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Arte Moreno: No to Matt Holliday, maybe to Jason Bay

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Angels owner Arte Moreno spoke on a number of topics after the owners’ meetings concluded today in Chicago. Among the highlights:

On Matt Holliday: ‘He is not going to be an Angel. We are not looking at Holliday at all.’

On Jason Bay: ‘You have to look at Bay.’

On the Angels’ player payroll: ‘We’re going to invest what we invested last year. We’re not looking to reduce payroll.’

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On John Lackey and Chone Figgins: ‘We’re at $101 million now. We were at $113 million last year. If you look at what they’re asking, you can’t bring both of them back.’

On all free agents: ‘A lot of people are looking for five- and six-year contracts. I’m not interested in making what I would consider a long-term contract unless we feel it’s for a franchise player. There are very few franchise players out there.’

On Vladimir Guerrero: ‘We’ve talked to his agent just recently. We talked to his agent two years ago. We could never get close enough. It’s very emotional for us. He’s been unbelievable for our franchise. He should be a future Hall of Famer.’ (Moreno did not flatly say that Guerrero would not return.)

On the Angels’ needs: ‘We’d like to have a power bat, a starter and another bullpen guy.’

On Brandon Wood: ‘Eventually, Brandon is going to get his 600, 800, 1,000 at-bats. He’s done everything he can in our minor league system. He’s been a very patient guy. ... I can’t tell you he’ll be guaranteed a job. He’s one of the players that’s earned an opportunity to try to win a job.’

-- Bill Shaikin in Chicago

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