done this. And I have to imagine.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: That this is a huge part of his interest here.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: Artie Moreno attempted to... They actually had a deal in
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: place that.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Fell apart in 2022. And I mean, there's, there's a
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: whole long story there.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: The Anaheim mayor went to prison, you know, there, it was,
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: it was a scandal, uh, basically involving contributions to his campaign, uh,
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: in exchange for a sweetheart deal. So there was a
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: lot of, you know, things that went on and on
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: this front already, but you know, the angels have never
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: really reengaged with the city. I mean, this is the
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: city and the angels do not have a good relationship, uh,
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: under Artie Moreno and the Anaheim mayor current one has
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: like sent open letters. They've had to fight to be
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: able to even inspect the ballpark that they own, using
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: the terms of the lease agreement. So it's just been
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: a bad dynamic. And I think a new owner, and
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: you mentioned Ashley Aiken saying it's like her birthday. I
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: think that's because this is one of the biggest stakeholders
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: in the city. Finally, there's a pathway to having a rapport,
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: and it just hasn't existed in the last five.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: Six years.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: And so, yeah, I mean, this is What I would
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: imagine is a huge part of his interest in this is,
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: you know, the Angels are a sleeping giant, right? They
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: should be the Yankees, the Cubs, the Dodgers, the Mets, right?
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: They should be that team. And I think this is
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: a big part of it is having an upgraded ballpark. having,
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: like you said, the battery type of venue. And that
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: has to be. There's no logical reason in my mind
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: why he would purchase this team and not. have an
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: eye on purchasing the land. And, you know, the Angels
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: have the lease through 2032 with options through 2038. We'll
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: see what, you know, what could potentially be negotiated, you know,
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: in terms of actually buying it and, you know, maybe
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: put together a whole new ballpark or, you know, whatever.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: There's millions of options.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: And I think that's partially what I said earlier about
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: just there's so many things that might change in very
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: significant ways.
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: I've never heard of an owner coming in and saying,
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: you know what, we're going to rebuild. So that's got
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: to be positive for fans. But there's no chance that
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: he moves the team, correct? Like that would be a
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: colossal undertaking that we would then maybe see the mayor
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: not think it's a happy birthday?
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: I just don't, I think like moving the team, like
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: why would you? Like that's my thought on it at
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: least because Anaheim, you know, I think people look at
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: the Angels through the lens of Artie Moreno's ownership in Anaheim,
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: but like Orange County is a very, very valuable place
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: to have a team. I mean, in a lot of
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: ways it should be a destination for many players. I mean,
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: a lot of the best players in baseball grew up
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: rooting for the Angels because they're from here. I mean,
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: even like yesterday, Garrett Cole pitched against the Angels and
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: he grew up an Angels fan. So, I mean, it's
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: like Those are the kind of players I think they're
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: going to try to get. I think you have a huge,
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: dense population center, and you have people that really, really
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: care about this team. When they've been good, that ballpark
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: has been unbelievable. I'm not speaking from experience, because I've
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: only covered them being terrible, but I think that's where
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: this could go. That's the whole plan here, is to
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: have a big market team in Orange County, and that's...
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: you know, that, that place deserves it.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: And I think, you know, it certainly can, you know,
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: become that.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: And, and so I don't see any reason to like
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: move the team, you know, you never want to say never. I,
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: we haven't, he hasn't commented on that, but I don't,
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: you know, in his, in Kroenke's press release, he referred
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: to them as the Los Angeles angels of Anaheim. So
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: it seems to me at the very least that they're
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: viewing them as an Anaheim team, right.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: At least at the moment. So I wouldn't be surprised
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: if that changes.
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: Sam, here's my, here's my first thing I'm telling Stan Kroenke.
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: You want to move them? Move them back to Anaheim.
