Arte Moreno Is Blowing It

DOES ARTE MORENO KNOW WHAT HE IS DOING? 

ANGELS OWNER SIGNED OFF ON SOME OF MLB's WORST DEALS

Arte passed on me. Guess he didn't want 68 HR in 2 Seasons.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have now missed the playoff's 3 seasons in a row. Unexceptable. Seems like every expert is willing to blame anything and everything but the owner himself. Arte Moreno has signed a handful of horrible contracts and has let go of guys that went on to have career years with other organizations. It's easy to blame Scioscia or Dipoto and before that Reagins for the teams lack of success lately but I feel it's time to put some of the blame on the head man in charge. 

Let's start with the first bad contract Moreno signed off on, Gary Mathews Jr. Arte okays a 5 year deal worth 50 Million dollars. 50 million for a outfielder that never hit over 20 HR and only one season where he hit over .300. Please  keep in mind the guy played for Texas where everyone rakes. What was Arte thinking? How bad was Mathews? The Angels actually paid $21.5 million on Mathews remaining contract just to get rid of him as the Mets picked him up. 

Then of course the infamous Scott Kazmir trade were they didn't really lose that much trading Tampa Bay infielder Sean Rodriguez and a pitching prospect but boy did the Angels have to eat that contract. In Scott's brief time with the Angels spanning 3 seasons he went 11-17 with a 5.13 ERA while only managing to pitch 188 innings in that span. The Angels finally bit the bullet and released Kazmir even though he still $14.5 million left on his contract. Talk about robbery, kids this is one reason why guaranteed contracts makes baseball a better sport to play then football. 

Next we look at the Vernon Wells contract that the Angels took off the hands of Toronto. While I am a fan of Wells it was clearly a  move the Angels wish they could have back. Vernon before coming to the Angels already looked to be in the decline of his very solid career but when he joining Anaheim his numbers really fell of the cliff. A career .280 hitter with the Jays over 12 years Wells has dropped all the way down to .220 with the Angels over the past 2 seasons. The performance just hasn't been consistent enough for any of the fans liking and hardly up to par for a guy making nearly 20 million a season. 

And of course last off season there was the huge 10 year 254 million dollar deal that will have the Angels paying  Albert Pujols until he is well no one really knows for sure how old he is right? After signing the mega deal in Pujols much like every player that gets a mega deal they struggle at first. See Jason Werth, Carl Crawford, Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran etc. While the deal isn't going to hurt the Angels in the short term it looks like the back end of the deal could turn into another A-Rod type situation where the bat speed won't be the same resulting in his power numbers not living up to the contract.  Of course if the Angels manage to win a World Series or 2 before the end of his contract I think Angels fans will be willing to except Albert's deal as being successful. 

These of course were the deals the Angels did pull off but what about the contracts they let slip away? Mike Napoli wasn't resigned and went on to a All-World Catcher with division rival Texas. Arte let's him go and Napoli turns into a 30 HR .320 batting average guy the very next year in a position where the Angels got absolutely no production out of. Grant it Napoli only hit .238 in his final season with the Angels but he did manage to blast 26 HR in 140 games and that will work people especially when his replacement Jeff Mathis hit .174 with 3 HR.  

Of course everyone remembers Arte being stubborn and not being willing to give Adrian Beltre that extra year on his free agent contract. Result? Texas grabs him and Beltre becomes the best 3B in baseball. Do you think the Angels could of used a 3B that hit over the past 2 seasons hit .315, drove in over 200 runs and hit 68 HR? What the hell was Arte thinking? Scared to sign off an extra year but was willing to give Albert a 10 year deal? Come on, that's being a clown owner.  

Lastl but definitely not the least important he oversees Fernando Rodney leaving to go to Tampa Bay. After a bad season with the Angels Rodney turns in one of the best seasons a closer has ever had. Now certainly no one saw that coming but does it really matter? We are seeing a trend of bad moves time and and time again. What seemed to be the Angels problem this season? Was it the bullpen? Yeah i think they had something to do with the Angels struggles this season. A bullpen of Rodney, Ernesto Frieri and Scott Downs on the backend would of made  for a potent bullpen and certainly would of pushed the Angels into the playoffs and probably would of won them the division even after the horrible start. Fernando's WAR of 3.7 alone pushes the Angels into a Wild Card position.  

I understand the owner hires a General Manager to make personal decisions but people have to realize the owner is the one that signs off on deals after all he is signing everyone's paychecks.  The biggest flaws on the Angels in recent seasons have been 3B,  the Catcher position and the bullpen. Wow, think if the Angels didn't sign Pujols and had Beltre at 3B, Napoli at Catcher with Trumbo and Morales switching off at 1B and DH along with Rodney in the pen. What kind of team would we be looking at? Probably the best team in baseball while weakening the Texas Rangers who have been a dominant force in the AL during the same span. 

Arte come on man are you ever going to make a decent decision for the Halos?