Mike Trout on 'needed' sale of Angels: It's a 'fresh start'

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Mike Trout said Arte Moreno's sale of the Los Angeles Angels to Stan Kroenke, who most famously presides over the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, "doesn't change" his desire to stay with the franchise for the remainder of his contract. If anything, it seems to energize him for what's ahead.

"I'm excited," Trout said Tuesday, hours after the news of Kroenke's purchase broke. "Look, the track record -- it's there."

Kroenke's Rams have been to the Super Bowl twice since moving back to L.A. in 2016 and are widely seen as prohibitive favorites to return there this season. His sports résumé also includes two Stanley Cups (with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche), an NBA championship (with the Denver Nuggets), an MLS cup (with the Colorado Rapids) and a Premier League championship (with Arsenal F.C.).

Forbes estimates Kroenke's net worth at $24.3 billion, slightly above that of MLB's current richest owner, Steve Cohen of the New York Mets, and nearly five times Moreno's net worth of $5 billion. His purchase of the Angels -- for a reported record-breaking $4 billion valuation -- was seen as a jolt of electricity for the franchise.

"Seeing the reaction from the fans and some of the guys and the whole vibe, I think it was needed for a fresh start," said Trout, who is signed through 2030. "The biggest thing is getting that feeling of getting that winning culture back and having that vibe in the clubhouse."

Angels general manager John Mozeliak was sitting in his office Tuesday morning when Angels president Molly Jolly walked in, dropped a folder on his desk and said, "Your day's about to change."

Six months ago, in early March, Jolly was promoted to replace John Carpino, who was retiring after a 23-year run spent mostly as a liaison to Moreno. A little less than four months after that, near the end of June, Jolly fired general manager Perry Minasian and replaced him with Mozeliak. At that point, Mozeliak recalled, Moreno told him a sale of the franchise was possible. The news, though, still surprised him.

"I think it's exciting for everybody," Mozeliak said. "Change is what I came in to try to start doing. I wasn't thinking it would be at the very top, but we've certainly been working our way through the organization. We now know there's going to be new ownership here, and as far as our day-to-day jobs, we're going to keep doing what we're supposed to do and keep working toward the future."

Since taking over, Mozeliak has traded away controllable players, replaced the Angels' pitching coaches and reshaped the front office. At some point after the season, he needs to decide on his manager, a spot currently held by Kurt Suzuki on a one-year contract, and his head of baseball operations. A decision on Mozeliak's fate needs to be made, too, either by the new ownership group or by Mozeliak himself, whose contract runs through the end of the calendar year.

The prospect of a new ownership group, which isn't expected to take over until the first quarter of 2027, could change how he goes about those hires.

"It's a very fair question in terms of how we think about timing moving forward," Mozeliak said. "Obviously I think the new ownership is going to have to give us direction in terms of how they want to see that to look like. I don't know that answer, but I do think they should be part of that calculus."

Moreno purchased the Angels in 2003, and after an initial run of success, the franchise entered a prolongedfallow period. The Angels have made the playoffs only once since 2010, spoiling the prime years of Trout and Shohei Ohtani, and have clinched their 11th consecutive losing season. In that time, Moreno has faced criticism for becoming too heavy-handed in baseball operations and not investing enough in the resources that would help the Angels keep up with other franchises throughout the industry.

Throughout the summer, as the Angels flirted with their first 100-loss season in franchise history, "sell the team" chants were prominent at the ballpark.

"Obviously we want the team to be successful, we want to win games, and that's a priority," said Jolly, who has worked in the business side of the organization for a quarter century. "It has been a priority. So to not be achieving that is frustrating. It's frustrating for somebody that cares so much about the game and wants to win. He's aware of the chants, he knows about them. At the end of the day, this is about having the right next owner more than it is anything else."

Jolly was heavily involved when Moreno put the Angels up for sale in August 2022, only for him to back out five months later. In those rounds of talks, the Angels went through an involved process with multiple bidders and stadium tours, much of which played out in public. The process behind this sale was seemingly more informal and done behind closed doors, as evidenced by the shock that reverberated throughout the industry after the sale was announced.

It seems Moreno preferred it that way.

"The way that I know Arte is he has a traditional sense about him," Jolly said. "To be able to sit down with another gentleman and have a conversation and talk about baseball and the franchise, that resonates for how he thinks and looks at things rather than it being a complex conversation. I think that's what was 'why now,' [it's] the right person and having the right conversation with them."

Jolly did not divulge when Moreno's talks with Kroenke and his group began but didn't give the impression that it came together anywhere near as quickly as Mark Walter's sudden sale of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers. Kroenke and Moreno, it seems, had been talking about a potential sale for a while. Jolly and Mozeliak met with Angels players, coaches and staff members prior to Tuesday's game against the New York Yankees and informed them that everything will remain the same for the foreseeable future.

The $4 billion valuation of the Angels includes the team's TV arm, which it took control of after buying out Main Street Sports' portion. Moreno, Jolly said, will maintain a small minority stake in the team. But his tenure as owner is essentially over.

Trout and Angels shortstop Zach Neto reached out to Rams players Tuesday to get a feel for Kroenke and were told, Neto said, that "he just wants what's important for us" and will invest in anything they need behind the scenes.

That, according to several current and former Angels players, would be a change. A welcome one.

"It's obviously been frustrating the last, I don't know how many years it's been," Trout said. "But just to hear the news like this, I'm super excited to have this change."br/]