“We won’t go there again" - Arte Moreno claims Angels won’t have high payroll for 2025 after posting record-loss season
Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno has indicated that the franchise will adopt a more moderate financial strategy for 2025 than in seasons past. Moreno said that the team will increase its wage bill for next year. Nevertheless, they will have a payroll well below the top spenders for the upcoming season and hope to remain competitive without going over the luxury tax threshold.
As per Sportrac, the Angels' payroll dropped by over $50 million this year, which occurred largely due to Shohei Ohtani moving across town to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Angels ranked 14th in payroll this year, with a wage bill just north of $172 million. In 2023, they had the eighth-highest payroll in the MLB at over $230 million.
Arte Moreno discussed the financial strategy of the Angels for 2025 through a phone interview with the Southern California News Group.
“We won’t go there again,” Arte Moreno said. “It’s just an automatic loss. If I start piling up (financial) losses, then the next year I’m going to cut.
“The teams that are spending the money they’re spending, they’re losing a lot of money,” Moreno added. “Not a little bit of money. They’re losing a lot of money. And some teams are selling equity to keep their payroll up.”
Although Arte Moreno offered a significant sum to keep Shohei Ohtani at Anaheim during the offseason, it was nowhere in comparison to the $700 million the Dodgers offered the Japanese superstar. However, Moreno didn't use that sum in signing other free agents, which eventually resulted in a historically poor season.
Arte Moreno reflects on "terrible year"
Having missed out on the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes, Arte Moreno made right-handed relief pitcher Robert Stephenson his biggest free agent signing of the offseason, with a three-year, $33 million deal. Moreno also brought in former Texas Rangers skipper Ron Washington to be the new manager of the team.
However, Stephenson missed the entire 2024 campaign due to injury, while their two biggest earners, Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon, once again played less than half the games this season.
Despite the emergence of promising young stars like Zach Neto, Logan O'Hoppe, and Nolan Schanuel, the Angels eventually finished the season with the worst record in its history.
“I hate to say it’s a terrible year because we had so much growth with our young people,” Moreno said,“but from wins and losses, it was a terrible year. Obviously, the worst year.”
The Angels ended the regular season in last place in the American League West with a 63-99 record, which was the fourth-worst record among all 30 MLB teams this year.