This Owner Bought Sox When Halo Didn’t Fit

Where was this deal 18 months ago? If the Walt Disney Co. would have been willing to sell the Angels back then for less than $200 million -- or even a little more -- John Henry would own the defending World Series champions right now, not the Boston Red Sox. On Thursday, Arte Moreno bought the Angels for $183.5 million.

When Henry offered to buy the Angels, Disney insisted on $250 million. Negotiations nonetheless progressed far enough that Henry met with Disney Chairman Michael Eisner and went house-hunting in Orange County.

“It didn’t happen, but we came very close,” Henry said Friday. “My wife cried when I told her it wasn’t going to happen. She had fallen in love with Newport Beach. In our minds, we were there.”

In the season that elapsed between the collapse of the negotiations with Henry and the sale to Moreno, Disney claimed operational losses of about $10 million on the Angels. Add in the lower sale price, and the lost opportunity to sell to Henry cost Disney as much as $75 million.

“The economy has had an effect upon asset prices everywhere, not just professional sports,” Henry said. “I think it’s a good deal for both sides.

“It’s a great potential market. One of the problems [former Angel president] Tony Tavares had was that when he went to see sponsors, the feeling was, Disney doesn’t need our help. The team really rests upon the shoulders of its community. You need corporate support and sponsorship support. It will be much easier for Mr. Moreno to garner that support from the community.”

Within days of halting his effort to buy the Angels, Henry joined the group that eventually won the bidding for the Red Sox, for $660 million. Henry calls the chance to run one of baseball’s marquee franchises “magical” but says he was thrilled by the Angels’ World Series run.

“I was really happy to see the Angels win,” he said. “In a lot of ways, people felt the same way about that franchise as they feel about the Red Sox, that there’s some sort of curse. I don’t believe in those things. It was great to see the Angels break through.”

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In a report posted on ESPN’s web site this week, an unnamed scout is quoted as saying Jarrod Washburn is not pitching to the inside half of the plate, troubled by a fastball clocked in the mid-80s.

“If this guy’s velocity is down, as a high-fastball pitcher, he’s going to have trouble,” the scout said. “You just can’t put that many pitches up in the strike zone at 85-86 and survive.”

Said Washburn: “That was accurate. But he must not have watched my last couple games.”

Washburn, who starts today, said he has recovered the velocity -- at up to 90 mph -- and the command he lost while recovering from the shoulder sprain he suffered in spring training. In his past three starts, he is 2-1 with a 2.35 earned-run average.

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Outfielder Tim Salmon drew the 867th walk of his career, moving ahead of Brian Downing as the Angels’ all-time leader in that category. Salmon also ranks as the leader in home runs, runs batted in, extra-base hits and total bases.