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: Call them the Anaheim Angels. They're not the damn Los
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: Angeles Angels. That was one of the dumbest things I've
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: ever heard. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. You're not
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: in Los Angeles. You're in Anaheim. Embrace the Orange County
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: because people that have never been to California, there is
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: a difference between L.A. and Anaheim. There's a difference between L.A. County,
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: Orange County, and then you get down to San Diego.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: The Anaheim, the Orange County, the Newports, all that area,
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: Newport Coast, all that is a different vibe than even L.A.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: and San Diego. I'm sorry. Embrace the Anaheim. Call them
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: the Orange County Angels. if you want, but embrace that
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: and make them like the Padres because other than the Ducks,
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: these people in Orange County don't have anything. And if
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: y'all don't know this, there is huge money in Orange
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: County that can be spent on Angels. And you said
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: you've never seen it. I've seen it. I was there
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: in 2002 when we lost in the ALCS to them.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: I've seen, I was there in the World Series. I've
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: seen what they can do in this town. And it
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: was pretty incredible when Angels fans get behind their team.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's Anaheim's team. I think like, you know,
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: fans have just been numb to how.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Angry they are about that. over the years.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: It's, it's, it's like, it's a marketing, it's always been
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: a marketing grift, in my opinion, to call them in
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: Los Angeles. It's like, it's like you said, there are
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: a lot of people that don't come to this area,
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: don't know this area and are like, oh, it's, you know,
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: and I'm Los Angeles. It's the, it's not, it's not
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: the same thing. They're not Los Angeles's team. No one
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: in Los Angeles is an Angels fan. And, you know,
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: you look at the country, we talk about the Ducks,
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: the Ducks, I've always found really interesting because they went
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: and changed their entire marketing strategy last year to be
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Orange Country. They have really embraced Orange County while you
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: have this contrast right across the street with the Angels
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: who have none of that, have no relationship with the city,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: no relationship, like spurn the fans, spurn the city that
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: they exist in. So going back to the Anaheim Angels,
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: California Angels is cool too. I think that calling them
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Los Angeles is just like trying to trick people. And
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: it's at the expense of the people that actually go
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: buy tickets that, you know, buy their uniforms that they
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: care about this team winning. It's the fans here deserve
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: better than that. And I have to imagine, I have
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: to imagine that there will be a change there.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: You know, we'll see.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: I mean, like I said, anything is on the table
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: at this point, but I would be surprised if Los
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: Angeles is what this team is called. And, you know,
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: two to three years, it just, it doesn't, it doesn't
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: track for me.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Do you remember growing up and seeing that something was
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: sold out and it was literally sold out and you
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: couldn't get a ticket?
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: Yes, I do remember that.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: That's not a thing anymore.
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: Cried many times over that, Scott. But now we have SeatGeek.
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: Even if it says sold out, you can find that
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: perfect seat for you.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Yep. The official ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball is
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: SeatGeek to find that seat for you, whether it's down
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: the stretch, a team that you're following that's going to
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: play postseason ball or whatever you're going to game for.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: You want to see a particular pitcher. Eventually, playoff tickets,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: same thing, right? Playoff tickets generally sold out.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Don't worry.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: SeatGeek has the spot.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: Find your green dot. Find the green dot. Red dot,
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: bad deal. Green dot, great deal. There's plenty of green
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: dots for whatever game you want. Find it. Buy your
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: tickets and go enjoy the game.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Code TERRITORY10. 10% off your next set of tickets at SeatGeek.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: That's 10% off any MLB tickets with the promo code TERRITORY10.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Make sure you click the link in the description to
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: download the app and then the code will automatically be
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: added to your account so that you can use it later.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: So what do you think changes? Like what Leads Mike
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Trout to some playoff ball. And, you know, what do
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: you think the players are going to say about this?
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: What can they maybe get that they haven't gotten permission of?
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Cause like, you know, I'm not beating around the bush.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: I never did when he was owning the team, like
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: two decades of just absolute garbage. You buy the team
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: for 180 mil, sell it for 4 billion. So good
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: for you. But what a terrible way to run a team.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: And I like read something online that was like, Oh,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: he just liked owning a team, not the business side.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: Like shut up.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: He made plenty of money.
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: And also the business side is you invest back in
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: your team and that's how you create a winning product.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: So all of that's pathetic. And I'm super happy for
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: angels fans and for angels players currently on the team.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: So how do you think things change for Trout and company?
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's, you mentioned investing back in
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: the team. I think that's, you know, that's where this
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: starts and ends. I mean, it's, it's facilities, it's, you know,
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: money on all the peripheries. I think that's, that's the
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: first thing. And then it's payroll. I mean, You know,
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: they have let a lot of the, they have some
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: good young talented players. As far as I'm aware, there's
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: not even been like a sniff of like extending any
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: of them. You know, they just, these are the things
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: I think the Angels have basically let go to the wayside.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: You know, they already blew the Shohei Otani era. Like
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: that would have probably, you know, I would love to
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: have seen Shohei Otani with the Angels under better ownership.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: I think he would have, the Angels would look a
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: lot like the Dodgers right now. So yeah, it's all
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: about investing back into the team. I think that's the
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: place you start. And then I think it's like the
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: smaller stuff on the periphery, like we talked about, like the,
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: you know, I think Steve Cohen, when he took over
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: the Mets, understood the very first thing you can do
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: to like ingratiate yourself to the fans is to celebrate
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: the history, celebrate the former players. And like, Artie hasn't
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: done that, you know, in the same way that I think,
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: you know, Steve Cohen recognized you could do. And I'd
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: be curious to see if, if that changes now, I
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: think like there's just, this is a cultural sense is
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: a thing that has to change. You know, I mean, I,
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: like I said, I sat through three months of that,
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: that civil trial and all I heard was how bad
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: that culture was day after day, after day, after day,
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: just the failures of that culture.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: And, you know, it's hard to, it's hard to parse that.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's just hard to forget everything you learn
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: about leadership and ownership when you, when you hear that
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: every day. And I think like, you know, you bring
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: in a new owner, someone that can actually, care about
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: the people that work there, that can care about winning,
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: that can care about the product.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: This ownership said.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: They don't prioritize winning. They've come out and put it
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: right there in front of everybody to hear. This new guy,
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: his track record is he cares about winning.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Hasn't taken over the team yet. We don't know all
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: the plans.
