No player is untradeable, not even an aging, broken-down Mike Trout under contract through 2030. But with Trout’s latest injury, the terrifying thought of him spending the rest of his career with the Los Angeles Angels is closing in on become reality.
Trout, who turns 33 on Aug. 7, is expected to be out at least eight to 12 weeks as he recovers from surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. He is guaranteed $35.45 million this season and each of the next six. Even if he returns on, say, August 1 and finishes strong, which team would trust him enough this offseason to take most or all of his remaining $212.7 million? From 2021 to 2023, Trout missed more games than he played. And given that he’s historically a slow healer, he’s not exactly on track to reverse that trend in 2024.
“We’ll make it” đ˘ @EricaLWeston @Angels L #RepTheHalo pic.twitter.com/2pxLf8JJfn
â Bally Sport West (@BallySportWest) May 1, 2024
A trout trade, of course, was far from ever happening. To the dismay of many opposing fans, the three-time MVP and 11-time All-Star has consistently refused to be asked to leave Anaheim, maintaining that he wants to spend his entire career with one team, like his childhood idol, Derek Jeter, and win with the Angels.
At the start of spring training, Trout said he was âpushing, pushing, pushingâ upper management to add free agents, an indication, perhaps, of his growing impatience. Well, his fuse should have been shorter. I waited too long.
For a business scenario to become realistic, the following was needed:
⢠The Angels will stink again, which was far from a given.
⢠Trout to A) returns to near-MVP form, which at least had a chance of happening before he hurt his knee; and B) request a trade, which even Angels fans would understand considering he has never won a postseason game and hasn’t even appeared in the playoffs since 2014.
⢠Angels owner Arte Moreno demonstrated a willingness to not only grant Trout’s wish, but also include a significant amount of money in a trade, which… would never happen.
Moreno, remember, repeatedly refused to authorize a Shohei Ohtani trade, even if it would have brought a monstrous return that could have jump-started his dismal franchise. He then declined to match the Los Angeles Dodgers’ $700 million offer to Ohtani with $680 million deferred, a deal that could very well pay for itself. Ohtani may not have taken the Angels’ money, mind you. But all the Angels will get in return for him now will be â hell â the 74th pick in the 2024 draft.
With a small annual salary: $15 million? $20 million? â some clubs might still want Trout. Transactions involving large payments have become increasingly common over the last quarter century. Moreno made some, sending the New York Yankees more than $28 million to dump Vernon Wells in March 2013 and $63 million to the Texas Rangers to dump him. getting rid of Josh Hamilton in April 2015. Wells was no longer a productive player. Hamilton angered Moreno by falling back into substance abuse. Trout, by contrast, is a model citizen and an elite player when he’s healthy, one of Moreno’s favorites.
For Wells and Hamilton, the Angels received virtually nothing. For Trout, Moreno would probably want, oh, six candidates in the top 100, especially if he had to part with tens of millions to facilitate the deal. The current commercial value of the trout, even with a reduced financial commitment, would be much lower. So, good luck convincing Moreno to do it. He wouldn’t have traded Ohtani when, more than once, he had the chance to make the same type of deal the Washington Nationals made for Juan Soto.
And where are the Angels now? Stuck with two players, Trout and Anthony Rendon, who together make nearly $75 million a year through Rendon’s contract completion in 2026, but can’t stay on the field. And this is where Trout’s tolerance for Moreno’s erratic handling becomes less understandable. The team is a disaster, it was a disaster, it will be a disaster at least for the next few years.
AtleticoKeith Law ranked the Angels’ farm system 29th out of 30, ahead of only the Oakland A’s. Even if the Angels somehow turn things around by the end of Trout’s contract, how functional will a player in his 30s be? His first thirty years definitely didn’t go well.
During spring training, Trout told me he heard rumors about how he’s satisfied with the Angels, doesn’t want to win, won’t ask for a trade. In an interview I conducted with him for Fox Sports, he said, âIt gives me more energy.â He was convinced that he was about to get back into shape, saying that it gave him chills just thinking about that possibility. And the way he was playing, a 50-homer, 30-steal base seasonâproof that he was still the GOAT, or at least one of today’s best playersâseemed within his reach.
His seriousness remains one of his most endearing qualities. The idea that he doesn’t want to play in a more demanding market has always seemed wrong to those who know him best, to those who see how hard he works, to those who witness his competitive fire. But Trout’s desire to succeed with the Angels instead of elsewhere seemed, to most, a fanciful idea.
Armed with full no-trade protection, he could have leveraged his way to the Philadelphia Phillies, the team closest to his hometown of Millville, NJ. He could have merged with a club full of starving stars: Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber, Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. And he could have been celebrated for escaping a bad situation rather than criticized for staying put.
It wasn’t supposed to be the Phillies. It could have been just about any contender with salary flexibility. And there was no need to get to the point of an exchange. Trout twice signed extensions with the Angels when he could have become a free agent entering his ages 26 and 29 seasons. His loyalty was commendable. But right now he looks like the modern-day equivalent of Ernie Banks, who holds the major league record for most games played in a career without making the playoffs (2,528).
Banks, playing in a pre-free agency era, never had the opportunity to pick another team. For much of his career, only the league champions reached the playoffs, meeting in the World Series. He was a beloved figure, known as Mr. Cub. He made the Hall of Fame. But for many there was always something missing, an aspect that could have been of his legacy.
Trout, in the wake of his latest injury, is moving into similar territory. More than ever, he seems destined to remain Mr. Angel. However good his intentions may have been, that’s a very sad thing to say.
(Photo: Paul Rutherford/Getty Images)