Report helps explain why Arte Moreno decided not to sell Angels

A story published on Tuesday helped explain why Arte Moreno decided not to sell the Los Angeles Angels.

Moreno announced last year that he was exploring a sale of the Angels. Moreno had about five buyers ready to bid on the team, but then he reversed course and said in January that he would not be selling.

Why did Moreno back out? He publicly said that he got cold feet about selling the team. But some new information added context to his decision.

ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez published a story on Tuesday about Shohei Ohtani’s free agency and how it affects the team. In his story, Gonzalez discussed Moreno not selling the team.

According to Gonzalez, part of the reason Moreno declined to sell has to do with what happened during the sales process. A source told Gonzalez that as Moreno tried to talk up the Angels to potential buyers, the owner ended up selling himself on keeping the team.

Will Moreno eventually sell the team? It seems unlikely to happen any time soon now. The 77-year-old went all-out in trying to make a playoff push, but the Angels didn’t respond well on the field and went the opposite direction. Now the team is 61-64 entering Tuesday and could end up losing their best player over the offseason. It’s not looking great for the Angels in 2024.