It is a day that Los Angeles Angels fans have been waiting years for, as Arte Moreno has sold the team. It was announced on Tuesday, September 1st, that Kroenke Sports and Entertainment was buying a controlling interest in the franchise. This is the group led by Stan Kroenke that also has stakes in the Los Angeles Rams, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, and Arsenal. While an exact number has not yet been released, the sale is expected to exceed $4 billion. This would be the largest sale price in MLB history.
While getting rid of a bad owner like Moreno is always a win for an organization, it will take more than that for the Angels to be winners again. This is just the first of many changes the Angels need to make if they want to break their 12-year playoff drought. But the biggest thing that Kroenke needs to do is make sizable investments into the Halos’ farm system and development program. But how will this help the Angels be contenders again?
Stan Kroenke Needs to Fix The Angels’ Development Department
One of the biggest reasons the Angels have been so bad for the past decade has been their inability to develop homegrown talent. Sure, Mike Trout became the best player in baseball in the Angels system. But he is the exception, not the rule. For the one Trout they develop, there are at least ten players like Matt Thaiss. A highly drafted player who the Angels were unable to make a consistent MLB contributor. Not being able to develop young talent is the easiest way to stay in the basement of the league.
The biggest problem the Angels had was constantly rushing players to the majors. Guys like Sam Bachman and Christian Moore were solid prospects who had chances of being good major leaguers. But they had very limited time in the minors and were rushed to the majors before they were ready. Thus they floundered, and it does not look like they will ever reach their potential. It is why they constantly had so many failed prospects. This is a strategy that needs to end as soon as Kroenke takes over.
Solving this issue will be the first step in making the Angels a respectable franchise once again. Kroenke needs to invest in coaching and infrastructure that will help young players succeed. Doing so will allow their farm system to get out of the league’s basement and feed some actual talent into the majors. Thus allowing them to develop a young core and finally give the franchise a hope. But considering that Kroenke invested overall four billion to buy the team, he should be willing to spend the extra to modernize the farm system.
The good news for Kroenke is this process has already started. Ever since they brought in John Mozeliak as interim general manager, he has made moves to make the Angels a better franchise. He has fired coaches who did not use technology and sold at the deadline. Something that has been done in Anaheim in what feels like forever. Kroenke needs to either retain Mozeliak or have him play a big role in hiring the next person to run baseball operations. It’s clear he understands the fixes the organization needs.
Overall, this is the best news possible for Angels fans. Getting rid of Moreno is the first step in getting the team back on the right track. Now it is up to Kroenke and whoever they bring in to get them there.
