March 21: Trout will make $36MM in 2019 and 2020 before earning $35.45MM annually over the remainder of the contract, Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times reports (via Twitter).
March 20: The Angels have formally announced Trout’s extension. The contract was announced as a 12-year deal, though that term also includes the two years for which he was already under contract.
The Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher tweeted today that it is technically being structured as a new 12-year deal and that the Angels have discussed moving some of the money he’s owed in 2019-20 back into the 2021-30 portion of the deal. Regardless of the exact structuring, the bottom-line numbers haven’t changed; Trout will be paid a total of $426.5MM over the next dozen years, effectively making the contract a 10-year, $360MM extension on top of the $66.5MM he was already set to earn in 2019-20.
March 19: The Angels are nearing agreement on a record-setting contract with superstar outfielder Mike Trout, according to ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan. Trout will be promised $360MM in new money over a ten-year term, according to reports from Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times (on Twitter) and Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.
Trout stands to earn $36MM in each of those ten seasons. The deal leaves in place his preexisting $33.25MM salaries for the 2019-20 seasons, which he agreed to under a previous extension that was also negotiated by agent Craig Landis.
Trout will turn 39 during the final season (2030) of his new contract. In all likelihood, he and the deal will still be with the Halos at that time. The new agreement will not include any opt-outs, per Shaikin (via Twitter), and provides Trout with full no-trade protection, Bob Nightengale of USA Today adds on Twitter.
From one perspective, it’s a record-setting contract befitting Trout’s status as a player of historic excellence. But the salary numbers pale in comparison to Trout’s own productivity on the ballfield. Since his first full season of play, in 2012, the peerless center fielder has vastly outproduced every other player in the game with a tally of 64.2 fWAR and 63.8 rWAR. Others have approached and even bettered Trout in single seasons — somehow, he has only twice been awarded the American League Most Valuable Player award — but none of his contemporaries has maintained anything approaching his unfathomably consistent level of top-end output.
Viewed in that light, there’s an argument to be made that this deal actually underpays Trout — perhaps by a significant amount. It’s important to bear in mind that he was still two years shy of free agency, which he’d have reached at 29 years of age owing to his earlier contract. Nolan Arenado, just one season away from the open market when he new contract with the Rockies, had more leverage relative to his own abilities. But it’s still notable that Arenado — an outstanding player whose best season nevertheless lags Trout’s worst — commanded a then-record $33.4MM AAV over seven new contract seasons. Trout’s deal promises to be longer and larger, but to be sure, but not by a margin that reflects the gap in these players’ established performance levels. Unsurprisingly, Trout’s new deal also easily tops the previous record for total guarantee that was recently set by Bryce Harper and the Phillies. That was a free agent deal; Harper took a longer term (13 years) to briefly reach a new high-water mark in total guarantee ($330MM). Still, in terms of new money, the gap between the contracts is only $30MM. The Harper vs. Trout prospect debate has been resolved conclusively to this point: the former is a heck of a player and the most marketable commodity in baseball; the latter has somehow already compiled numbers that warrant placement in Cooperstown.
It’s hard to overstate the immensity of Trout’s on-field output to this stage of his career. He has only once finished a full season with less than eight fWAR: the 2017 campaign, in which he was limited to 114 games due to a broken wrist and nevertheless posted 6.9 fWAR. While he’s no longer quite as dynamic in the field and on the bases as he was when he first cracked the majors — he’s merely very good or excellent in those areas — Trout’s offensive ability has morphed and risen over the years. He’s now as likely to take a walk as he is to strike out and might hit forty home runs in any given season. He has reached .300+ isolated power and .600+ slugging percentage tallies in each of the past two seasons. Frighteningly, Trout was never better with the bat in hand than he was in 2018, when he slashed an immense .312/.460/.628 — nearly twice the productivity of a league-average hitter (191 wRC+).
We can safely presume that Trout will age and decline like most players. But he still promises to be a hugely productive player for many years to come. There’s always risk in a long-term deal, but you couldn’t pick a better or more durable player to stake a bet on than Trout. All things considered, the Halos certainly seem to have secured quite a lot of promised future output for their money.
Even beyond the value the team can hope to achieve, the Angels have now locked in one of the game’s best-ever players for his entire career. The L.A./Anaheim organization has had its share of difficulties with sizable contracts and hasn’t yet produced a consistent core of talent to supplement Trout. But it also has only three more years left to pay aging slugger Albert Pujols and has steadily rebuilt its farm system over the past several years under GM Billy Eppler. It’s easy to dream on Jo Adell joining Trout and Justin Upton to form the game’s best outfield and tantalizing to envision Shohei Ohtani returning fully from Tommy John surgery to make an iconic superstar pairing. Whatever happens with the club’s other players, though, the Halos have certainty regarding the task at hand. The Angels and Trout are now bound together in pursuit of an elusive World Series title.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Yankeepatriot
NOOOO !!!!! FREE TROUT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On a serious note it’s the right thing for LA to do. He will be 42 when the contract ends correct ? 430 mill is WOWZA but deserved
joshua.barron1
Opt out after every year! Lol
Yankeepatriot
Ha !!! Could you imagine that lmao
phenomenalajs
Very interesting that Harper and Trout are locked in deals on opposite coasts from where they live(d). If it ever becomes an issue for both at the same time, I guess the GMs will have to talk to each other. Both will have NTCs, but I’m sure both would be amenable if it came to that.
luclusciano
Are you suggesting a swap? Nah, I would prefer trout in in his final 6 years compared to Harper in his first 6 years (let alone his final 6 years)
compassrose
I am truly shocked I believed he would hold out and go to Philly. I guess he is too nice of a guy to leave the team that drafted him. This can’t make Harper happy. His highest value contract didn’t last long. I wonder if he is going to go home for awhile and tell his daddy.
Jim Emmons
Hey, other than Orange County going blue, it’s a swell place to live.
Scallywags777
@compassrose
You’re right, the only explanation as to why he stayed is because he’s a nice guy…..
#simpleminded
RedFeather
Wow!! Angels took his prime and now his career and probably won win a WS.
Rocket32
Well we’ll see. 12 years is a long time. Plenty of time to turn it around and build a title contender around Trout.
deweybelongsinthehall
Mookie Betts: CA-ching. I can picture him listening to the opening of Pink Floyd’s Money.
Dave P
Power hitters (like Big Papi) have longer careers than speed (like Crawford/Ellsbury). I love Mookie…but, I do not believe he will age as well as Trout. 12 years for Trout pays him thru age 39. I would not pay Mookie past age 37 (or do not expect much production). Give Mookie the Highest Annual Salary, but NOT THE YEARS!! Will it take $40M x 8 years…or $320M total? Or 9 years to total $360M? Same Total New Money…but, Higher Average!
Syndergaarden Cop
At a $170M payroll, Trout will take up about 21% of it. How do you compete when you have one player taking up a fifth of your bankroll?!
trident
Because payrolls and revenues wont increase in 12 years
DadsInDaniaBeach
All teams have the money…They just need to spend it
chesteraarthur
By having a player who produces 8+ WAR a season
Syndergaarden Cop
He’s been a Angel for years now and they haven’t done a damn thing
AlvaroEspinoza 2
Exactly, Mr. President.
lowtalker1
Not all teams. Have you seen Tampa bays average attendance? Or the dbacks ?
proof2006
Money isn’t made off of attendance
i like al conin
What does this have to do with anything? So the Angels will continue to not win? Forever and ever?
Mike_Davis
The two don’t compare. While Arizona is by no means packing the house, they are at least in the middle of the pack. They basically double Tampa’s attendance with 25000-28000 average per game. over the last few years. Tampa struggles to draw 15000.
It just looks worse than it is due to the cavernous ballpark they play in.
bbatardo
In all fairness that 1 player is Mike Trout who generally has more WAR than 3-4 decent players combined lol.
southbeachbully
So what? We really have a misunderstanding of the relevancy of WAR and what kind of impact it has on a team. Despite multiple amazing seasons he has only made 1 post-season appearance. I’m not BLAMING him for the lack of post season play but if the team still needs 2 or 3 good SP, a good bullpen and a good lineup to compete then how is that player really worth $450 mil
I really think WAR is a great way to evaluate players but it’s clear that you can win a WS without him and that if you’re willing to allocate $450 mil to Trout then you better be willing to spend another $150-$200 mil annually to field a WS winner.
Trout, as great as he is, has had ZERO impact on increasing the Angels attendance. I don’t have time to do it again, but I researched where the attendance was higher BEFORE he debuted as an Angel and in fact, decreased AFTER he made his debut. His merch doesn’t even rank in the top 10.
Trout is an amazing player but this isn’t the NBA where 1 player, like a LBJ, can have a tremendous effect on the revenue of the team. If the Angels lost Trout he would likely be replaced by “some star” and the Angels would likely still average around 3 mil fans in attendance, Why? Because they were drawing better BEFORE he joined the Angels.
I guess the Angels had to do it since he’s the face of the franchise but I’m not sure their ROI will be worth it. And I’m saying that strictly from a dollars and cents perspective because the PROOF is that he has had no bearing on increasing attendance since it was higher for several years prior and has fallen or stayed flat since his debut. And he’s being outperformed by lesser players in terms of merc sales using the fact that his jersey isn’t ranked among the top 10 in the league despite being the best player in baseball playing in the 2nd largest media markets.
Here’s a list of the 20 players with the most jersey sales in 2018:from 1-20
Aaron Judge, Yankees
Jose Altuve, Astros
Javier Báez, Cubs
Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
Mookie Betts, Red Sox
Anthony Rizzo, Cubs
Kris Bryant, Cubs
Shohei Ohtani, Angels
Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees
Yadier Molina, Cardinals
Mike Trout, Angels
Buster Posey, Giants
Bryce Harper, Nationals
Freddie Freeman, Braves
Cody Bellinger, Dodgers
Andrew Benintendi, Red Sox
George Springer, Astros
Francisco Lindor, Indians
Carlos Correa, Astros
Ronald Acuna Jr., Braves
sam 17
By having that one player produce more than any 5 players (that reached free agency) being paid $8MM combined.
rainbirdmuse
When that player provides 25 percent of your offense.
stymeedone
WAR is a fantasy stat. How much does he produce at the box office? You pay him that much, you better sell tickets, and gain viewers.
RedFeather
Youre right…. Most of the revenue comes from hot dog sales. This guy…
whynot 2
Assume they increase the payroll to 340 mil by the end of the contract. They would still have about 10% of the payroll tied up on a player that would be in his 40’s. 4% of the roster taking 10% of the available payroll limits the type of team they can field, it is just simple logic.
Solar Flare
Yes, because of the only time they’ve been to the playoffs with him, despite having a major league best 98-64 record in 2014, they laid an egg against the Royals, who did not even win their division.
afenton530
hey 8 wins is 1/5th of the angels wins this year
KnicksFanCavsFan
you still need those 5 players and no, the WAR might be equal
1 Trout @ 8 WAR vs 4 players at 2 WAR …..but the actual ON FIELD value is obviously incomparable and silly to look at it that way.
WAR should be used to rank players production vs each other but this is that, …in the aggregate, Trout is worth 4 different players at 4 different positions is stupud and it’s borne out by the fact he hasn’t been able to drag his team to the playoffs the way LBJ dragged average rosters to the finals. That’s not Trout’s fault but it just highlights the misuse of WAR for the real world. With Ohtani, Upton, Simmons, etc they still need much more to be serious contenders.
Don’t take this as a knock on Trout because that’s not the intent.
