What did Rob Manfred say about Angels owner Arte Moreno during spring training media day?

Rob Manfred had nothing but good things to say about Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno. Spring training officially kicked off and Manfred was there to speak about Moreno, who briefly considered selling the team.

He has since pulled his team off the market, but Rob Manfred doesn't believe that's a bad thing. He called the owner a steward of the game.

Moreno's Angels have been one of the worst teams in baseball over the last few seasons, but it's not necessarily for lack of trying. They paid Mike Trout, they went after Shohei Ohtani when he came over and they paid Anthony Rendon.

Rob Manfred complimented the Angels owner further via Yahoo! Sports:

“There's a lot of success that had been had there. And I think a lot of the sort of negativity recently was a reflection back on the Angels, not a product of them doing anything inappropriate or improper.”

Unfortunately, it hasn't always translated to success, which Manfred implied is the reason the owner felt pressured to sell the team. Some MLB owners refuse to spend money on their teams and they never improve.

That's not exactly the case with the Angels, since they've at least tried to spend and put a good team on the field.

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Why did Arte Moreno decide not to sell the Los Angeles Angels?

Arte Moreno was one of two MLB owners that were exploring the possibility of selling their teams, but he decided against it. While looking into it, the team became convinced it wasn't the right move.

Arte Moreno decided not to sell the Angels

They released a statement via CBS Sports:

"During this process, it became clear that we have unfinished business and feel we can make a positive impact on the future of the team and the fan experience. This offseason we committed to a franchise record player payroll and still want to accomplish our goal of bringing a World Series Championship back to our fans."

They're probably still some distance from winning a World Series title, but a healthy trio of Ohtani, Trout and Rendon is a good start. They'll have to get off to a fast start in 2023 or they might lose Ohtani at the deadline, though.