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WEARING THE UNIFORMS THAT THEY NEED TO GO BACK TO – NOW: The 1983 California Angels, featuring Hall of Famers Rod Carew (third row, 2nd from left), Fred Lynn (third row, 3rd from left) and Reggie Jackson (4th row, far right), along with Bob Boone (third row, 4th from left) and Tommy John (third row, 5th from left). Photo courtesy of ebay.com

HOW I WOULD RETURN THAT FRANCHISE TO RESPECTABILITY AND RELEVANCY IF I HAD THE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS NECESSARY TO BUY THEM

In case you have not heard…

Angels owner Arte Moreno has recently announced that after twenty years of ownership, he is going to be looking into selling that red-clad American League franchise from Orange County,

Who has frankly fallen on bad times as despite having two of the best players in baseball in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani,

They have suffered through six straight losing seasons, with their last appearance in the post season being in 2014 – where they were swept in the Division Series by the Kansas City Royals – and will most likely end up with a seventh this year as they are currently 56-74, needing to go 26-6 to finish above .500 for the year;

Which is not going to happen.

And on top of everything else in the grand tradition of the proverbial “salt in the wound”,

Their status as the “red-capped step child” in the shadow of an all-powerful blue-clad elite Dodger team who plays their home games thirty miles up I-5 in downtown Los Angeles – who as of this writing has already won ninety games and is more or less everyone’s pick to reach the World Series is not outright win it,

Is more entrenched then ever.

In short,

It’s a pretty bad time to be a fan of the Angels, and it has been that way for a while.

Indeed,

That 2002 World Series championship was a long time ago and is seemingly in the “ancient history” category now.

A photo of the Angels’ only World Series championship team from 2002 during a recent reunion at Angel Stadium. Photo courtesy of blogspot.com

The cap that those Angels need to go back to wearing NOW, instead of those ugly red caps that they currently wear. Photo courtesy of blogspot.com

Some more throwback Angels uniforms that look SO much better than what they have now! Photo courtesy of sportslogos.net

Having said all of that,

When Moreno announced that he was looking into selling the Angels,

I found myself imagining how I would run that team if I had the hundreds of billions of dollars necessary to put a bid into purchasing that franchise.

Not that that would be even a teeny, tiniest of tiny possibilities of course,

But if I were among the extremely wealthy and was able to buy those Angels, here’s what I would do to turn things around and make that organization relevant again;

FIRST AND FOREMOST, I would…

  • Get rid of those UGLY red alternate jerseys and red caps! Have a ceremony where they would all be burned to ashes and,
  • Go back to the uniforms that were worn in the mid-1980s to early 1990s, with the navy blue caps with the red bill and the small case letters on the jerseys.

It is no secret, if you have read the articles I’ve written about the Angels on this blog, how I feel about those ugly red things on the players’ backs and the top of their heads.

NEXT, I would…

  • Change the name of the team back to the California Angels, for the simple reason being that technically speaking, the Los Angeles Angels don’t even play in Los Angeles, and haven’t since 1965!

And then as for the issues regarding Angel Stadium,

  • Make looking into renovating the place the priority over moving to Long Beach or anywhere else, as the Angels belong in Anaheim; they are as indelible a part of that city and Orange County as Disneyland

AS FOR THE BASEBALL SIDE, WHERE THE TROUBLES HAVE BEEN FOR SO LONG,

  • Stop depending on and emphasizing spending nine figures on big name free agents, as none of them have worked out the way they should have, especially Josh Hamilton and Justin Upton, though Anthony Rendon doesn’t get a pass either
  • As far as possible trades, only Trout, Ohtani and Jo Adell would be absolutely untouchable, Ohtani and Trout for obvious reasons as I would do everything in my power to retain Ohtani in particular and convince him that the team has a solid plan to win, which is this…
  • Build up the farm system, especially the pitching in such. That farm system of the Halos has been considered by pundits and experts as among the worst in baseball, which needs to change if they are going to be respectable and relevant again. The fact that the Angels only drafted pitchers in the recent MLB Draft is a good step in the right direction due to the lack of effective pitching being the biggest factor in their futility
  • As for HOW I would build up the farm system, I would emphasize drafting high school pitchers and college hitters. High school pitchers because the organization would be better able to develop them without any concerns of possible arm burnout or injury while pitching for a college team – while paying for their college education in the off season should they want to go that route – and college hitters because they would be more ready to contribute to the big club sooner.

In case you were wondering,

I named Jo Adell as the only other Angel I wouldn’t touch in a trade outside of Trout and Ohtani because although he has had some rough times acclimating himself to “The Show” and adjusting to big league pitching, that outfielder remains a true talent who will be a star.

And if I were running the Angels, I would much rather see Adell be a star wearing an Angel uniform than a star wearing the uniform of another team.

While it’s true that I would’t be so dependent on signing big name free agents like Moreno did, which in my opinion was a significant factor in his and the team’s downfall,

I wouldn’t be completely against signing free agents in general; just not as many as I would emphasize to whoever I would hire as the general manager that the team needs to focus on home grown talent.

Like Mike Trout was, and like the bulk of that championship team in ’02 was.

Would these plans of mine serve as a quick fix?

Unfortunately for Angels fans,

No, as it would take a few years – I would say around three seasons – for the pitching in the farm system to develop in particular before any dividends would be realized.

As well as for those big money contracts like Rendon’s to run out.

But the team would be moving in a good direction.

At least that’s my view anyway, if I were wealthy to the point of being able to buy that team.

I reckon Angel fans only hope and pray that whoever the new owner is takes these ideas into strong consideration if not implement them.

Especially the changes in the name and the uniforms!

Anaheim Stadium circa late 1960s, currently known as Angel Stadium – I thought it looked best like this; I particularly liked that Big “A” scoreboard. Photo courtesy of ballparksofbaseball.com