There have been a few sales of MLB teams over the last couple of years, from the Padres to the Orioles, but none shocked baseball fans quite like Arte Moreno’s stunning move to sell the Los Angeles Angels to Stan Kroenke. Moreno developed a miserable reputation over more than two decades running the Angels, largely due to a string of poor decisions that cost the team Shohei Ohtani and squandered Mike Trout’s prime. But brighter days appear to be ahead with Kroenke, owner of the Los Angeles Rams and Arsenal among others, coming aboard.
Fans, especially in smaller markets, have become increasingly at odds with their owners of late, as a lot of them run their teams like businessmen who don’t want to invest as much as they should. But with Moreno now moving on, there’s new hope around the league. Let’s take a look at five more teams whose fans would be thrilled if their owners decided to cash out and sell the franchise.
5. Bruce Sherman, Miami Marlins
There may not be a more frustrating franchise to root for in baseball than the Marlins, who have consistently shown an ability to develop young talent but usually get rid of it before it gets too expensive. This pattern was supposed to change under Sherman, who bought the team from Jeffrey Loria in 2017, but he arrived by shipping off a trio of star outfielders in Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich, which set the tone for his tenure.
Derek Jeter, who was running baseball operations for the first few years of Sherman’s tenure, parted ways with the organization over concerns that Sherman wasn’t fully committed to winning. Sherman hasn’t done much to alleviate those concerns since, running a bottom-five payroll in all but two years since 2018 despite having a net worth of over $3 billion.
4. Bob Castellini, Cincinnati Reds
This is also inclusive of the entire Castellini family, which has run the Reds with a tight financial grip since the pandemic. Phil Castellini said the quiet part out loud in 2022, when he got into hot water with fans by saying they simply had to accept slashes in payroll given the market they play in, and his father Bob has made some bizarre public appearances of late.
One lightning rod for this fan base could come with the future of Elly De La Cruz, who has reportedly rejected a contract offer that would surpass Joey Votto’s $225 million deal as the most lucrative in team history. Given the Reds’ frugal spending over the past few years, we may be on trade watch with De La Cruz, who hits arbitration for the first time next season, as soon as next summer.
3. Dick Monfort, Colorado Rockies
Monfort has been the Rockies’ owner since 2005, and unlike the previous two owners on the list he does spend some money — Colorado’s payroll usually ranks in the middle of the pack. The problem is that Monfort tends to spend it poorly, with long-term deals like Kris Bryant’s seven-year pact becoming anchors on the payroll.
The other issue that Monfort has is his stubborn loyalty to baseball executives who probably should have been let go years ago. The hiring of Paul DePodesta appeared to be a sign that Monfort was getting with the times, but a bizarre trade deadline from the Rockies, where they extended Mickey Moniak instead of capitalizing on a seller’s market to deal him, shows that little has changed.
2. John Fisher, Athletics
Public enemy No. 1 in Alameda County, Fisher deserves the ire of A’s fans for how he ran the franchise into the ground to force his way out of Oakland. After refusing to invest in his roster significantly or make a serious bid to keep the franchise in town, Fisher started extending players only once the Athletics landed in their temporary home of West Sacramento.
Shovels have gone into the ground in Las Vegas, where the A’s are supposed to play beginning in 2028, so it appears that Fisher’s quest to get a modern stadium for his team to play in will pay off. Fisher’s track record of slashing and burning his roster when it gets too expensive, however, suggests that more of the same could occur in Vegas as he appears to view the A’s as a profit driver instead of a baseball team.
1. Bob Nutting, Pittsburgh Pirates
Few owners drive their city crazier than Nutting has Pittsburgh, a baseball-mad town that has seen the billionaire run the team on a shoestring budget. It is a shame, too, because the Pirates have one of the most gorgeous stadiums in baseball and fans who routinely show up to support their team, but Nutting constantly refuses to go the extra mile to give them a contender.
The strong Pirates teams in the middle of the 2010s, which were largely homegrown, flamed out after Nutting refused to allocate more payroll to add key free agents to the roster. Pittsburgh is on the rise again and has one of the biggest stars in baseball in Paul Skenes, but Nutting reportedly demanded that the Pirates’ deadline additions be payroll neutral, which is not a good sign for hopes of extending Skenes and building a perennial contender around him.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