KnicksFanCavsFan
but he doesn’t represent 25% of the teams total runs scored, hits or homers. and even if he did, which he doesn’t, it still obviously isn’t enough to make them a 95 win team. this isn’t a fantasy league. you need other players. even Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds ned other players and those guys had significantly more amazing offensive seasons. again, not a slight on Trout. he is the best player today.
victorg
baseball like football has a lot of roster spots you can pay guys the league min and still get production.
ShieldF123
So according to baseball almanac:
Angels attendance from 04-10 averaged over 40k per game and since Trout debuted has averaged roughly 37.5k per game. This supports southbeach’s argument.
I will add the caveat that attendance league wide went down accordingly. At the very least though it shows that Trout has at best minimal impact on attendance
baseball-almanac.com/teams/anahatte.shtml
brewsingblue82
That the Royals didn’t, but I seem to recall them winning something else? The World Series. Meaning it’s not like they just laid an egg against a team just barely able to get in the playoffs that easily got eliminated the next round. A playoff team is a playoff team, and if you got beat by the eventual champions, than you weren’t alone in your defeat.
trout27
The Angels signed a 3 billion dollar deal with Fox. Do you really think that Trout had nothing to do with that? The contract calls for 10/360 with no opt outs and a full NTC.
Eppler will continue to be patient because the farm is ready to produce. Trout was obviously satisfied with the numbers and he loves playing in Anaheim. A different player probably would have gone through FA and held out for more money. I applaud Mike Trout for not being a Scott Boras type client.
greg_funke
but money is made off of concessions, memorabilia and TV contracts which correlates pretty well with attendance..
rottenboyfriend
Jersey sales are relative to how long the player has been a star in the major leagues! Once you purchased a Mike Trout jersey you don’t need a second one! Other than Kershaw the rest of the players above Trout haven’t been stars for nearly as long!
rottenboyfriend
Attendance falls in line with winning record and if your team was in the playoffs! To still average over 3 million fans with no playoffs in the last 4 years along with loosing records without Trout what would the attendance numbers have dropped too? Pretty remarkable the team has averaged over 3 million per season since Trout became a star year after year!
tdtd1515
You are failing to include the fact that the angels went to the playoffs 5 times between 04-10. That helps with ticket sales. Since 2011 they have been to the playoffs one time. That hurts ticket sales. However having the best MLB player on the team they stayed 30% over average al attendance.
You also didn’t mention that 1999-2002 the angels avg 25000 per game. In 2003 angels Jumped t0 41K avg. Again to my point year after World Series was won in 2002. To truly analyze his impact you would need a large enough sample size of him being unable to play and fans knowing this in advance. To arbitrarily used a random example of years as a baseline to claim he doesn’t help attendance is flawed. Statistically speaking a players worth can and is determined through WAR.
Take an average value of war at 5 million per war. Trout avg is over 9. So he is on avg worth 45 million per year to the Angels over his deal. Today he is worth about 63 million per year to the Angels.
Final analysis – Stating he hasn’t increased ticket sales is misguided. He has very much helped mainted ticket sales. You put him in the Midwest or east coast and way more exposure. He has never played in STL. I have tickets to all 3 games this year already. I can’t wait
tdtd1515
Freeman, Posey, Molina. all have been in the league longer than Trout
Mikel Grady
Let’s see 3 million fans , $100 is 300 million. Seems like attendance pays a lot . Let’s have fans not show up for 20 straight games and test your statement
Mrtwotone
That’s quite a list
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Right answer award for the person who answered that salaries will likely go up over time and overall payroll, too.
Koamalu
Trout will earn 19.5% of a $170 million payroll in 2019. 19.5% in 2020. Cespedes will make 19% of the Mets payroll this season and won’t even play. How can they compete with 19% dead money in one player?
East Coast Bias
yowch
Col_chestbridge
You think the Angel’s charge an average of $100 per ticket? Per Forbes it’s barely above $30. Not that $90m is nothing but they make a lot more theough their cable contract (150m/yr) which Trout had something to do with
Mikel Grady
My bad I’m a Cub fan. $100 on ticket $100 on beer $100 for 2 dogs and pretzel
Batman69
a team will have boosted attendance for roughly 1o years after a WS win. Naturally near 2012 the attendance at Angel stadium started to decline
abcrazy4dodgers
Won win situation for all involved
alt2tab
You must have great foresight considering some of the players Trout will play with during the contract probably haven’t even entered high school yet.
ham77
If it starts this year it will take him through his age 38 season. Not too bad
BDBK
His age 40 season just reach the article buddy.
LB123
the article is incorrect, though. he’ll turn 28 this season. 11 more seasons after that and he’ll turn 39, not 40.
Ann Porkins
He has two more years in his current deal, and this extension would begin afterwards. So essentially he’s locked up for another 14 years
Ann Porkins
Whoops, I instantly realized you’re right and I’m being a dingus. Cleary I should have my morning coffee now
arc89
he might become the Karl Malone of baseball one of the best players to never make the playoffs.
Android Dawesome
Im not sure what to make of this comment…
Al Jab
No, the 12 year contract starts now
Solar Flare
Did you mean to never win a championship, because he’s already made it once and there was plenty of times that Malone made it, but despite being a great player, like Trout is, he could just not get it done.
siddfinch1079
When you say “he’s already made it once” do you mean the playoffs or the World Series? Because the two are completely different…
kahnkobra
there is no 12 year contract, he’ll finish the 2 years of his previous extension and then the 10 year $360 mil extension kicks in
tdtd1515
at BDBK you should reach the article, it says he will turn 39 last year of contract.
Rich from the bronx
He’s under contract for 12 years….
Rich from the bronx
It’s only a 10 year extension…ie…12 total years
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Except that Karl Malone made it to the finals with the Lakers, where they were swept by the Pistons.
paulkauffmann
Exactly
Padres r knocking on the door
Malone made it twice with the Jazz too in the late 90’s, losing to Jordan’s Bulls.
trout27
The contract is an extension of his current 6/144 he signed in 2014. He will receive 10/360 starting in 2021. He will start the last year of the contract at age 39.
Best ‘ger ever
Thank you! Everyone here forgot how to do math. No wonder America is on the downturn.
mvpetro
He’s 27 now so no.
ThatBallwasBryzzoed
He doesn’t play for the Dodgers. He plays for the Angels who play in Anaheim..
Still an underpay. Hopefully he’s smart and asked for 2 or 3 opt outs
Vizionaire
you don’t get what trout is all about.
ThatBallwasBryzzoed
Opt outs are still a smart thing. The chances of him winning MVP 4+ times in the next 7 years are very high. If he wins 3 more mvps in 25% of that deal he can opt out and get more money.
I know exactly what trout is about. He wants to win. The complete opposite of bryce Harper..who is all about the money
Vedder80
There is a difference, Trout had already gotten the money (his first extension was over $140mil) and Harper hadn’t.
Padres458
If he wanted to win, he wouldnt have stayed with the angels.
Prospectnvstr
The article stated that there was NO OPT-OUT clause.
Stevil
You don’t think there was some kind of plan/strategy laid out for the future to contend was part of the sell? I do. There might not be much more they can do before Pujols is off the books, but their goal ultimately should be and probably is to win a World Series with Trout leading the way, even if it means going above and beyond what we’ve seen in recent years.
ChiSox_Fan
There are NO opt outs.
dirty_english
Trouble is, if they don’t build a team around him, it’ll all be for nothing.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
$400 million is not “nothing”
ColossusOfClout
BUT. WAIT. I thought he was GUARANTEED to go to PHILLY?????
LMAO!!!!
John Luke
So many dumb Angels fans telling management and ownership to dump Pujols. Mike Trout has been watching how the organization treats its older declining veterans. If you don’t think that played into Trout’s decision, you’re a fool.
KnicksFanCavsFan
How are they treating Pujols? If they could cut ties and pay nothing they would. All the Angels are doing idd trying to squeeze as much out of him and hoping that he doesn’t regress to the point where he has to be removed. don’t make any more of it.
John Luke
They are treating Pujols like a human being that will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. You guys really forget that teams should be treating their veteran players with dignity. I’m sure that is an allure that the Angel’s organization has. They don’t cyclically dump players every season (Dodgers)
rock6622
Well treating your Veterans well got the Angels mediocrity and got the dodgers to the World Series twice. Yes they lost, but it’s 2 more pennants than the Angels.
John Luke
All I can say is there are no guarantees in baseball. Angels currently have a top 10 farm system and haven’t signed any big contracts recently. In 2 to 3 years the Angel’s WILL be competitive with young players and extra money to supplement with free agents. Use your critical thinking skills.
sufferforsnakes
No, don’t free trout. I hear it’s a great tasting fish.
imgman09
Gonna Stay Wallowing in the Meyer of the Angels,Surprised! Good Luck with that!
SFGiantsfan28
They’re ripping up the last 2 years of his current contract, so he’ll only be 40 at the end of the contract
kahnkobra
they are not ripping the last 2 years of previous deal
rice
27 + 12 = 39
He will be 39 when his contract is done
I know crazy math right
greg 14
no. he’s 27 now (won’t be 28 until August). And it’s 10 years on top of the 2 he’s already signed for. So he’ll be 39 in August of his last year (meaning he plays at 38 for the last year of the new deal).
neo
Go over your numbers again. He will be 40 in August of his last year.
27 now, 28 this August. Add 12 to each. 39 in spring training of his last year, and in August he will be….
neo
nevermind, looked at his bio and see you’re right. It’s not 12 years after this year, it’s 12 including this year so add 11.
Oxford Karma
no. They would void the final two years of current contract.
medic87
39
TurksTeeth
Actually, he’ll be 39 when the contract ends, as it’s a simple 10-year $360M extension (keeping the existing two year contract in place).
How many teams would take that contract on the free market, given no cost to draft picks? I’d say more than half the teams in the MLB would agree to that.
todd76
Evidently he’s not interested in winning a World Series. At least this keeps him away from the Spankees!
rottenboyfriend
Having the best player go elsewhere would be emotionally devastating for the organization! The Redsox never recovered from selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees so you can’t allow Trout to leave over money! His actions prove his character is night and day above Harper and Machado who are all about nothing but who would pay them the most money! Ohtani came to the Angels because of Trout and with Adell up soon the Angels will be very good for a long time! Fans all across the country could only hope they find ball players with Mike Trout’s character and integrity!
southbeachbully
So you’re ripping Harper and Manny for taking the most money offered but lauding Trout who was given the most money EVER by the Angels? We can speculate that he would’ve received more money in 2 years as a FA but it’s far from a guarantee that it would be there.. Greatest player today or not, the biggest markets have shunned away offering 10 year $300 mil deals and a few f them have their own in-house commitments to address which might prevent them from adding another $400 mil contract… Yanks have to address Judge..Sox need to address Mookie.. Dodgers might have been open to the pursuit. Two years is a long way away and an injury could’ve cost him tens of millions. It was a smart move for Trout.
Api4u2
I believe he will be 39 years old at the end of the contract.
phattboy4 2
He will be 39 when his contract ends
progwell
I do follow this site and here is what I find fascinating.
Trout’s Salary
’18 = $34,083,000 / 3+4+8+3 is 18 adds up to 9.
’19 = $36,000,000 / 3+6 adds up to 9.
’20 = $36.000,000 / adds to 9.
