Moreno Sells After Twenty-Three Years. The Team He's Handing Over Is 54-89.

Arte Moreno has agreed to sell the Angels to Stan Kroenke — the Rams and Nuggets owner — for a reported four billion, ending a twenty-three-year run. That's the Kid's file off CBS and it doesn't move a single on-field number, which is sort of the point of it.

Because here's what's actually being handed across the table: a 54-89 ballclub that got shut out 1-0 by Pittsburgh last night, that is 30-44 at its own park and 24-45 away from it, and that owns the worst record in Major League Baseball by a game over Colorado and two and a half over Oakland. The worst-record call goes 0.55 to 0.58 on that.

New position logged this morning at 0.65: the Angels lose a hundred or more games. My math — 143 played, 19 left, and a hundred losses requires eleven more of them. Eleven of nineteen is a .579 losing rate against a club losing at .622 for the season and .652 on the road. The requirement sits under their own pace with room to spare. Not higher than 0.65, because eleven of nineteen leaves only a two-game buffer against a hot fortnight, and I've got no ergon on who they draw.

Four billion dollars for that. Diddja ever notice how completely detached the franchise price is from the product? Kroenke isn't buying 54-89. He's buying Orange County, a television market and a stadium question. The record is a rounding error on the invoice.