Mike Trout has spent most of his Angels career watching the team search for quick fixes that never fixed much of anything.

So when he called Stan Kroenke’s arrival a “fresh start” four times, people paid attention. Then Trout explained why he's so optimistic:

“Wherever he buys, he wins.”

That's the kind of line fans usually hear when a new owner takes over. From Trout, it carries a lot more weight. He has spent 16 seasons in Anaheim, shared a roster with Shohei Ohtani for six years without a single winning season, and played in just three playoff games, all of them losses in 2014.

The Angels are now 53-85, staring down the first 100-loss season in franchise history and an 11th straight losing year. Their playoff drought has climbed up to 12 seasons, the longest in baseball. No signing or trade is going to erase all of that overnight.

What makes Kroenke interesting is that his other teams didn't become successful through one dramatic move. His organizations have won a Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, NBA championship, and Premier League title since 2022. They all got there by building strong systems and sticking with them long enough to work.

Arte Moreno Kept Buying Answers

It’s easy to sum up Arte Moreno’s 23 years as one long disaster. That wouldn’t be totally fair though. He bought the Angels for $180 million in 2003, and they made the postseason five times in his first seven seasons. They won six division titles under him, and Vladimir Guerrero won an MVP award.

The problem was the foundation slowly disappeared as the organization started chasing whatever their owner wanted next.

Albert Pujols got brought in for $240 million. Josh Hamilton was given $125 million a year later. Anthony Rendon signed for $245 million. So calling Moreno cheap has always missed the mark. He's spent plenty. He just seemed to believe the right name on a billboard could cover every crack underneath it. It couldn’t.

Pujols became a below-replacement player over his final six seasons with the Angels. Hamilton lasted two years. Rendon played 205 games from 2021 through 2024, then deferred the rest of his contract while he stayed home. The expensive names changed. The lack of pitching and depth didn’t.

That’s how a team can pay Mike Trout nearly half a billion dollars, get a six-year run with the best two-way player of the century, and still go 401-469 during the six seasons they played together. Ohtani crossed town and won back-to-back World Series with the Dodgers.

Kroenke’s Teams Win The Slow Way

Kroenke has enough money to work his way into any sport. But the more interesting part of his track record isn’t the size of the checks. It’s what happens after he writes them.

The Rams kept Les Snead after five losing seasons and decided to pair him with 30-year-old Sean McVay in 2017. But more than that: he gave them room to reshape the franchise. They’ve gone 92-57 since, reached the playoffs seven times in nine years, won a Super Bowl, and are the favorites to win this one. The big trades mattered, but they worked because the front office, coaching staff, and owner were all pulling in the same direction.

Denver drafted Nikola Jokic with the 41st pick in 2014 and hired Michael Malone in 2015. Malone missed the playoffs in each of his first three seasons. The Nuggets didn’t panic. They kept building, and in 2023, they won the first championship in franchise history.

The Avalanche were even more of a mess at the beginning. Joe Sakic took over the front office in 2013, Jared Bednar became the coach in 2016, and Colorado responded by going 22-56-4. They stuck with the plan, though, and kept developing players around Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. They were lifting the Stanley Cup five years later.

None of that means Kroenke will suddenly understand baseball on Day 1. He doesn’t have to. His advantage is knowing that the owner doesn’t need to be the smartest personnel person in the room. He needs to find that person and give them the resources to do the job.

For the Angels, that would be a pretty drastic change.

The First Win Has To Happen Upstairs

The deal, reportedly valuing the Angels at $4 billion, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027 once the MLB approves it. Moreno will keep a small minority stake, but the baseball decisions will belong to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.

That means almost every important job could be up for grabs. Molly Jolly just replaced longtime president John Carpino. John Mozeliak is the interim GM through December. Kurt Suzuki's on a one-year deal. Outside of the young players still under team control, Trout and Yusei Kikuchi are the only players guaranteed money for 2027.

In other words, there’s a lot of room to start over.

The farm system finally gives the Angels something worth building around, too. Mozeliak treated the trade deadline like someone who understood the team needed a reset, moving seven players for prospects. Since then, the MLB Pipeline moved the Angels from 28th to 17th. Arjun Nimmala and Tyler Bremner are now considered top-50 prospects.

That’s not a finished product, but it’s a start.

That should be Kroenke’s first big investment. Hire more evaluators. Improve the analytics and medical departments. Put real resources into pitching development. Then decide whether Mozeliak's the person who should lead the whole thing or whether the Angels need to find someone else.

But once that decision gets made, the new baseball boss needs room to work. The Angels can’t keep rushing every first-round pick to the majors because the big-league roster needs help right now. That’s how you end up ruining the future trying to fix the present.

New Owner, New Stadium?

The stadium needs that same kind of long-term thinking. Angel Stadium opened in 1966 and has a lease that runs through 2032. Kroenke's already built SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park. If anyone can look at the Big A and see more than a giant parking lot, it’s probably him.

There’ll be time for the flashy stuff. The Angels need major-league pitching, more help around Zach Neto, and a plan for however much Trout has left through 2030. Kroenke didn’t spend $4 billion to keep the payroll near the bottom of the league.

But another nine-figure contract can’t be the first sign that everything’s changed. Angels fans have seen that movie before. They know the big introductory press conference, the jersey photos and the promises. They also know how empty the roster can look a few years later.

The fresh start Trout kept talking about has to begin with the people most fans will never see. Build the front office. Build the player-development system. Pick a direction and stick with it when the standings get ugly, because they will.

Looking for stories that inform and engage? From breaking headlines to fresh perspectives, WaveNewsToday has more to explore. Ride the wave of what’s next.