10 year extension $360mm adds to 9 | owed $66.5MM adds to 17 adds to 8
’21-31 = $$35.45MM / adds to 17 adds to 8
Prior signing bonus 15-18 / $833,333 adds to 5
Signing bonus 19′-29′ / $1,666,667 from adds up to 40 to 4 (a raise of $833,334 adds to 6)
Prior + Current / 5 and 4 which adds to 9
Final signing bonus in ’30 is $1,666,674 adds to 36 adds to 9 (a raise of $7)
Why a raise of $7 because the number 7 is the seventh letter, which is “G” in the English alphabet.
Salary + Bonus = 37,116,667. adds to 9.
progwell
average salary $35,541,666.666666664 adds up to 7
davidcoonce74
Okay, I’ll bite; what is the significance of 9 and 7?
progwell
previous contract paid him $73,000,000 15/16/17/18.
new contract $426,500,000.
which adds up to $499,500,000 so 4 + 5 + 9 + 9 = “27” = “9”
progwell
to be honest I don’t know. I’m scratching the pattern forming part. But the symbolism side of it I have yet to fully dig into it, the actual meaning and symbolism and origins of numbers and letters. And how to apply that to everyday reality, if any wants to contribute feel free.
The Angel Trout, plays the Harp in Philadelphia. I also believe there is some biblical ties here as well, if you factor in Harper and do word etymology research.
city in Pennsylvania, U.S., from Greek, taken by William Penn to mean “brotherly love,” from philos “loving” (see -phile) + adelphos “brother”
progwell
/Here is my first clue.
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Mark 1:17
1:17 = Move the 1 over and you have 27 Michael Nelson Trout’s jersey number, add them up and you get 9.
progwell
Nelson is a patronymic surname meaning “son of Nell,” a form of the Irish name Neal, from the Gaelic Niall, which is thought to mean “CHAMPION.”
Champion – The word had been borrowed earlier by Old English as cempa. Sports sense in reference to “first-place performer, one who has demonstrated superiority to all others in some matter decided by public contest or competition” is recorded from 1730.
progwell
Nell also means “bright, shining one”. The shining one, the light barer, Lucifer.
progwell
Modify the slash going through the letter N and make it vertical and you have “Hell”.
progwell
Harp from Old English hearpe “harp, stringed musical instrument played with the fingers,” from Proto-Germanic *HARPON-
What is a Harpoon? A spearlike weapon with a barbed head used in hunting whales and large FISH.
progwell
1610s, from French harpon, from Old French harpon “cramp iron, clamp, clasp” (described as a MASON’S TOOL for FASTENING STONES TOGETHER), from harper “to GRAPPLE, GRASP,” possibly of Germanic origin, or from Latin harpa- “hook”
Nelson (n.) type of WRESTLING HOLD, 1875, apparently from a proper or surname, but no one now knows whose, according to etymology.
Crazy Nelson and Harper connection right here.
progwell
They have been FASTENED together with the Philadelphia connection just to name one. But still this needs more looking into.
progwell
davidcoonce74
“Okay, I’ll bite; what is the significance of 9 and 7?”
I still dont know but from simple/bare thinking. What is missing from the 7 to make a Mike Trout? The 2 is missing to make 27 to add up to 9. The “2” is Bryce Harper.
progwell
Harper’s middle name is Aron Max.
There is a book titled “East of Eden” 1952, a book about two families.
Here is a quote.
Sam goes in to see the boys—it has been Ten years since he helped to name them. Aron has dropped the second A from his name and Caleb prefers to go by Cal. Aron raises rabbits, and Cal has taken to gardening—this makes Sam smile knowingly.
Sam goes in to see the boys 10 years later. Aron has dropped the second A from his name (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim). And Caleb prefers to go by Cal?!?!
“Aron raises rabbits, and Cal has taken to gardening—this makes Sam smile knowingly.”
Who is Sam?
WOW!?
Remember the Rabbit in The Matrix? Also remember the NECK is where they plug themselves back into the Matrix.
Rabbit Etymology = Rabbit punch “chop on the back of the NECK” so called from resemblance to a Gamekeeper’s (Sam the Gamekeeper) method of dispatching an injured rabbit.
progwell
Caleb in Phoenician and Ugaritic, meaning “servant of the Lord”.
So both Cal and Aron serve the Lord/Gamekeeper
progwell
How does this tie together? Harper’s middle name MAX.
Circus Maximus is a ancient arena and mass entertainment venue located in Rome!
Circus = Circle Us
We’ve all been here before past present and future. Were all connected.
progwell
Truth is stranger then Fiction.
progwell
“Aron has dropped the second A from his name (Los Angeles Angels of Anahiem); prediction of a trade to the Dodgers? and Caleb prefers to go by Cal. Aron raises rabbits, and Cal has taken to gardening—this makes Sam smile knowingly.”
progwell
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become Fishers of men.” Mark 1:17
Harper = Latin harpa- “Hook”
progwell
davidcoonce74
“Okay, I’ll bite; what is the significance of 9 and 7?”
“I still dont know but from simple/bare thinking. What is missing from the 7 to make a Mike Trout? The 2 is missing to make 27 to add up to 9. The “2” is Bryce Harper.“
Reflecting now the “2“ looks like a hook.
Harper – Latin Harpa- “Hook”
progwell
“Circus Maximus is a ancient arena and mass entertainment venue located in Rome.”
Bryce Aron “Max” Harper’s hometown of Las Vegas is very similar.
Dave P
Power hitters (like Big Papi) have longer careers than speed (like Crawford/Ellsbury). I love Mookie…but, I do not believe he will age as well as Trout. 12 years for Trout pays him thru age 39. I would not pay Mookie past age 37 (or do not expect much production). Give Mookie the Highest Annual Salary, but NOT THE YEARS!! Will it take $40M x 8 years…or $320M total?
Web
one of the big fishes of free agency are off the board
frontdeskmike
That’s a clownfish comment, bro!
yukongold
The clownfish signed for $100M less.
luclusciano
I see what you did there… fish… trout…. well done
ChiSox_Fan
ChiSox would have offered him $0.5BIL with incentives.
Trout signed too soon.
gstarrett
Lol what? They couldn’t even get Machado even with jay and alonso. You think they’d throw down nearly double the amount of money they offered Machado for Trout?
ChiSox_Fan
They offered the non-hustling Machado what he is worth.
You don’t overpay just to say you signed him.
Trout worth more.
Solar Flare
I see what you did there.
progwell
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become Fishers of men.” Mark 1:17
Harper = Latin harpa- “Hook” and we all know Harpoon to hook a fish.
Move the one over in 1:17 and you have 27, Trout’s jersey number.
Logan10braves
Woah……
RedFeather
Isnt the Powerball $430 million right now?
sufferforsnakes
I’m in Kalifornia, and it’s showing $550 Million. Geez, the cash payout is only $335,000,000. I’d never be able to survive on that.
Michael Chaney
If you ever win it, feel free to share the wealth
yoyo137
Gotta take the cash payout they’ll kill you if you choose to get it in payments so that they don’t have to pay you
astromariner
WOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!
Tyson’s Pet Tiger
Wow
acarneglia
DONT DO IT MIKE
bucketbrew35
As a Phillies fan, this breaks my heart.
tac3
Very surprised that he didn’t even test the market. Basically gross negligence by his agent. It’ll be key to see when the opt outs are.
brewcrew08
Hard to say taking $430M is negligence.
Monkey’s Uncle
Great comment. Short, sweet and to the point.
AndyMeyer
Agreed
thetruth 2
It is when he could’ve made more as a free agent and actually went to a popular team.
bowserhound
Nobody would come close to that offer. His agent is giddy for their cut.
thomps07
Right? Negligence. Lmao. Players struggled to get 300 million this offseason. He signed for 430 mil two weeks later. Haha
tac3
Ehhh I can see a few teams coming close to that. Again, very surprised he didn’t test the market.
murphydog
No one can come close to that contract.
irish0625
Biggest contract is sports history isn’t negligence…
tac3
You don’t think Mike Trout would’ve of gotten 35mil offer on the open market when Johnny Hustle got 30 mil avg? It’s negligence imo. Trout must’ve wanted to stay and end the talk or give the Angels a nice prospect package in a trade 🙂 lol
murphydog
Yep. Eppler you rock!!!
murphydog
Artie. You rock!
puddles
What is the upside of testing the market just to prove that other teams would “come close” to that number. Even if he could top that, it wouldn’t be by very much and certainly wouldn’t be worth risking injury over the next couple of years and losing value. This deal is a no brainer for him/his agent.
qazer
“Trout must’ve wanted to stay and end the talk”
Then it’s not negligence. An agent’s job is to deliver what his client wants, not what other people think his client *should* want..
Trout seems like exactly the guy who puts staying with one team for his whole career and avoiding drama above getting every last possible dollar. And that’s what his agent just delivered..
SalaryCapMyth
You suggest negligence while also suggesting Trouts preference to stay?
thetruth 2
By going to a team that’s actually popular and closer to where he lives. Not to mention a proven winner.
KCRoyalty
$430 million is negligence what are you on
mstrchef13
Given the Machado and Harper contracts, it would be gross negligence not to recommend he sign that deal if offered.
tac3
OK, it’s your opinion, I have mine. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say the market rules don’t apply to a true generational talent. He probably gets at least 40 mil AAV on the open market, and with PHI,NYY,BOS,LAD,CHI, etc bidding on him .. I’m sure it goes higher. The merchandise revenue he’d bring in would be huge, and cover his costs.
Well one good thing for the league is, now the bar is set. Going to be hard to justify more money that trout so teams FO can now better plan
Vandals Took The Handles
@ tac3,
1. Mr. Trout, his family and distant relatives, are set-up for then next 100 years unless the Socialists succeed in taking over the country and confiscate his money and possessions.
2. Mr. Harper is an entertainer that thinks he’s a personality. Mr. Trout is a ballplayer – a REAL generational talent. He and his family don’t need to spend every day the next 2 years having everyone they run into ask where he’ll be playing in the future.
davidcoonce74
Oh, you mean like in the 1950s, when the top marginal tax rate was 94% and the economy was booming under such notable socialist Presidents as Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower?
Equinsu Ocha
as another post above indicated, Trouts merch sales arent even top 10. attendance has leveled off and even dipped below what it was prior to Trout making his debut. this argument doesnt hold water.
Vandals Took The Handles
“Oh, you mean like in the 1950s, when the top marginal tax rate was 94% and the economy was booming under such notable socialist Presidents as Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower?”
davidcoonce74;
You know as much about economics and history as you do about baseball…….
Harry had trouble getting the Post-WWII economy going.
When Eisenhower left office in 1960 the America economy was stifled. Democrat John F. Kennedy pushed through needed tax cuts. The economy immediately began growing, and stayed strong till the recession in ’72 kicked in as the bill for Vietnam came due. Taxes were slowly raised and the economy stagnated through 1980. Republican Ronald Reagan pushed through tax cuts, and by 1982 another era of prosperity started.
Comrade Tipsy McStagger
Nice comeback davidcoonce. People like Vandals live in a world of paranoid fantasy.
Comrade Tipsy McStagger
Vandals — Reagan overplayed his tax cuts and was FORCED to quietly raise taxes numerous times. Bet you didn’t know that, huh? They don’t teach that at Breitbart University.
And “boom” time periods are complicated (certainly not as simple as Vandals is presenting), one thing you are conveniently leaving out is the price of energy, namely oil. That was a much bigger factor but the economists love to ignore that factor (probably the biggest factor).
