"Arte Moreno must have dementia" - Angels fans lash out at ownership over front office shakeup

Having made it to the playoffs only once since 2010, the Los Angeles Angels are a team that have consistently underperformed in recent seasons. According to a large chunk of the fanbase, the majority of the blame for the club's failures lie with the owner, Arte Moreno.

After yet another underwhelming campaign, which saw the Angels finish bottom of the AL West with a 72-90 record, it was announced that there would be some major changes taking place at the club, ahead of the 2026 season.

As insider Sam Blum reported via X on Tuesday, skipper Ron Washington and bench coach Ray Montgomery have been relieved of their duties, while general manager Perry Minasian's future is still uncertain.

"NEWS: Ron Washington and Ray Montgomery will not return as Angels manager in 2026, a source told @TheAthletic. Still no confirmed information regarding Perry Minasian. The Angels will have a new manager next year." the post read

Reacting to the news, several fans lashed out at Arte Moreno, feeling that the 79-year-old was using the coaches and executives of the team as scapegoats for his team's underperformance.

"Arte must have dementia. There's no other explanation for committing the same mistakes for 10+ years. #SellTheTeam" a fan commented

"Can Artie fire himself?" another fan wrote

"What about a new owner. They would actually make a difference." another fan replied

"Rinse and repeat. Same owner nothing will ever change." another fan responded

"They need new leadership at the top. Moreno has run that org into the ground." another fan shared

"Is Arte Moreno returning? If so, nothing else matters." another fan posted

"We were starting to perform better" - Ron Washington breaks silence after being let go by the Angels

Speaking to insider Benjamin Adducchio of "ClutchPoints" shortly after he was let go by Arte Moreno on Tuesday, Ron Washington said he felt the team were showing signs of improvement under his leadership.

Had his health issues not got in the way, Washington is of the opinion that the team was "going in the right direction".

"I can’t go back to argue with them to try and tell them different when they’ve made a decision. … We were starting to perform better. I think I had the team going in the right direction — I really did,” Washington said. “And it was just too bad that my health came into play. There’s nothing that I can do about that."

As of now, the Angels have not yet finalized the candidate to replace Washington as manager of the team.

About the author

Raghav Mehta is a baseball journalist at Sportskeeda awaiting results for a Bachelor's in Journalism from Delhi University. He enjoys highlighting the key battles between players at different stages of the game and analyzing the decisive moments upon which they hinge.

One of Raghav's favorite moments, which underscores this, was the Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout clash in the 2023 WBC, where two of baseball's best players faced off against each other in the 9th inning. With the score 3-2 to Japan, Shohei eventually got the strikeout, which was absolute cinema.

Raghav is a Baltimore Orioles fan and is enjoying watching such an exciting young team compete at the top in a very competitive division.

Raghav has loved watching sports for as long as he can remember and realized he was pretty decent at writing his thoughts down at around the age of 14. Combining the two meant he had something he would enjoy doing every day, and he had identified that well before going to college.

Aside from work, Raghav enjoys playing sports, working out and watching movies.

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Edited by Raghav Mehta