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: We don't know everything, but we do know that when
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: he's done this in the past, it's been positive for
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: the or the fan bases in general, right?
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: But it's led to winning at the very least.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: Sam, he didn't say he didn't care about winning. He
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: said the fans didn't care about winning.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, put it on the theory. Good correction. Yeah,
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: it's like, it sucks. It's the same thing. He said, yeah, well,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: the fans don't care about it.
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: Why should I?
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: That's essentially what he's saying.
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: Right, right.
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: Is this, rebuilding this organization, you're talking a lot about Anaheim,
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: the actual big league team. From what I've heard from
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: people that have looked to be hired or already asked
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: them to, would you want this job of rebuilding the infrastructure?
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: He ultimately said, no, I don't want to spend on
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: the things that you want to spend on. Do you
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: feel like Stan's leadership ability or experience enables him to
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: be able to build what they need in the minor
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: leagues or just trust the people in those positions and say,
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: Go for it. Give us what everyone else has.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: I mean, are you saying are they going to make
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: replacements in their front office?
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: Just more of how are they going to be able
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: to build a minor league system that is not... Yes,
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: they bring up guys from the minor leagues to play
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: on the big league team, but they're not ready. They're
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: not significant. ready because they don't spend enough time in
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: an organization that doesn't have the development processes that other
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: organizations have.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, they don't. I mean, I think you're right.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: Processes is a good word for it because it is,
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: it's part of its spending part of its process. I
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: feel like it's been so inconsistent over the years. There's
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: been a lot of turnover and the coaching staff has
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: been a lot of turnover and in terms of like
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: overall strategy, pitching strategy, are they analytically based? Are they,
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, I go back three years ago,
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: they fired, you know, their top two, you know, minor
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: league pitching coordinators because Troy Percival, in part because Troy
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: Percival came in and was like, why are they using
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: so many iPads? Like, you know, and already listened to that.
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: And so I think like, you know, now this time around,
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: you know, John Mosella comes in and lets go of
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: the three top pitching coaches in the major league side
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: because they aren't using enough iPads apparently, you know? And
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: so it's like, what's the plan here? And I feel
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: like that's always been just like, you know, it's, it's
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: not only spending and that's a big part of it,
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: but it's, it's also just having a set strategy and
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: process and a way of operating. I think it's really
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: tough when you change your, you know, your big league
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: coaching staff, like every year, uh, you know, you just,
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: there's just the turnover is ridiculous. The every year, the
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: angels are basically calling up, like they've like 60 guys
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: on 60 to 65 guys on the roster. They like
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: set the, they like have the most players play every
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: single year in the big leagues. Like every, you know,
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: the last six seasons, like it's, it's just chaos, constant chaos.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: And that starts in the minor leagues. It starts with
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: the spending. I think it starts with this overall strategy.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean that it's, I think if you're
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: Stan Kroenke, you have to like come in and, and,
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: you know, you have to trust your people because I
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: don't know what experience he has necessarily with like baseball operations,
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: but I think he's got a good history of, of
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: developing teams into winners and, and to having a process that,
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: you know, plays out over a longer period of time.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: I don't know if he's the kind of guy that
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: comes in and fires everyone right away.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Uh, and I don't think that's.
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: Smart or, you know, there, so there are a lot
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: of good people that work for this team and hopefully,
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: you know, some of those people get a fair shot to,
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: to prove they, they deserve to be there. But, um,
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: you know, I, I think you need to come in
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: with a really, really critical eye and, and what, what
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: needs to be fixed and who needs to stay and
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: who shouldn't.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, usually I just know from some other ownership groups,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: it's very rare that they'll like clear house to such
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: a deep level. There's usually fantastic employees in every organization.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: I'm sure it's the same, right? This to me is
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: one of the easiest franchise turnarounds. This is going to
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: be so easy. I'm serious, right? Like people can say, oh,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: it's not easy to own a team. Well, it's easy
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: to take over a team that is in a big
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: market that is in a man division, right? The A's
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: have their own issues going on. This year is really
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: the ultimate where all the teams are kind of crap.
