Arte Moreno is no one’s fool, and by all reports, this very private man is staunchly conservative, both in is his politics and in his business, and a very (very) smart businessman.
For the most part, Moreno has been very careful regarding huge money free agent signings, especially after the 2007 Gary Matthews, Jr. signing that turned into a fiasco when Matthews tested positive for performance enhancing drugs a short time later. Stories filtered out that Moreno was livid, and who can blame him? The Angels have paid Matthews over $22-million the last two years and Matthews hasn’t been with the team since 2009 and out of baseball since the end of the 2010 season.
From 2007 forward, the Angels have been reluctant to give out long-term/big dollar deals, preferring instead to concentrate on signing and developing excellent prospects. Being in a weak AL West, the Angels were able to win their division 5 times in 6 seasons up until 2010. The Angels has had a series of good but not great teams, and the Texas Rangers have of course caught them, and passed them the last two seasons.
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| Albert, Arte, and C.J. |
Well, that’s basically walking around money for Arte, who just recently signed a deal of his own that brings him $150-million a year! (I wonder if A-Rod knows about this deal, as I think Arte is only about half the ball player Rodriguez is, and Moreno is 65 years old?)
Arturo Moreno recently signed a 20-year, $3-billion deal with FOX Sports that was about as brilliant a business move in the world of sports that I have ever seen. For more on this deal, read http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/08/sports/la-sp-angels-fox-tv-20111209
In one day, Moreno’s Angels went from being a good team to the odds-on favorite to win the 2012 American League pennant. The Angel payroll in 2011 was about $117-million, and after the coming year both Torii Hunter’s ($18-million) and Bobby Abreu’s ($9-million) contacts will come off the books. Adding about $41-million for Pujols and Wilson isn’t as burdensome at second glance, is it?
(All that said I am still trying to figure out why the Angels acquired Vernon Wells from Toronto last season. Wells is due about $21-million a year through 2014, but it’s my guess that the Blue Jays are paying a chunk of this money?)
The reality is that the Pujols signing is absurd from a long term baseball perspective, as no one can reasonably justify paying a baseball player $25-million a season when he’s in his 40’s, but for the next 4 or 5 years, it may just be a bargain. (I’m not a Pujols fan per se, though I do like the guy, and he’s been saying for years that he has never used drugs of any kind to aid his baseball performance. I hope that proves to always be true, even though I have been a pretty loyal fan of the Rangers the last few seasons.)
I also really like C.J. Wilson, who is a So Cal native, and a very mature and hard-working kid from all reports. He was the guy on Texas who’d sit with Josh Hamilton in another room drinking Ginger Ale while their Ranger teammates popped champagne corks, and guzzled away in celebration of two straight AL pennants. Wilson chooses to be a non-drinker who took it upon himself to help his recovering addict teammate. So Texas not only loses their (arguably) best starting pitcher, they lose Josh Hamilton’s "sponsor," and lose him to their biggest divisional rival, who also just acquired the best hitter in the game.
So no, don’t cry for Arte Moreno.
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