Thirty years from now, Reagan will go down in history as the worst president in US history (by far). He met a crossroads of policies his first year in office and chose the one that will destroy us all. Thanks Ronnie!
davidcoonce74
Vandals is also named Samuel and also named TrimReaper in various guises. I don’t really mind that none of them know how to look up economics; I’m more annoyed that they think I don’t know how to look up real wages and economic growth from 1950-1970, which is pretty easy to find. And also that one fellow seems to care enough about me to use at least four different user names to go after me on what is, essentially, an ephemeral public forum that matters very little.
But I’m happy about Trout and the Angels. This is a baseball forum, so let us celebrate baseball!
davidcoonce74
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States….png
Note where actual wages began to stagnate, i.e, when they stopped growing. It was 1975 – around the same time we started cutting taxes on the massively wealthy. Wages have never recovered.
Vandals Took The Handles
lol
Explain how when taxes go up, so does unemployment……and tax revenues go down.
Obama/Dems kept raising taxes. Tax revenues went down; deficit exploded (doubled in 8 years); unemployment was chronic; economy at a standstill.
Right after the recent tax cuts business invested and expanded. Unemployment went down, and real wages went up for the first time in over 20 years. And while businesses and individuals are being taxed at a lower percentage, since a month after the bill was passed the Federal government gets record revenues each month.
Guess you schooled me!
davidcoonce74
Deficit is exploding even worse; and you know as well as I do that changing what counts as a “worker” as Trump’s administration has done, doesn’t mean unemployment is “down.” (People who have two jobs, like me, are now counted as two separate employees. In the past they were not. Voila! Instant drop in unemployment!)
The economy collapsed under GWB a year before Obama was elected, mostly because of profiteering by billionaires. But this isn’t a baseball discussion, Samuel.
snakebyte32
Yes but the effective tax rate on the top 1% at that time was “only” 42% and that included state and local income taxes. That is still 7% higher than what we see today. The problem today is the corporate tax rate.
Jim Emmons
Except that CNN Business ran a story in June that there are more job openings being posted by employers than workers available to fill them. Funny how stats get in the way of a good rant, huh?
davidcoonce74
Yes, because people are working two jobs to make ends meet. My grandfather, a WW2 Vet, in the 1950s, bought a house and raised ten kids on one income as a lineseman for a power company. His wife didn’t work then, although she had a college degree. You can’t do that now.
thetruth 2
Neither was a socialist.
its_happening
Just here to tell Starbucks A) I’m not Samuel….B) You still don’t have a clue about, well, anything. But thanks again for your efforts.
davidcoonce74
OIh, interesting. You just happen to write exactly like him and target my very infrequent posts, just like him. OK then, Samuel/TrimReaper/Vandals….let me know what to call you for real. Much love.
KnicksFanCavsFan
only you would see getting $100 mil more than any other contract as a bad job. insane. i imagine the agent did what his client asked him to do.
dnr7
At approximately $700K per week for the next 12 years… I think he’s ok even if he missed a few mil
christian18cutshaw
GOOD
warren r.
Breaks your heart? You’re really that easily manipulated by the media into believing that Trout to the Phillies was even vaguely a thing?
Come onnnnnn.
bastros88
I was thinking the same. Phillies fans really thought they’d land trout?
Solar Flare
That they did.
hawaiiphil
mine too—–sad for us. good for him tho
fmj
eleventy-billion dollars
docagnt
Hahahaha. Yes
bobbleheadguru
$35.8M per year. Way more than Harper.
bugman_t
Woot
24TheKid
But wasn’t he basically already playing for the Phillies?
MasterShake
Well according to Phillies fans he was!
ThePriceWasRight
The Brinks truck has arrived.
Old User Name
That’s Fort Knox money.
david klein
Holy freaking crap! Trout must have Stockholm syndrome to stay there.
Sky14
More like Geneva syndrome, because he’s banking.
Fire Jon Daniels
Artie just can’t help himself
david klein
It’s a good deal.
grant77
Good for the Angels. I like to see star players remain with one team.
thor would look better in red
for a weather guy he does not get much in orange county.
Vizionaire
have you seen the weather here this winter?
Vedder80
He has the winter off and can now afford to go to whatever weather he wants, on his own jet or yacht or whatever other mode of transportation he desires.
Yankeepatriot
To think this and alberts contract will be on the same payroll for years to come. Yikes
SashaBanksFan
Pujols is only for 3 more seasons (including this year), thank goodness. I’m sure the last couple years will be problematic but the AAV is only going to be slightly above what he is earning now so in that respect I think the Angels got some value long term.
The total amount is fine. The length is a bit worrisome.
Next up is for pitching and to re-sign simmons.
Also calhoun’s contract is up next year and the angels signed everyone to 1 year contracts so it will be interesting to see what the roster will look like
martyvan90
I wouldn’t worry about the length. He’ll do three years of GOAT laps. Much better value than Harper or Machado deals- IMO.
Yankeepatriot
Doesn’t he get paid more after it expires ?
laausc
1 million per year for 10 years …
JT19
Pujols only has 3 more years left on his deal (counting this year). And there’s always the possibility that Pujols retires before the deal ends.
pt57
Albert to wife: Honey, I’m going to walk away from $59 million.
Wife: (Scowls.)
artiefufkin
I honestly believe he is going to retire after the St Louis series this June. One last moment in the sun at the place where he made himself a hall of famer. He has stayed away from making any type of comments about the trip back so far. He is playing his cards close to his chess but I think he knows the writing is on the wall. He got his 3,000 hits and 600 homeruns and there is no chance on passing any one of any significance during the rest of his time on the team. He can ride off into the sunset a hero and become a special assistant to Eppler.
thor would look better in red
he is only 27 HR from Mays. that seems pretty significant to baseball history.
fmj
no chance he retires early. none
JFactor
Albert only has 2 years left. This entire extension is after Pujols is off the books
ocsportsgeek
Actually, this is sort of moot.
Trout’s previous deal had him earning 35M the last two years of his contract (i.e the next two years) So he’s really only earning ~800K more over those years. The only year that the contact extension overlaps w/ Alberts contract is in Alberts final year, and there is at LEAST some potential he retires ahead of that season. Even if he doesn’t, its just one year.
Charkip
He wanted to be a lifelong Angel. Good for him. Would have most likely gotten more in the open market, but he still gets paid what he deserves for the most part.
irish0625
Don’t think he would have gotten anything near what he is getting from the Angels.. He literally making 130,000,000 more than Machado and 100,000,000 more than harper.
sidbream1991
He has compiled more career WAR than both Machado and Harper combined. He plays CF and doesn’t have down years or an attitude problem. I think plenty of teams would have gone to 430 and beyond.
dirty_english
Awesome and from a Yankee fan. Bryce didn’t have the biggest deal for long lol. But then Trout is a much better player.
batty
Holy Smoly!
ThePriceWasRight
now just pay for pitching and get a new development staff. pitchers constantly with elbow, shoulder and forearm issues is the sign of a problem.
kimball0401
trOuT To pHiLly
PhilliesFan012
NOOOOOOO
Yelsnit
Poor Mike.
Zach725
I mean he’s going to get paid $430 million, I think he’s pretty happy.
jonnyzuck
So an extension would mean that the 12 years start after his current deal ends? I hoped he would hit FA but good for him and the Angels ensuring he spends his whole career there
CubsRule08
Nope it replaces it immediately and starts this year. Deal ends in 2030
jdgoat
Mike you were so close to being free of baseball purgatory why
DarkSide830
funny how everyone acts like he had no choice but to take the money here. He could have got just as much, paid less tax, and played for a team with a clearer trajectory, but instead caved to his agent. Obviously he might just like the Angels, but youd have to wonder if it was a bit of a jump.
prov356
“…caved to his agent.” That’s the most ridiculous comment ever in the history of comment boards. Congratulations.
walls17
Haha Phillies!
JJB
I feel bad for the xabials of the world who won’t get to see Mike Trout in a Yankees uniform.
AtlSoxFan
Dont. Next up is dreams of mookie betts.
imindless
Most overrated player in baseball 1 mvp seaason under his belt lets see hom repeat that success.
warren r.
Betts narrowly lost the AL MVP to Trout in 2016. He’s not a one-year star.
AndyMeyer
You honestly think Mookie Betts is the most overrated player in baseball???
@DaOldDerbyBastard
I’m verbally downvoting this terrible comment. Truly mindless.
Solar Flare
I know Betts wasn’t the main reason for it happening, but I think imindless , which makes sense, by the way said it because the Dodgers lost the World Series again and just need to lose the World Series this year and next year to become the Buffalo Bills of baseball.
spinach
Ellsbury 2.0 (And yes I know he is way way better and younger so the Yankees would pay him 16 yr, $600m.)
sidbream1991
He’ll sign an extension with Boston.
brewcrew08
Where are all the conspiracy talks among owners now?
afenton530
tell that to gio gonzales
ffjsisk
Wow…I hope 2 of the 12 years replace his current contract. Otherwise this will end badly for Anaheim.
Lars MacDonald
It sounds like that’s the case.
They rip up his current contract and give him a new 12 year contract starting now.
ffjsisk
After reading the updated post, it does indeed look to be the case. It’s hard to hate it but I doubt he’s worth it at the end. Hopefully he ages more gracefully than Pujols has.
davidcoonce74
There’s every reason to believe Trout will age better than Pujols; Trout is far more athletic than Pujols ever was, and plays a premium defensive position and plays it well. Pujols was always a first baseman, basically (the Cards tried him at third and left but he couldn’t handle it). Pujols has always been slow; even in his prime he routinely was among the league leaders in GIDP, and he’s currently the all-time leader in that category, with nobody really close to challenging him. In the statcast era Pujols has routinely ranked as the slowest player in baseball. In 2018 he was dead last in sprint speed, behind guys like Brian McCann and Yadi Molina. Trout will slow as he ages, of course, but he’s not going to get that slow – he was the 37th fastest player in baseball last year.
Trout is also a more selective hitter than Pujols ever was – players who walk a lot tend to age better than players who don’t. Pujols has never been a huge walks guy. His career high in unintentional walks is just 77. (He also was never a strikeout guy – he made lots of contact, which is great except now it’s mostly bad contact).
Pujols was also older than Trout when he signed that contract – he was 31, coming off his worst MLB season (but still pretty good). There have always been whispers that he is older than listed, but it’s pretty hard to get away with that post-9/11 and that’s just speculation. Teams are a lot better know at understanding aging curves and what kinds of players age better than they were when they were handing out contracts to guys like Pujols and Crawford and Wells.
Thronson5
WOW!! That’s a Hell of a deal! But if anyone deserves to get a deal like that it’s him. That’s awesome for him. Now if they can actually put a winning team around the guy.
bowserhound
That will be difficult…
Thronson5
Even before this monstrous deal they couldn’t put a winning team around him so I do agree. It’ll be difficult. But they need to figure it out. I know when Pujols retires or his contract is up Trout will still have prime years left so by then they should be able to. I just don’t get if they can spend this type of money why haven’t they spent money on too starters and relievers. Pitching has been there problem for as long as I can remember
kershawsgrandma22
Wow
shafe4141
GET THAT MONEY MIKE!!!!!!!
c1234
I’m depressed now… he’s really has to play with the Angels… THE ANGELS.. his while career…geesh
ham77
So much for the Bryce tampering complaint by the Angels.
DarkSide830
i almost feel like the timing has something to do with the deal. perhaps it scared the angels into jacking up the offer, of maybe the league stepped in.
JR K.
With every penny but sucks that he is stuck in Anaheim.
