What if?
D-Backs wouldn't look the same with Moreno in charge
Mark Gonzales
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 5, 2004 12:00 AM
Mary Altaffer/Associated Press
Before purchasing the Anaheim Angels, Arte Moreno attempted to gain control of the Diamondbacks in 2001.
Cheaper beer, $7 caps at Bank One Ballpark.
Maybe even a first-place team.
Whoa, wild thoughts. But who knows what would have happened had Arte Moreno been successful in buying Jerry Colangelo's managing general partnership with the Diamondbacks in 2001.
"I don't really spend a lot of time dwelling on it," Moreno, with his wife, Carole, said last month before an Angels game at Angel Stadium. "We live in Phoenix. We're Diamondbacks fans. We support what's going on there. But I don't dwell on that.
"We're having a lot of fun here."
No doubt. Moreno has seized Southern California since buying the Angels for $183 million in cash in May 2003. He has lowered Angel Stadium beer prices by nearly $2 a cup, expanded the availability of $5 tickets to youths 18 and younger and provided $5 family package tickets Mondays through Thursdays.
And that was before he spent $145 million on free agents such as All-Star right fielder Vladimir Guerrero, Jose Guillen, Bartolo Colon, Kelvim Escobar and Shane Halter.
If Moreno had been devoting those resources to the Diamondbacks, the possibilities seem endless.
Imagine a team not saddled with $170 million in deferred payments to players or harnessed to more than $100 million in stadium debt.
Moreno's moves would have been subject to investor approval, but he possesses the capital to have set the Diamondbacks on a different course.
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If Moreno had moved into Bank One Ballpark instead of Angel Stadium, would Curt Schilling still be sharing ace duties with Randy Johnson, leaving Brandon Webb to grow into the No. 3 spot?
Schilling has six wins this season for the Red Sox. Six more wins would make the Diamondbacks' current series with the Dodgers for the National League West lead.
Schilling's presence would have taken pressure off Webb, who has struggled as the No. 2 pitcher. He is 3-5 in 12 starts. If he had just three more wins to go with Schilling's six, the Diamondbacks would have led the Dodgers by a half-game going into Friday night.
A solid starting rotation wouldn't have turned the bullpen arms to mush, and maybe the Diamondbacks would have converted more than five of 17 save opportunities.
Add five victories, and Arizona would be contending with Anaheim and the New York Yankees for the best record in the majors.
That's just the pitching staff.
Subtract Richie Sexson's season on the disabled list, carry the six players sent to Milwaukee for Sexson and multiply by Guerrero's 14 home runs and 50 RBIs through Thursday, and the Diamondbacks might be producing record numbers.
Fans, reduced-price beverages in hand, would be enjoying every game with the BOB roof open and the air conditioning blasting. They would stop cheering only long enough to hear about the next team promotion and to take dips in the expanded and easier-to-access outfield pool.
But alas, while Moreno has fans flooding Angel Stadium - the Angels exceeded 1 million in attendance in only 25 games - Arizona is well below .500 and drowning in debt.
The Diamondbacks have trouble producing pocket schedules, an item most teams give away like refrigerator magnets, much less a product like the Angels'.
There's little question Moreno would have made changes had he taken controlling interest of the Diamondbacks. Despite the success and popularity of the Angels in their 2002 world championship season, Moreno revamped their business department.
He has backed General Manager Bill Stoneman's decisions and given him what he said he needed to win, including Guerrero's five-year, $70 million contract.
But Moreno declines to take any credit for the Angels' first-place standing in the American League West.
"That's our baseball people," Moreno said. "Bill Stoneman and our baseball people have done a great job. I'm just the front guy."
Yeah, just the front guy, who was Jerry Colangelo's approval from perhaps making Bank One Ballpark the happiest place on earth.
Imagine if he was part owner of the Suns. I am waiting to see Sarver's impact. He is starting slower than Moreno announcing any changes. 
