The owner of the Los Angeles Angels, the team belonging to Shohei Ohtani (29), the best star in American professional baseball (MLB), will not change. The possibility of Ohtani’s transfer, who will become a free agent (FA) after this season, is also expected to increase.

Art Moreno (77), the owner of the Angels, made a statement on the 24th (Korean time) through the club’s official social network (SNS). It is said that he will continue to own the club through 2023 and beyond.

“During the sale, it became clear that we had a job to do. We felt we could have a positive impact on the future of the team and the fans,” said Moreno. I want to give them the series championship trophy.”

Moreno bought the Angels in 2003 from the World Disney Company for $184 million. He became the first Mexican-American to own a major sports club.

The value of the Angels continued to rise during Moreno’s tenure. Twenty years later, the Angels are now worth $2.5 billion, a 13.6x valuation.

Values ​​have risen, but management has not been outstanding. The Angels have advanced to the postseason only six times in this span, and haven’t tasted fall baseball since 2014. The last championship was in 2002 before Moreno bought the club. 먹튀검증

Moreno invested aggressively in his own way, but it did not pay off. Starting with Albert Pujols, he recruited several high-priced players such as Josh Hamilton, CJ Wilson, and Justin Upton. He also discovered big rookies who changed MLB history, such as Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.

However, each pennant race went through ups and downs, and investments failed one after another, repeating an uncompetitive season. Moreover, Moreno has neglected the golden age of Trout and Ohtani while thoroughly adhering to the luxury tax line. Trout, who is considered the best baseball player of this era, has only one postseason experience, and Ohtani does not even have that. This is why there is a prospect that Ohtani’s transfer, ahead of free agency, is likely.

It was pointed out several times that Moreno’s owner’s interference was severe. In 2020, when the trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers was delayed, there was a precedent in which they broke up by direct authority of the owner, saying that he could not wait. At the time, the Dodgers said they would give Ross Stripling and Zak Pederson a sense of immediate action in order to lower the team’s annual salary, but Moreno’s ‘pride’ prevented this. Afterwards, the Angels ‘showily’ failed to advance to the postseason that year, and the Dodgers won the World Series. Jerry Dipoto, current Seattle Mariners general manager and New York Mets general manager Billy Appler, who were criticized for being incompetent amid Moreno’s interference, are running a strong team by proving their abilities under the new owners.

At least, the only possibility to leave Ohtani was the team’s innovation. It was possible under the new owner. Coincidentally, the owner of Moreno pushed for a public sale of the club in August of last year. At least six investment groups have shown interest in acquiring the club, including Joe Laycove, owner of the Golden State Warriors of the NBA, Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the Los Angeles Times, and an unknown Japanese investment group.

However, in the end, the owner of Moreno withdrew his intention to take over, and it became difficult to expect new investments or improvement in the constitution. All that remains is for the Angels to advance to the postseason and convince Ohtani with grades.