Kwflanne
And the Philadelphia fans cry themselves to sleep tonight..
VonPurpleHayes
I think they’ll be fine with Harper, Realmuto, Segura, Robertson, Cutch….etc. Not to mention the talent they already have.
The Phillies organization is not foolish; they were not relying on the pipedream of signing Trout. Some fans were sure, but I don’t think the Phillies realistically expected to land Trout. They already have a great squad, and plenty of money to build around it.
I think we’ll see the Phillies in more playoff games than the Angels, but I could be wrong, and that’s why baseball is always good times.
As a fan of course I would have liked to see Trout on my team, but I’m also not going to complain about seeing Trout and Ohtani together for years to come. This is good for baseball.
Kwflanne
Oh I agree, it’s good for baseball. Also agree that the Phillies see more playoff appearances in that span than the angels. My comment was strictly based for those fans (as you mentioned) who essentially thought it was a guarantee that trout comes to Philadelphia. Once machado signed in SD, I saw dozens and dozens of “we don’t want machado, we want Harper and are gonna get trout after that”….. just a little bit of counting chickens before they hatch. That’s all I was addressing. Agree on pretty much everything you said
VonPurpleHayes
Yea. There were even fans who didn’t want to sign Harper, believing they should wait on Trout. Totally foolish.
hiflyer000
It’s only good for baseball if the Angels manage to build a perennial playoff team so we can see the best player in the postseason. There is nothing to suggest that they have the ability to do this any time soon as they are stuck in purgatory with no real direction.
VonPurpleHayes
They are a better team than most people think. They’ve been derailed with injuries. One healthy season and this team is in the race.
thetruth 2
This is very bad for the game. The best position player is stuck on an unpopular team that is not even #1 in its own market.
DarkSide830
at the very least it makes the Harper deal that much more worthwhile.
VonPurpleHayes
Exactly right, DarkSide830. And it makes the fans who wanted to wait on Trout seem quite foolish.
Michael Chaney
I love this. Good for Trout to get that much (although it would have been cool to see him flirt with $500 million two years from now), good for the Angels to keep him, and good for baseball to see its best player stay with the same team. It’s great all around.
thetruth 2
Nope it’s bad for the game. Had he signed with a popular team that’s actually #1 in its own market it would’ve made more money. Trout playing for an unpopular team is horrible for the game.
jfedex
still won’t win a world series
Trip 2
Yesss!! I knew he wasn’t going anywhere!!!
Syndergaarden Cop
That’s unfortunate for most fans. As a generational talent, I really wanted to see him test FA
Daver520
Harper can’t carry this studs jockstrap …
jdgoat
Replace Harper with literally any other baseball player and it still applies…
brewcrew08
Very true. I still find it comical that Harper and Trout were compared so heavily coming up.
Ruben_Tomorrow 2
I actually think Arenado should be in that conversation for #2 player in baseball. Different positions, but he is head and shoulders above Harper. Still, a distant #2 to Trout.
wiggysf
I don’t think Arenado is quite the second best player. I usually think less of the coors field affect than most do, but Arenado is a victim. There’s no doubt that’s he’s extremely good, as evidenced by his away numbers being very good (especially against the Giants ugh), but I wouldn’t put him second after trout.
TheSilentService
Mookie Betts is the #2 player in baseball.
Solar Flare
Some even thought that Harper was better.
AndyMeyer
Why is it comical? Harper was on the cover of SI at 16 years old.
What’s comical is how many people think Harper is a bumb
DarkSide830
id take mookie or Arenado over Harper any day, if im honest
Solar Flare
I am not one of those people that thinks he is one, because I know that he is a great player, because I’ve looked at the statistics, and I don’t need anything else to know it.
southern lion
Not surprised at all. Trout is a stand-up guy. He likes where he is. The Angels did the right thing.
The Ranger Fan
Mike Trout is one of the greatest players ever, good for him contract, How is this gonna effect the team spending for the next ten plus years,are the owners and teams making that much money that they can now give out 35 million dollar per year contracts, plus they already have Albert Pujols at 20 plus million, will they be able to afford and more players,they will have to build through the farm system.
FakeBall
Hey! Please keep those thoughts of Perversion of players on your own dam team.
prov356
This isn’t new money they are spending. He was already making over $30mil a year. It’s offset when Pujols goes. They set themselves up for this with all of the 1 year deals this winter…brilliant planning.
Syndergaarden Cop
After all the wait that overrated Harper put everyone through, he’s now overshadowed in every way, and rightfully so. Harper is small potatoes in comparison.
VonPurpleHayes
I think the only people comparing Harper and Trout are silly fans. I don’t see how this extension relates to Harper at all. Of course Trout is better.
VonPurpleHayes
Why make it a competition? This is all fan-speculating nonsense. Harper doesn’t give one iota about Trout’s extension. He’s probably happy to see a fellow athlete making the money he deserves. Fans like to put this spin on things.
Harper got paid. He’s happy. Trout’s getting paid he’s happy. ‘Nuff said. It’s not like Harper has a dart board with Trout’s face on it. They’re in different leagues. They have nothing to do with each other.
Harper simply made a joke about recruiting Trout because he’s a Philly guy. It was nothing.
ocsportsgeek
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
ALL THE TRADE TROUT STOPS NOW!
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
THANK YOU ARTE!!!
Holy crap…it happened!
jleve618
Daaamn.
Matt_Angel_Bronco_Laker
I am feeling incredibly smug right now. Hahaha!
Congratulations to Mike Trout and to the Angels. To Trout for signing the largest contract in baseball history and wanting to stay with one team for a career. To the Angels for securing, arguably, the greatest talent of this generation.
tac3
Congrats. Big moment for Angels fans. Honestly im pretty shocked it happened so soon. I’m really surprised he didn’t test the market, to accelerate his chance to win. Honestly, I hope the Angels don’t sit there an not upgrade their pitching now. Money is great and all, but at some point you the non playoof seasons have got to get to a player. Hope he wins eventually in LAA, just not against my Phillies.
Matt_Angel_Bronco_Laker
The Angels have quite a bit of money coming off their books over the next few years. Couple that with young, cost controllable talent in their pipeline and you have to have a positive outlook on Trout’s future ability to play year-in, year-out in the postseason.
I realize the same could be said for Trout on multiple teams. The Phillies are set up for long-term, sustainable success. The problem the Phillies are going to run into is that the entire National League East decided to get good at the same time, with the exception of the obvious, Marlins. Health will determine your fate in that division. Good luck luck to you as well.
khopper10
That’s not arguable
Michael Birks
So if Mookie Betts were to sign an extension now, what would it look like? Somewhere in between Harper and Trout? 11/350?
brewcrew08
I think so for sure. I would assume closer to the Harper end of things. I like the 11/350M guess.
snotrocket
He and Bonds will go down in history as the greatest players to never win a ring.
murphydog
Listen to all the Angels haters. Jealous? Yep!
DarkSide830
not that jealous they don’t prove the statement wrong
davidcoonce74
Well, there’s also Ted Williams and Ernie Banks.
ocsportsgeek
Griffey Jr?
davidcoonce74
There’s also Ichiro, Gwynn, Marichal, Yount, McCovey, Carew, Yaz, and of course, Ty Cobb.
Trout has twelve years now to win one with the Angels; even without a starting pitching staff last season they were basically a .500 team. It’s a stretch to say they’re going to be bad for the next twelve years – they have three elite players on the team right now in Ohtani, Trout and Simmons – that’s a core that you can build around.
coastalcarolinachamps
hahaha!! All those Philly fans must be WTF? To think he was headed there next!! hahaha!! Harper telling a guy from that area you need to come here. Ummm….even Trout knows Philly South Jersey is the most depressing place next to Deadtroit and Northern Jersey NYC. Thanks but I’m happy right where I am. Cali girls Hollywood!! No brainier. I give Harper a month and he will soon realize how depressing it is!!
radhippo
YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!
RunDMC
LOL…Enjoy Bryce, PHI!
VonPurpleHayes
We will! And Realmuto, Segura, Hoskings, Robertson, Nola…etc.
It’s not like the Phillies signed Bryce just to get Trout. And can you imagine if the Phillies didn’t get Harper? I’m really glad they didn’t just wait on Trout like some of the sillier Phillies fans wanted them to do. You got to make a splash when you can.
Syndergaarden Cop
He’ll make more in one day than most of us make in 1 year, heck, 2+ years for many others….
busta37
That’s awesome on the part of the Angel’s.
Vizionaire
for trout, too!
Vizionaire
take that, all those fake fortune-tellers!
trident
Philly what?? Trout’s all about that Newport life suckas!!
FakeBall
*Beach, Where no means yes and Yesethamphetamines.
joew
Mike is definitely worth it as a player. This guy is the real deal.. only once in his career below 8 fWAR and he missed quite a few games that season.
Francys01
Mike Trout deserves this contract. He is definitely the best in the game. I wanted to see him with the Philadelphia Phillies, but it is good to see that he could probably finish his career with only one team, the Angels.
Halos2021WSChamps
Once Pooholes is off the books and are able to add thru free-agency again; and some of these young prospects emerge to play alongside trout , sky’s the limit with a good GM.
..Astros can’t be good forever right ??
Stay healthy Angels!
Matt_Angel_Bronco_Laker
You couldn’t be any more, spot on!
tac3
The Astros shouldn’t be, but they might have really short rebuild periods. The Angels needs to hit on ther prospects which is easier said than done. Trout should help them win over some FA battles. Will see what happens for them. With that 35 mil salary on the books, the Angels will definitely Ned the young prospects to produce while they are cheap. Possibl3 for sure, will see what happens
Solar Flare
True, because all good things must and will come to an end, same goes for all bad things.
Begamin
nooooooooooooo
Obviously I wanted him on my favorite team but i’m not even necessarily upset that he wont be. Im upset that he is stuck on the Angels. Theyre about to miss the playoffs for the 5th season while having the best player ever and their payroll at its max.
prov356
“…stuck on the Angels.” Um…he chose to stay. It wasn’t mandatory.
Halos2021WSChamps
I call your Harper, and raise you a Trout
stan lee the manly
Haha Harper made sure to get enough to be called the highest paid player in sports history to stroke his ego. I hope he made sure to live it up for those two short weeks
VonPurpleHayes
Actually Harper took less money annually in order to play for one team for the rest of his career. It’s only Boras who cares about highest paid player…etc.
Trust me. Harper is plenty happy, as is Trout. Only fans and media care about these silly spins you’re trying to put on things.
nubbz18
Love how much of a slap in the face this was to Bryce. He tried recruiting him, got fined, then Trout re-signed for $100 million more than he got in free agency
Syndergaarden Cop
lol yeah I love that he has egg on his face now too
VonPurpleHayes
Harper was never officially fined.
Gibson walkoff
For that amount of money I would play in Siberia wearing shorts!
Senioreditor
Now Harper is stuck alone in Philadelphia LMAO
tac3
Yup … he’s allllll alone, stuck on a horrendous team, with no ace pitcher, no farm team to keep their window of contention open. Minus Trout, I’d bet Harper would swap the Phillies entire roster for. What team do you cheer for? I need a new bandwagon to join.
VonPurpleHayes
Alone? Realmuto. Hoskins. Segura. Nola. McCutchen. Plenty of money to spend in the future as well.
Yeah. He’s real alone. The Phillies are better than the Angels on paper, and are set up to be for quite some time. The Angels made a no-brainer extension that I would have been shocked not to see happen. Harper is happy. Trout is happy. Baseball fans are happy.
