Jealousy, owners, and a styrofoam cup.
Boy is it painful being a baseball fan this time of the year. Thank god for College Basketball. Spring training just wont come quick enough.

Very little baseball news these days, unless you count all the "Outside the Lines" B.S., and I don't. But here's a pretty good (if relatively tame) interview with Anaheim's owner Arte Moreno.

Q&A with Angels owner Moreno.

If you could buy shares of baseball teams on the stock market--and maybe you should be able to--I would own as much of the Angels as I could afford. Some owners just get it. Some owners sit back and whine about not being able to compete, but don't actually do anything to improve their lot.

How are we going to be able to take the franchise to the next step? By trying to bust out of the small- to mid-market team mold and move into a large market.

Arte Moreno knows exactly what it takes to increase the value of his franchise. To make money, all you really have to do is put a somewhat competitive team on the field. To make a lot of money, you have to go further. There is a reason the Yankees can spend so much money. They have the largest, and most loyal fanbase, that provide them with an obscene amount of revenue.

The Angels are in a similar situation. They play in a large market, but have always taken the back seat to the Dodgers. Moreno is trying to change that, and with everything he has acccomplished so far, I believe he will succeed.

After all, his first move as an owner was to lower the price of beer. What else does anyone need to know? He's also marketing his team incredibly well. I didn't know Moreno's business history, but it didn't suprise me to learn it was in marketing. As the only minority owner in baseball, Moreno has made a strong effort to market the Angels to the large Hispanic population in LA. He's spent money on players, he's invested in the stadium, he's got a great team on the field and one of the best farm systems in baseball.

All Moreno needs to do is secure a lucrative TV deal like the one Steinbrenner got with the YES Network, and the Angels will officially be Yankees-West. Then he just needs 100 years of loyalty building excellence on the field and he'll be on a par with the New York Yankees.
Curt  ¶ 1:46 PM