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: So and I know that changes year to year. Like
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: there is an opportunity here to fix things quickly. And
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: the biggest part of it is, Sam, I don't think
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: I've ever seen a situation where one person was holding
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: a team back so much from nixing certain deals in
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: the past to not approving things that every other major
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: league team had to, like you said. running a total
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: clown operation with the way the minors worked into the majors.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Every single person in baseball with an iota of a
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: brain knew this. Every single person. I never spoke to any,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: I've spoken to thousands of people in the sport at
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: this point in my 20 years in baseball. I've never
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: spoken to someone that was like, you know, you've got
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: it wrong, Scott. It's not Artie Moreno. You know, the
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: angels are just, they're just misheard.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: Not one person.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: You can debate almost anything in baseball. The one universal thing,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: even from people that Received paychecks from him, received paychecks
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: for the league. Anybody that could talk to me like
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: quote off the record or just have a conversation when
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: I'm at the ballpark, we're like absolute joke. This person
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: has no business running a team. It would be like
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: if your grandpa never watched a big league game in
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: his life and you just handed him the keys and
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: he didn't want to spend a dollar on anything that
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: made sense to buy like better food, right? Like that's the,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, what did we say yesterday, Kratz, about the
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: title of what the book might be?
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: Oh, I forget.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: The workout room was a tent, dot, dot, dot.
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: That's right.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: And it was cooler in there than the weight room
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: at the ballpark. I mean, you cannot make this stuff up.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Tell me if I'm being too harsh, Tim. You were
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: around it every day. Did you ever come across somebody
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: that was like, guys, he's doing it right.
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: Artie's got this.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, here's a great example. Like, and
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: I always go back to this one because it just,
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: it shocks me so much. It's like in 2022, they
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: had their 20 year anniversary, you know, for the World Series.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: and the players were required to pay their way out there.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: And I'm just like, Hey, you've won, we won championship, right?
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: Like you've one group of people that really represents the
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: thing you want most in, you know, in baseball, in
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: this sport, you can't even like really treat those people.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: And again, like I go back to Garrett Anderson, the
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: late Garrett Anderson, Tim Salmon, who, who should have their
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: numbers never worn again by another angel. And it's just like,
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: it's just, it's just kind of like always been a
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: little bit shocking. The, the overall, like, lack of interest in,
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: in doing the basic minimum, the right thing, the thing that,
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: that everybody uses the easiest, you know, way to operate. And, and,
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: you know, I mean like the, I would love to
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: see the radio broadcasters back on the road.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, why not?
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: Why are those guys calling games from a studio in
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: angel stadium? I, you know, it makes no sense. I like,
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: it's just like, it's like the small things that add
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: up and you just, and you realize it and you're
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: around it every day and you're like, just all right,
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: like this is already Moreno and, If you're going to win,
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: it's going to be in spite of him. And if
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: you're going to have success, it's going to be in
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: spite of him. And I agree with you. It's an
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: easy fix because I don't even think this team is honestly,
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: and it's maybe a hot take.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: I don't think they're that bad.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: I think that they're just like, they look at their
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: pitching staff. I mean, they have like, I'd take the
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: Angels rotation over, you know, most of probably the rest
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: of the ALS.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, maybe the.
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: Mariners, but like they've, you know, they've got really good pitching,
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: young pitching. I mean, Reed Detmers, Walbury Uranier, like two
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: potential aces. And so I don't, you know, you look
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: at the back end of the bullpen, Ben Joy, Sammy Natera,
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: I think these are really good players. It's just about
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: kind of like, you know, maybe spending a little bit,
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: maybe like, you know, developing a little bit better.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: And I don't think it's a far off window here.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's like out of the realm of
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: possibility that next year or the year after they're competing
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: in Major League Baseball again, and especially after an ownership
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: change where there may be really significant changes that are
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: going on. Yeah, I would think it's possible that they
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: can be competitive maybe quite competitive. And again, like I said,
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: on par with the top market teams in baseball in
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: terms of, you know, how they're viewed across the sport,
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: you know, and not too distant future. I mean, that's
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: a best case scenario, but you know, I think for
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: the present, they're probably going to lose a hundred games
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: for the first time ever. And, you know, it's, it's
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: going to be the, it's going to be the worst
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: season in Angel's history and maybe the best one.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: As well in a weird, ironic way.
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: They'll take the trade off for the dawn.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Two and a half is my over under for when
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: they'll make the playoffs. I think it'll be in two years.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: I think either next year or the year after. I
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: think it's going to be that quick because some of
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: the things are so dumb that exist within the organization
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: that will get fixed with the snap of a finger
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: from an owner who knows what he's doing. And they
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: pick near the top of the draft with a lot
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: of draft money every year. So being told we got
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: to go, we can go all day on this. But Sam,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: I want to save some of this too for you here, Sam,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: time to time on Halo territory. So Make sure you
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: tune in to lots of Halo territory over the next
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: week because they will be all over this story, and
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: they were fantastic yesterday. Sam, thanks for joining us. Appreciate it, man.
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: Thanks, guys.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Take care.