Thought experiment

[tzill]

Reading how the Angels are finally going to commit to a rebuild and trade Mike Trout at the deadline. He's got six years left on his contract paying him $35.5M a year through 2030. Say we are solidly in the WC mix with solid SP, RP, and defense, and ok offense at the trade deadline.

Would you unload the farm to get him?

I'm inclined to say no, for the following reasons:

1. His games played over the last five years: 53 (pandemic season), 36, 119, 82, 29. Dude can't seem to stay healthy.
2. He's 33, and we'd be paying an aging, often hurt guy through his age 38 season.

To be fair, when he plays, he's still elite. He's put up OPS+ of over 150 almost every year. Dude can still mash. I suppose it all depends upon price, and how much salary the Angels would eat but overall I think it'd be a mistake. Even with the DH now.

 

[filosofy29]

Depends on what unload the farm is for him. Given his contract, age and injury history, I can’t think he’d go for an “unload the farm” type offer.

 

[msgkings322]

Right it comes down to price. A couple top prospects sure. 4-5 of them probably not. I’m not a big prospect guy, far more turn out to be Luciano than Ramos/Webb or even Bailey

 

[msgkings322]

I suspect we’d get outbid anyway

 

[tzill]

I suspect we’d get outbid anyway

I just don't know if moving forward we'd be better off seeing how McCray, Luci, Matos, etc. play out.

 

[filosofy29]

Like I wouldn’t even trade Bryce one for one for him at this point.

 

[msgkings322]

I just don't know if moving forward we'd be better off seeing how McCray, Luci, Matos, etc. play out.

To me the chances any of them get even close to what Trout would give us is pretty small

But yeah, no way to be sure, every trade is a risk

 

[msgkings322]

Like I wouldn’t even trade Bryce one for one for him at this point.

Bryce I tend to agree (even though he's a DH and Trout is an excellent fielder), and he'd probably be required or we'll just get outbid

 

[filosofy29]

Bryce I tend to agree (even though he's a DH and Trout is an excellent fielder), and he'd probably be required or we'll just get outbid

Agreed, then that would be the deal breaker for me.

 

[calsnowskier]

Adding Trout would just move us up the WC contender list. He would not be putting us 8M to th3 division or into some kind of multi-year “window”. Therefore, I say pass. We just aren’t there yet.

 

[LHG]

Reading how the Angels are finally going to commit to a rebuild and trade Mike Trout at the deadline. He's got six years left on his contract paying him $35.5M a year through 2030. Say we are solidly in the WC mix with solid SP, RP, and defense, and ok offense at the trade deadline.

Would you unload the farm to get him?

I'm inclined to say no, for the following reasons:

1. His games played over the last five years: 53 (pandemic season), 36, 119, 82, 29. Dude can't seem to stay healthy.
2. He's 33, and we'd be paying an aging, often hurt guy through his age 38 season.

To be fair, when he plays, he's still elite. He's put up OPS+ of over 150 almost every year. Dude can still mash. I suppose it all depends upon price, and how much salary the Angels would eat but overall I think it'd be a mistake. Even with the DH now.

I think Trout is one of the all time greats of the game and whichever team he is one, he should be the full time DH. Maybe he can still field but he cannot stay healthy while playing the field. He would be worth more to any time as a full time DH playing 140 games a season than a above average right fielder playing 50 games a season.

As for selling the farm to get him, that contract, even for him is a bit prohibitive. I would guess that the team that lands Trout pays his full contract and maybe a couple of B/C prospects.