I don’t understand why people love to stir up fake controversy.
Yankeepatriot
Trout don’t do it !! You could have had it all. You could have been tag teaming all of the women in nyc with judge, your own yankeeography special, trout day, your own trout flavored slurpie at the stadium !! 🙁
coastalcarolinachamps
you must be 12!!
Yankeepatriot
You must take life too serious !
econ101
“You could have been tag teaming all of the women in nyc with Judge…”
You just answered your own question. He has too much class to romp around with less talented players in that type debaucherous environment. Integrity IS “having it all.”
gene95988
Ha ha. About time someone snubs their nose at the Yankees and their deep pockets. Money can’t buy loyalty. Trout has shown he doesn’t “Want it all”.
Thank you Mike Trout, a member of the LA Angels FOR LIFE!
Bunselpower
Love it. A lot of money and obviously a risk, but to see guys stay their entire career with one team just makes me happy. This will be a first ballot hall of famer that never has to decide what team to go in with. Great stuff. I’ll look forward to taking my future kids to see Mike Trout’s plaque at Cooperstown in approximately 17 years.
Yankeepatriot
Another one who takes online too seriously ^_^
James1955
Read it and weep Phillie fans and Yankee fans.
Begamin
Someone in your head rent free?
Z-A 2
All Philly fans remember this day, when it all ended. 3/19/20 the worst day in Phillies Franchise history.
Syndergaarden Cop
It’s 2019…
Z-A 2
oh man I’m losing track of years, I have a newborn fml
VonPurpleHayes
It’s not that bad. I don’t know why everyone expected Trout. Phillies are coming off one of the best offseasons in history. I’m pretty happy with where they are at right now. Plenty of money to fill holes in the future too.
Z-A 2
I was just joking really. Trout cant pitch anyway, Phillied need a premium LHP.
mooseheadjack
The worst day in franchise history? Hardly. Missing out on a player that was two years from free agency? It’s foolish to think that is the worst day in franchise history.
JJB
It’s good that he signs this before 2020 when Ocasio-Sanders takes over and takes 90% of Troutski’s dough.
xxtremecubsguy89
Guess Harpers recruiting pitch wasn’t very convincing!
Syndergaarden Cop
So the whole garbage offseason of “Harvey-Cahill-Allen-Lucroy” was because they wanted to sign Trout to massive extension.
The question remains, how do you compete with one player taking up so much of your payroll? You certainly can’t surround him with the aforementioned players and expect to win, but what’s the alternative, expand your payroll to unfathomable proportions?
macstruts
You’re not a bright fan.. Stay in New York.
Syndergaarden Cop
haha what garbage you are
macstruts
You don’t know much. I predicted Trout would sign with the Angels prior to the completion of the Stadium deal, which the Angels are about to get.
If was far from a garbage off-season? They did what they needed to do without long term commitments. The Angels are competing for a one game playoff. If they stay healthy, they will.
As far as the Mets, they are the King of Garbage off-seasons. So how much of the Payroll is Cano going to take up.
Syndergaarden Cop
lol you think i’m a mets fan. think i’ll string you along a bit for comic relief.
DadsInDaniaBeach
again, all teams have the money…they just need to decide to spend it..
eeddiiee909
I knew it. An angel for life . true loyalty.
apathygood
In B4 fake angel fan HaloShane makes some stupid comment.
macstruts
He can’t help it. HaloShane is stupid, how could you expect smart comments?
gizmoldp46
good for him, and he wouldn’t of gotten $500 million at 29. no team even the Yankees would of paused him $50 million a season for 10 years. so the Angels did the right thing. now they need to figure out how to maximize that time
macstruts
People really need to buy a vowel. Four out of the last seven years that Angels have played meaningful games in late September and that’s with devastating injuries. They never tank and they always have a high payroll.
They about to get a new stadium deal, the Astros window is closing and are one off few teams that always tries to field a competitive team.
They are not the Yankees or Red Sox. But as far a being competitive, they are on the next wrung of the ladder.
Begamin
Never tanking, high payroll, best player ever, and they miss the playoffs for their 5th (its been 5 years, right?) straight years? Wow sounds promising
macstruts
They never tank. They have missed the playoffs, and they also have been hit by devastating injuries.
As far as promising, I think so.. They may go into 2020 with a new stadium deal and a staff of Ohtani, Skaggs, Heaney and Cole.
Begamin
Right, if they never tank and still suck it doesnt give reasons to be optimisitic. 12 years is a long time though.
Yankees were riddled with injuries to their better and still won 100 games. Meanwhile, Angels have a pitcher go down and its the season
DarkSide830
theres a point where chronic injuries go from unlucky to an major prohibitive issue. You cant say that you have a chronic problem with issues withought trying to fix it.
Begamin
You know, he couldve had $420MM, but no. He haaaad to get $10MM more. Wasted opportunity to be cheeky
migoli
suck it harper
kyredsox17
Wow. This almost makes me hope Mookie has a couple average years this year and next. Almost.
ThatBallwasBryzzoed
In that 12 years. He’ll make the postseason 3 times. Never going further than the ALDS. He could have gotten 10/450 if he waited. More than likely by Anaheim as well.
Vizionaire
another fake fortune-teller still in biz?
DarkSide830
think its called a prediction
prov356
No, it’s conjecture.
curlydub
Phillies fans punching air…
LeylandsLung
It’s too bad the Angels have a manager that doesn’t know what to do with talent like Trout.
macstruts
Huh? So Ausmus didn’t know what to do with Miggy?
He’s batting Trout second so he already has more of a clue than Scioscia.
LeylandsLung
Correct, Ausmus did nothing with Cabrera, VMart, JV, Max, Price, Porcello, etc. Terrible manager.
macstruts
He got into a world series. That’s not nothing.
jdgoat
You might want to check your facts.
LeylandsLung
No he didn’t. He failed miserable with a WS caliber team
macstruts
My bad. Thank you for the correction. He took over two years after the World Series run. He may stink.
I do know Sciosica was a dinosaur and didn’t have a clue how to manage a bullpen. I’m hopeful that Ausmus isn’t a dinosaur and based on the new technology the Angels are using this year, I’m hopeful.
LeylandsLung
I’m an optimist and appreciate those that are optimist. I think the Tigers might even be good this year. The problem with Ausmus is he’s milk toast. Can’t generate any excitement in the clubhouse or on the field. Bad bullpen management, terrible with the media.
ryanw-2
Where was the pitching depth?
Scallywags777
LMAO @ Phillies fans
French
YES!!
hexum311
How great is that.
And after all that waiting for Bryce to try and get the biggest contract ever, he gets surpassed before the season even starts.
Piro
Poor Phillies fans.
Dubplate
I wouldn’t cry for us too much. We have a great team and ownership is committed to winning. Can’t say that about a lot of organizations.
Piro
The competition is gonna be pretty tough in that division, I still see the Nats as the best, but we all know you can’t predict baseball.
SoCalBrave
That “great” team will still only get you 4th place in the NL East.
DarkSide830
And your telling me the Mets can beat them withought half of a healthy team, because thats what they will have.
VonPurpleHayes
First of all, 4th place? I don’t really see that, but it could happen in this tough decision. Second of all, the Phillies are set up for years to come. They’re going to be fine. Unlike some of our fans, the Phillies organization never seriously considered Harper coming to Philly. They smartly went after the players they could realistically get. They added 5 All-Stars this offseason. Everyone likes to talk about Harper, but 5 All-Stars in one offseason. Phillies fans are very happy. I know people are trying to make it seem like the Phillies missed out on Trout, but that’s not the case. Trout was never a Free Agent. The Angels did the right thing.
This is a great day for Angels fans. Why pull the Phillies into it at all?
Syndergaarden Cop
The only thing that would have made this better is if it had occurred while Harper was still unsigned because no one would have cared where he signed after that.
stratcrowder
MLB is very healthy, but team market disparities are very, very unhealthy.
Vizionaire
congratulations for trout and the angels. both did the right thing.
cygnus2112
Sounds like the Gimmecrats at the Kremlin in Sacramento are the biggest winners today! Man that’s a whole lotta tax revenue to redistribute & thus buy votes!
God Bless Kaliforniastan…
Vizionaire
why are you showing aversion to paying taxes? the flood in northern mid-west? it will soon flood missouri plains. who is going to fix the damages to infrastructures? some rich individuals?
cygnus2112
Because income tax especially at the federal level is theft & I’ll always advocate for the INDIVIDUAL working more for themselves & less for the government but I digress…
Vizionaire
even jesus tells us to pay taxes.
cygnus2112
I didn’t know we were a theocracy?
davidcoonce74
Man, I bet you hate the police and the military and the interstate highway system. Socialist institutions, all.
SoCalBrave
unless you’re from NY, California pays your state’s welfare checks, so you should be a little nicer to us.
Wolf Hoffmann
California has 12% of the US Population but takes up 33% of all welfare in the country. Facts are facts.
SoCalBrave
for every $1.00 California gets from the Federal government, California pays $1.30 back in taxes. Facts.
cygnus2112
At what point did you see me advocate for the welfare state both social AND corporate? You’ll never see that from me…
Wolf Hoffmann
California spends $100 billion on welfare for it residents every year. Trout just made a family in East L.A. very happy.
FishyHalo
Told you guys.
Laguna Beach is too nice. Philadelphia is Philadelphia, you’d have to pay trout 600m for him to leave Orange County.
I’m sooo happy the Angels locked up Trout. We got our inner-circle HOF staying with us for looks like ever
rocky7
Only Phillies fans actually thought that Trout was a possibility!
Your right, why would he leave SoCal for Philly (and is certainly isn’t because their primed to win with the acquisitions and money they have…..they haven’t won anything yet).
raysfaninboston
I find it funny how so many people are saying that Trout will never win a ring. Thanks to this extension, he’s going to be there for a long time, more than enough for the Angels to build a true contender centered around Trout. And Trout is only 27, so he’s got plenty of prime years left.
Other than Pujols, whose contract is up in 3 years, the Angels don’t have bad contracts on the team. In fact unless I’m missing something they don’t have too many big contracts on the team at all, so they have plenty of space to work with and build a contending team.
Begamin
Somehow, the Angels are unable spend to improve the rotation/bullpen all that much and yet they have plenty of space to work with. hmmm
Dubplate
They pissed away his prime years and now they’ll piss away his career. Imagine what his talents could have done for a contending team.
Bryzzo2016
I don’t mind it. I don’t want MLB to turn into the NBA with 4 or 5 super teams and 25 or so teams going into ST already knowing they have no chance to win. Good for the Angels and the Rockies for locking up their franchise players.
Begamin
People wanting Trout to leave the Angels doesnt imply that he go to one of the juggernauts. Machado going to the Padres is a good example to look at. He went to a young team with a lot of room to grow. There are a lot of teams like that out there. Imagine Trout in a Blue Jays uniform or something. Theyre division rivals with my favorite team and yet thats more exciting to me than seeing Trout on the Angels for another 12 years.
SupremeZeus
I like the way Trout took care of his business. Made a decision about his future on his terms and kept negotiations silent. Points for loyalty too. The guy is admirable. Let’s see if the Angels can hold up their end of the bargain and assemble a championship team around him.
Bryzzo2016
This
gizmo22
Trout’s not playing there for free. I think Anaheim’s “end of the bargain” is the $430 million they are paying him. People are unbelievable. Angels just agreed to top Harper’s record setting contract by $100 million, but somehow some “fans” immediate response is to try to disparage the organization and act like they are not trying to win. Also, points to the Angels organization for keeping negotiations quiet and showing loyalty to the player.
itslonelyatthetrop
And people want a salary cap? Bwahahahaha!
