The Los Angeles Angels Are A Broken Franchise

From a sports standpoint, it's hard to find a worse tweet for any organization. 22 words that signify the end of a season.

The disaster that is the Angels franchise is so much worse than this season though. Is any franchise in baseball in a worse position? Certainly no other large market team is. Even smaller market teams that have been crushed by losing like the Pirates and Tigers have strong farm systems. The A's are obviously a joke but they are getting an influx of cash when they move. They'll be fine.

The other nominees for worst MLB franchise would be the Royals (no top 100 prospects despite years of losing), Rockies (no direction whatsoever and a shit owner) and White Sox (absolute chaos from top down). I still think the Angels are in the worst spot of them all.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea. Getty Images.

It starts with Arte Moreno. I do give him credit for spending money but he may have the worst eye for hiring people in baseball history.  Since buying the club in 2003, the GM's have gone from decent to bad to worse. The current guy in charge Perry Minasian might be the worst GM I've ever seen in charge of a baseball team in my entire life.

The reckless decisions Minasian made just this season has set this franchise back years. The worst move was not trading Shohei Ohtani. He had three opportunities to do so. At the deadline last year, in the offseason and last month. He whiffed on all three and instead of having a newly reinvigorated farm system, the Angels are 62-67 with a future more bleak than what we saw in Terminator 2.

They traded their only top 100 prospect in Edgar Quero for Lucas Giolito who has gone 1-4 with a 6.67 ERA for them. They also traded actual prospects away for scrap heap players like Eduardo Escobar, Domonic Leone and Mike Moustakas. Minasian and Moreno sold false hope to Angels fans. Part of being in charge of a baseball team means making the tough decisions. The concern always has to be the greater good of the franchise. Instead, they were putting lipstick on a pig hoping things would work out.

Let me be very clear. The Los Angeles Angels leadership is reckless, short sighted and flat out stupid.

Getty Images.

So how do you fix this? I don't know if you can. At least not this decade. The greatest player in franchise history and all of MLB over the past decade has a serious back condition and is breaking down in front of our eyes. He's played 237 games over the past three seasons combined. In previous seasons, he'd miss time but when he was out there, he was still putting up Mike Trout production. Not this year.

He was very good in 82 games this year but no one is going to call .263/.367/.490 with 18 home runs a great season. He's signed for SEVEN more seasons at $37 million per year. That's a lot of money for someone who can't stay on the field.

Don't get me wrong. If Trout retired today, he'd deserve to make the Hall of Fame. He's never won a playoff game and only has 1624 career hits but he's been that great. I do fear we are looking at a similar trajectory that Ken Griffey Jr. had. Generationally great centerfielder who couldn't stay on the field in his 30's. This isn't a modern issue either. Look at Duke Snider and Mickey Mantle after they hit 30. Mix in Trout's back issues and I am very concerned about Trout moving forward.

Jim McIsaac. Getty Images.

This team even looks like a nightmare for next season. I don't see Ohtani staying there and even if he does, he won't pitch. The Angels should let him go. This team is so bad, no one can help them. They are stuck with Anthony Rendon for three more seasons where he'll be making $38 millon dollars a year. At least he's a good clubhouse guy.

They are also losing players like Hunter Renfroe, Matt Moore, Gio Urshala and the guys they traded for (CJ Cron, Randall Grichuk, Escobar, Moustakas and Giolito) who are all free agents. Last year's big pitching FA signing Tyler Anderson has been mediocre (5-5, 5.35). They need to tear everything down. I made this point a year ago. It has only gotten much worse.

I don't want this to keep being an annual blog topic. Mike Trout deserves so much better. So do the fans. The Angels have the 4th best attendance in the American League this season. They haven't seen a winning season since 2015!

Arte Moreno needs to sell the team. The entire front office needs to be gutted. Honestly, the entire franchise needs an enema. Clean everything out, trade everyone you can and build towards 2030. I know that seems like an insanely long amount of time and it is. That's how fucked this franchise is. 

It can be fixed eventually though as long as you have patience. That's true about life. If you work hard and keep your eyes focused on a goal, patience can be often be rewarded. The Angels tried a get rich quick scheme at the trade deadline and it blew up in their face because it was stupid and reckless. What Arte Moreno needs to understand is when you own a baseball team that millions of people love, behaving like a 18 year old with his first credit card affects a lot of people. 

Just sell the team already. You don't deserve it.