Tempe, Arizona – The offseason story was about the Dodgers and historically high pay. However, the concerns within the Player Union are the other Los Angeles teams.
Tony Clark, executive director of the MLB Players Association, told Athletic in an interview this week that he believes the Angels, which is located in the country’s second-largest media market, unlike their metropolitan counterparts, hasn’t exceeded the luxury tax threshold.
“They decided on it as an organization that would treat it as a cap,” Clark said after meeting Angels players this week. “And we are making decisions against that background, and that is a shame, especially when they have the opportunity in the market they are in.
“The way they handled it and what it is are two different things.”
In Clark’s view, the Angels should be one of the biggest spenders in the sport, along with nine teams that surpassed tax last season. And unlike lower spending franchises, Angel spending habits highlight how teams use CBT as a simple line that does not intersect. To exceed the seasonal penalty, teams will need to pay 20% tax for each threshold.
Angels owner Arte Moreno refused to comment on Clark, but team spokesman Marie Garvey opposed Clark’s criticism in a written statement.
“That’s his opinion and we don’t agree with it,” the statement said.
The Angels only finished the season with luxury taxes during Moreno’s 22-year tenure, and that was 2004.
In 2023, the angels appeared on track to surpass taxes. He then moved enthusiastically and went below the threshold. In doing so, six players had to be placed in the exemption, among the other actions the team had taken.
The club’s estimated salary for 2025 was $222 million, an increase of about $25 million from last year, but still well below the $241 million threshold.
During collective bargaining negotiations in 2022, Moreno was one of only four owners who opposed any kind of increase in luxury tax, a league source said at the time. The league moved forward by proposing an increase regardless, eventually moving from $220 million to $230 million in the new CBA.
Even if they avoid taxes, the Angels are in the top half of the gaming salary each year when Moreno owns the team, and regularly enter the top ten in field spending.
However, these spending habits have declined in recent years, and losses continue to accumulate. The most expensive free agent deal the team has added over the past five years has now come this offseason. This is Yusei Kikuchi’s three-year, $63 million deal.
Teams don’t get serious about the mix of top flight free agents. And it balked to coincide with the Dodgers’ offer to Shohai Otani, who spent his first six years with the Angels. The Angels own the longest playoff drought in the sport, dating back to 2014, and have not won postseason games since 2009.
“They treated it like they had,” Clark said, “and it’s hard to believe it didn’t have any effect on the level of success they had.”
The lack of spending has irritated another superstar, Mike Trout. Mike Trout openly called on owners last spring to add a high-impact free agent.
“I’m doing everything I can,” Trout said. “It’s clearly Arte’s decision. I’ll put two cents there.”
Mike Trout played in three postseason games in 2014. (Tim Warner/Getty Images)
When asked if Moreno felt he would listen to his suggestions, he was less confident.
“Um, you know, that’s yeah, yeah, no. You know how many Arte is.”
This is all a concern for the union, as CBA contract denials are expected to be highly controversial after next season. In particular, the competitive balance of spending is expected to be a major point in debate.
The elevated conversation comes against the backdrop of the Dodgers’ ferocious stuff that has been spending this offseason. It will maintain a relatively manageable $389 million salary through deferred contracts, while adding many well-known free agents.
Owners hope to leverage different payroll numbers to assert certain actual pay caps, and Commissioner Rob Manfred never avoided stating concerns about the topic.
“It’s clear that there are fans in some markets who are concerned about the Dodgers’ financial resources and the ability of teams in competing markets to compete,” Manfred said earlier this month during Spring Training Media Day.
But the angels are not in another market. They are in the same market as the Dodgers, but they operate on a totally different level.
And it is clear for Clark that the angel’s desire to continue to fall below the luxury tax establishes a set strategy that violates the union’s stated purpose.
“In a world where teams are committed to putting the best teams on the field, we use some of the system as an excuse not to keep moving forward.
“We’re worried about every team that doesn’t focus on the best possible team on the field, and using something as a cap that’s not a cap is not the reason it was designed.”
(Photo above: Image of Chris Codoto/Getty)