JJB
Honestly, I don’t understand this at all. Why would Trout do what he WANTS to do instead of what the fans want him to do?!? Makes no sense at all. He’s supposed to read these comments and sign with the Phillies or Yankees in two years… maybe alternate 1-year contracts so he could play for both franchises!
VonPurpleHayes
Big news, and something I figured would happen. This is why I loved the Phillies signing Harper. You can’t just wait on a free agent. Look at Arenado and Trout. You have to make a splash while you can.
thunderroad19
Thank you, Mike Trout. You saved us baseball fans from another free agent circus. Hope you make it to a World Series soon.
Syndergaarden Cop
circus? he’s a generational talent and seeing the bidding war with him hitting FA in his prime would have been one of the best things ever
Scrap1ron
Now will the Angels bring in some players to help get Trout a shot at a World Series?
Ohtani-san
Take a look at the Angel’s payroll for the next couple of years. Just with Albert Pujols alone coming off the books frees $40 million
econ101
He’s the best player in baseball. No doubt! He also seems like the kind of guy that provides a lot of intangibles to his team. He has earned every penny of his current contract and deserves, at least based upon precedent, the money that he got.
With that in mind, I can’t help but wonder about paying that much for one player, no matter who the player is. How many times has this one player helped the Angels to the point of making the playoffs? The answer is ONCE, and they were SWEPT in the division series. This says nothing about Trout’s lack of ability; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. It proves the point that even with a player of his magnitude, they cannot carry a team.
During the past 7 years, the Angels have been unable to put together a good enough team around Trout. You could argue that they could or should have tried harder, but at the same time, they have tried quite a bit. Knowing this, is it wise to devote so much money to 1 player? If it is worth it, then certainly Trout is the one to get it. I’m just not sure it is wise. But… I wish him and the Angels the best.
Scrap1ron
Barring injury, Trout will uphold his end of the bargain. I’m not so sure about the Angels organization. The team has a lot of needs, and not much obvious help in the minor league pipeline. However, Trout and Ohtani are a good start.
prov356
Our pipeline is stacked. You’re thinking of 3 years ago.
Yossi Ronnen
Good for him (and well deserved)…but will the team do anything to help him win?
HarveyD82
head east young man…
bobtillman
Jeees, and the Marlins just hired Trout’s second cousin on the third side twice removed to take tickets…I was sure he’d wind up in Miami…..
Congrats to both Trout and the Angels FO….navigated what could have been a difficult situation with a lot of skill.
driftcat28 2
Wow that’s crazy. Good move by the Angels of course but you have to wonder whether they will ever field a winning team around Trout. Wonder if he lasts the whole contract in LA. Only a handful of teams could take on that sort of deal. Would be neat to see an all time player play for one team in his career, you don’t see much of that anymore
Bubs Daddy
Well, that certainly frees up a lot of hypothetical spending by big market teams.
baseballpun
Trout’s gotten used to those tee times in October. He didn’t want to risk losing them.
Vizionaire
every golf club has an opening if trout is coming to play.
LosAngelesAngelesAngelesAngels
Hahahahahahha!! Ya baby!!!!! Go Angels!!!! “HeS GoInG tO ThE PhilLiEs”
DadsInDaniaBeach
As a Phan, I’ve been writing for a long time that the possibility of an extension were huge..I think this shows that Mike Trout is not only a great player, but a very intelligent man also…this extension is great for both player and team…
Robertowannabe
This deal, once complete, only means that it gives financial certainty to a team that would acquire Trout in a trade. So obviously, the Yanks, Phils, Cubs, or Dodgers will make a trade with the Angels by this time next year. Has to happen. All the super fans that post here about these teams will start posting that before the ink is dry on the contract.
Ohtani-san
So they signed a 12 year deal so he could be traded next year?
Robertowannabe
No That is what some super fans will be saying once the deal is signed. They were already saying how Trout would never sign an extension with the Angels and boasting how their team would sign Trout. It was in the bag. They will simply shift gears and start the trade scenarios after the extension goes through and they will argue among themselves who has the better pieces to offer the Angels to make the deal work. Just wait for it! 🙂
prov356
Yep. They will argue it even with his full no trade clause.
Robertowannabe
Not surprised the Angels did it and he is young enough that if he has no injuries should make good on more of the years of the deal than not based on his track record so far as a hitter.
DadsInDaniaBeach
@gozurman1, LOL
Niekro
The Angels might not be as bad as the Rangers were but Alex Rodriguez performed on his contract and still nothing happened for them. I think it is good for the fans though. Rodriguez deal was 63 million more than the second biggest contract so it was quite a jump, the extension part is only 30 million larger than Harpers so it is probably not going to be as profound as Rodirguez contract was.
ChiSoxCity
I told you, Phillies fans.
Bryzzo2016
WOW! Rendon next? I think these last two offseasons have scared these players a bit, they just don’t wanna take a chance on the open market.
andrewgauldin
It’s a wonderful day to be a halo fan
whyhayzee
I’m very happy about this deal. My nephew is a pitcher in the Angels system and it would be awesome if he could make it to the majors. He’s friends with Jo Adell. I’m hoping the Angels can go postseason in a few years. Then anything can happen.
Kennypowers999
Hahaha love it. I know Phillies fan are mad about this, which is funny. well Bryce so much for your big contract hahaha.
VonPurpleHayes
Phillies fans have absolutely nothing to mad about this offseason.
Kennypowers999
True, but I’m sure some fan are mad that trout signed a extension with the angels.
VonPurpleHayes
Of course. Everyone would like Trout, but I couldn’t picture a team letting a talent like that go to free agency.
imindless
Called this for years…..some people like trout want to be with one team their whole career. Good for him! One of the greatest ever!
KF
“It seems, then, that he’s…”
“Then” has dubious importance at best in this sentence. “It now seems” works way better.
Ohtani-san
On behalf of Angel fans around the world, i’d like to just reach out to all you “free trout” and “but… he has season tickets to the Eagles” crowd and say: nana nana boo boo, stick your head in doo doo. You never knew what you were talking about lmfao
ocsportsgeek
Tears of the Philly Fans are particularly delicious this morning…
Yankeepatriot
They were overboard with trout over the last month or so lol
hiflyer000
I just feel kind of bad he’s stuck in that terrible organization for the next 12 years. I guess $430 million dollars can make one overlook winning. Maybe now that Trout is locked up they’ll finally commit to a rebuild that they desperately need.
imindless
Clearly not terrible if it were money wouldnt be the answer. I watch the games and he loves his teammates and coaches. He just wants to gets this over and play the game, good for him.
prov356
“stuck’
He chose to be there.
Yankeepatriot
With trout a non factor in potential free agency talks here are questions i have
.is Rendon next ? If he hits the market I think he will be a White Sox as they are hungry for a star player
.will Stanton opt out ? I have mixed feelings about this possibility as a Yankee fan
.will elite players be hesitant to hit free agency from here on out after what’s happened the last two years ?
DadsInDaniaBeach
I think if we look at recent moves, Rendon does take an extension…it would be best for both him and the team..
mike156
If it actually gets signed, good for him, good for the Angels, good for baseball in general. One-team stars are a thing of the past, and it’s great he will be staying in one place. Will he be overpaid at the end of the contract–sure he will, but if he maintains his present production with normal aging curves he’s brining excess value now and for some time.
And, we baseball fans, wherever we are, are lucky to watch such a historic talent.
brave from the woods
Oh well, there goes the .01% chance the Braves would’ve offered him 3/60 in free agency….
hiflyer000
Trout to Philly in 2031
Vizionaire
as an owner!
Breezy
Jesus.
bjsguess
This can’t be true. I’ve been assured by armchair GM’s on this site numerous times that Trout is just chomping at the bit to leave LA to go to NY, Phili, etc.
Asfan0780
Since 2012 the angels have had 1 playoff appearance and 4 below .500 seasons. Not trouts fault but still those are the results. I odnt see them currently better than astros and a’s for this upcoming season. Commend trout for loyalty to his team but they probably arent winning anytime soon
tony98732
Best player in baseball . Most humble super star playing .
Eta34
He’s just different. I don’t know why people are so bothered by it. He loves his employer. He has more money than he can ever spend. Isn’t that what all of us want?
Rich Hill’s Elbow
Watch the Angels flip on Trout like the Marlins did to Stanton… Don’t worry, he’ll be a Phillie eventually.
petfoodfella
Not gonna happen.
Scallywags777
It brings me so much joy knowing these Philly fans just can’t get over it.
Bryzzo2016
Congrats to the Angels fans. I’m glad this happened. I don’t want MLB to turn into the NBA with 4 or 5 super teams and 25 teams heading into ST already knowing they have no shot. Good for the Angels and the Rockies for extending their franchise players.
imindless
Hell yea! Good for padres too getting machado and even phillies for getting harper. Early on heard whispers of super teams in new york or chicago. No one expected padres or angels to lock up top franchise players.
macstruts
People who don’t follow the Angels think they know about the Angels because they know about Mike Trout. People keep discounting the Angel Injuries? How many people know Trout has been hurt three of the last four years?
The Angels are about to get a Stadium Deal. According to Baseball Prospectus they have the the #2 prospect in baseball. Ohtani is going to be here for life.
The Angels are going to go hard after local boy Cole next off-season and the Astros window is closing. If the Angels had ANY LUCK with health, they would have been in the playoffs at least three of the last seven season.
Charles Russell
Huh? No stadium deal is imminent. And past injuries mean what? You should have gotten a few more flags to fly? Well, guess what – this is the real world and not the imaginary what-coulda-been-world. You didn’t get those flags. I have no clue what your argument is – that you are now guaranteed flags? Ohtani isn’t Babe Ruth, he’s not going to be in a lineup for a full season this year. Maybe he will be dominant on the mound after Tommy John. Maybe he won’t. There is no guarantee for that, either. Your top prospect is on crutches right now and it out for, what, three months? Your owner appears to have paid the best player in MLB, but he’s got a history of flushing even more money down the toilet on dumb decisions.
Congrats. You’ve got Trout locked up. That’s about it.
macstruts
Yes a stadium deal is imminent. A lot of hyperbole in your post. Ohtani isn’t Babe Ruth? Thanks who knew? But he was 7th in wRC+ last year…. Oh and he pitches too.
And this year? I’m not sure who what your talking about this year. I think they’ll be just fine this year, but that just fine means if they are healthy, they play one game against the Yankees or Red Sox for a chance to advance.
tac3
Curious as to why you think the Astros window is closing? What about the A’s? The mariners are rebuilding, and could do so right around the time the Astros decline .. in 3-4 years. To me it sounds like the Angels are retooling. Even if they are in rebuild mode, they’ll need to rebuild better than the Mariners. I wouldn’t count out the Astros just yet, that is probably a 3 year wait.
macstruts
It’a a very reasonable question. I think it’s closing because Cole and Verlander are free agents. So basically, three of there top five WAR players of last year might not be on the team after next year.
It doesn’t mean they wont be good, but I don’t think they will dominate this division. They are coming back to the pack.
As far as the Angels retooling, all this team needs to do is have any kind of health. Maybe that wont happen… again. But how unlucky can one team be? The Angels are not retooling.
AndyMeyer
Any luck in health the Angels would’ve made the playoffs……and get routed by the Red Sox, Astros, Yankees and Indians
Dorothy_Mantooth
John Henry…your turn next with Mookie Betts! The ceiling has been set with Trout. Mookie should make between $33M – $35M per year. Sign him to a 10 year deal and be done with it!
James1955
No opt outs and a full NTC. Read it and weep Phillie fans and Yankee fans.
Omarj
So much for “Mike Trout is going to Philly”. Trout4Life
swanhenge
I find it difficult to feel sorry for a guy who will be making $3M per month for the next 13 years. But…I do feel sorry for him. He’ll retire w no rings.
Yankeepatriot
Is free agency dying ? Arenado and trout might have started a trend
tac3
The upcoming CBA, and change of paying for future production vs past production is likely scaring players off. They see the deals their counterparts are getting. Do you think if a team offered a up and coming closer a deal, he’d take it with Kimbrel still sitting out there. The valuation of players have changed, which probably aided this deal in happening
hiflew
I think before trying to pursue a World Series title, Trout and the Angels might want to pursue a playoff game victory first. Considering he hasn’t done it yet.
Vizionaire
kechel salivates thinking he’s gonna get 10 year contract!
sufferforsnakes
I wonder how he’ll be treated now by Philadelphia Eagles fans when he shows up for games?
Vizionaire
without nick foles that team goes nowhere!
jleve618
Stick to mlb kiddo.
Vizionaire
read the indians fan’s post, if you can, old man!
SillyBilly
It will be fine, he’ll bring Harper with him.
davidcoonce74
It’s a below-market deal by a bit, sure, but Trout obviously wants rthe security and to stay with the only team he’s ever known. Good for him; he’s already, by Jay Jaffe’s JAWS metric (sort of a Hall of Fame monitor) the 7th best center-fielder of all time, behind just – in order – Mays, Cobb, Speaker, Mantle, Griffey and Dimaggio. He’ll pass Dimaggio this season (Dimaggio’s career was pretty short for a Hall of Famer), and there’s lots of reasons to put him ahead of Speaker and probably even Cobb, mostly because those guys played in the segregation era. I personally think he’s better than Griffey, and he’ll pass him statistically fairly soon anyway. Mantle is probably the closest comp, and I don’t think he’s ever going to pass Mays, but I think it’s quite possible Trout ends his career as the second-best center-fielder of all time.
In 140 games last year Trout’s bWAR was over 10. That’s just insane. I’ve seen about ten Hall of Famers play baseball in person, but Trout is by far the best player I’ve ever seen with my own eyes. He’s not the most compelling personality but he seems like a very nice guy and a good ambassador for the game. Now, if the Angels could just figure out a way to assemble a pitching staff…
macstruts
What the Angels need to do is stay healthy. Actually, all they really need to do is have Trout stay healthy. Three out of the last four years he’s been hurt and that has cost the Angels two playoff births.
If their pitching staff is healthy or Mike Trout is healthy, they’ll be fine.
davidcoonce74
I think it’s just two of the last four year for Trout. His games played the last four years are 159, 159, 119 and 140.
Harvey Wallbanger
Someone put Bryce Harper on suicide watch.
EatMyTrouserTrout
Hahaha all You East Coast haters can suck it!!! Trout will lure plenty of good players to play for Halos and Arte has the money any doubts go look how Ohtani surprised everyone in the world by signing with them…why??? MIKE TROUT!!! GO HALOS
wattyman69
Harpers punching air right now
antsmith7
Bad news for me as an M’s fan! 12 more years of this guy torching us!
FakeBall
Goofy’s voice in the back of my head, Coinkydink. The same week as all the Disney’s Coverups.
sethesq
Angels Win Trout!!
… yet will never win a World Series together
Paying 1 player nearly half billion dollars and “now focus on turning the franchise around” don’t belong in the same sentence in any reality outside of one on Rick & Morty
jordanjee
Ahhhh! As a Halos Honk, this is SOOO SATISFYING!!! Trout is a Halo for Life!
BenjiB24
Call me superstitious but I would never make such a huge business deal during Mercury retrograde
rycm131
Man they’re going to be so good with Mike Trout!
macstruts
Do you realize the Angels would have made the playoffs two of the last four years if Trout doesn’t get hurt. He’s been hurt three of the last four years.
And that’s not even mentioning the decimated staff and all the other injuries.
hoof hearted
64.1 war after 8 years. 2 MVP, 4-2nd place mvp, 3 SS awards. HOF path for sure.
Who? Albert Pujols.
Just sayin. Same thing with Harper and Muchado
Grizalt
Hope he likes not winning anything in his career!
lefty58
From a Padres fan, seriously?
Grizalt
Padres will win more games over the duration of Trout’s contract than the Angels.
EatMyTrouserTrout
Win something at all then spout
Grizalt
Ditto to you sir
Vizionaire
padres win? ha ha!
macstruts
Keep signing Myers and Hosmer to those great contracts. But they could have more wins, but I doubt it. The Angels will never lose as many games as the Padres have lost over the last eight years.
The Pythagorean W-L: of the Pads last year was 65-96 and now you think they are going to be much much better than that.?
There is a lot of talent in the Padres Organization. However BP thinks the Angels best prospect is better than yours. . And of course the Angels had the #1 prospect last year and Mike Trout.
Grizalt
@Vizionaire just wait my friend :). Just wait.
EatMyTrouserTrout
I like the Friars they are my NL team but cmon man get real adding Manny and Hosmer helps but they have more holes than Swiss cheese lots of young talent but that doesn’t always equate
Grizalt
No they aren’t your NL team. What holes do they supposedly have?
Grizalt
@macstruts I’ll take Tatis over Adell. Have fun paying Pujols $30m a year to be replacement level for 3 more years!
Vizionaire
just wait. just wait. ain’t your friend!
FishyHalo
Here’s some holes for the Padres.
1)Pitching and getting outs
2)hitting and scoring runs.
Grizalt
Cute
srdiaz1972
It’s 2 more years and until the Padres do something on the field nothing matters. You can have Tatis over Adell. I’ll take Trout over Machado any day of the week!
Grizalt
“… and until the Padres do something on the field nothing matters.”
What’s hilarious is that you fail to see the irony here.
Wolf Hoffmann
The Angels actually have won World Series Championships. I do give you credit for outing yourself as a SD fan. Every time I have gone to a game in your stadium there are more people wearing Dodger blue than baby poop brown.
Grizalt
Yes and how many in this decade?
macstruts
As far as Pujols, the contract will be over in three years. And understand why you would take Tatis, But you think you have great young talent, and you do, But there is no one on your team I’d take over Ohtani. and no one I’d take over Trout. And BP takes Adell over Tatis.
And your starting point, is pretty darn low.
Grizalt
Ask the White Sox how having a top-heavy team with three All Stars and a bunch of scrubs worked out for them.
Angels are gonna have to hit on some prospects to contend over the course of Trout’s contract. And you seem pretty convinced that all the Padres’ prospects will bust. Their farm is superior to the Angels’ so that being the case there is really no hope for the Angels.
spooky
Why would a guy from SF-south be so arrogant?
C. A. Hevia
Oh please.. the Padres are the Marlins west — minus the actual WS wins.
They have a history of splurging for short bits, failing to reach their goals then selling off. As bad as the Angels have been the previous decade they have at least seen the postseason twice and managed to win 85+ games five times.. The Padres by comparison have managed a winning season, once and not seen the postseason in 13/14 years…. Hell in their entire existence the Pads have seen the postseason 5 times..or two less times than the Angels have since 2002.
It’s one thing to have Yankee or Red Sox fans question the Angels ability to win, it’s another to have a fan of a team with a lifetime winning percentage of .461, the lowest among ALL current MLB teams popping off about winning. The Angels BTW rank 12th even after three straight years of suckage and remain the only expansion team with a lifetime winning record..
I wish the Padres well, I am glad to see them trying to win and spending some money but for the love of God save the smack until you’ve actually done something other than suck on the revenue sharing teets of teams who have actually managed to be successful.
Grizalt
@C. A. Hevia so you obviously haven’t been paying attention to what is going on. The Padres are no longer owned by John Moores. It’s a whole new regime that operates a whole different way. They are not responsible for the actions of previous regimes. I don’t fault you for not knowing this seeing how you clearly aren’t a Padres fan but if you don’t know about something, don’t go chirping about it.
Oh and the Angels have no cause for optimism. They’ve had Trout on the team for 7 years now and have surrounded him with various players only to end with the same result. Every team’s fans sees this, from successful teams like the Yankees and Marlins to less successful teams like the Padres and Marlins.
FishyHalo
Padre, you’ve been the but of baseball since you left the reds organization. Your franchise high point, is getting swept in 4 games in 1998.
The Angels have been historically injury ridden, the past few years, when healthy, well bounce back.
Before you make a reference to ‘not winning’, remember you’re a Padre, you’ve never experienced winning since joining the big leagues.
Grizalt
“Angels will bounce back when healthy.” You’ve been saying that for like 5 years now. Stfu. At some point losing is just the norm. The fact that the Angels can never seem to make the postseason even with Trout no matter who they choose to surround him with should tell you something. Padres will experience winning in the future before the Angels do.
SmokieLink
I agree. And I predict there’s a decent chance you’re looking at Theo Epstein as your GM/Baseball Ops President in 2-3 years. His contract is up after 2020. He’s tired of Ricketts. He loves San Diego. Law school. First baseball job. He’d love the challenge of building a 3rd different loser into a champion.
You will become winners within 5 years. You will win a WS before the Halos.
sethesq
I get what you’re saying: during the lifetime of this contract, based on the players they have in the system, the Pads have a much better chance than the Angels.
I see nothing wrong or homer-ish about that assessment
bhambrave
The Phillies 2020-2021 offseason is officially a bust.
🙂
HeadFirst
Think about how ridiculously stupid this is. If each season were the same, that’s $35 million a year. A smart GM can field a playoff-ready 25-man roster for double that price. There is no way that you’re getting value in that contract. It’s all about making Trout a Halo for life.
The Ghost of Bobby Bonilla
I’d argue that you’re getting massive value out of the first half of the contract at that rate. The second half? Probably not, but who knows.
Trout is quite frankly the most valuable player in MLB performance-wise since Barry Bonds.
EatMyTrouserTrout
Ya and the Yankees would have done the same in 50’s with Mantle….all the haters need to look at the sport since 2000 there has been plenty of paper champions that never panned out…but also there has been plenty of non contenders in Feb/March that won the World Series…locking up the best player in the game for his whole career makes the Angels a FA destination moving forward and if ya think not go look at what experts thought about Ohtani and where he would go??
Solar Flare
Yeah, just like the 2011 Boston Red Sox, who were supposed to challenge the 1927 Yankees as this greatest team of all time, according to NESN lol.
bkbk
If you’re typing from 1998, please buy me some Apple stock (what’s your Washington Mutual account number?). Also there is thing called Ebay that is going to be REALLY cool.
greg 14
Valuing Trout is almost impossible. At 9 WAR average and a minimum of $6M per point, he’s worth $54M or more now. But what will he be worth years 35-38 when he not only can’t really play CF, but will probably play more than half his games as DH? So he gave LAA a big discount now in exchange for (probably) being overpaid later. And maybe it doesn’t matter to him? Maybe he just said to Eppler “this is what I want” and Eppler said “OK, let me start typing”?
Braves2019
It’s official; Mike Trout will go down as the best player to never win a World Series. Congrats on the money, but in the end, not winning a WS as one of if not the best player ever will really sting.
trident
Didn’t know he was retiring today. Schmuck
Braves2019
What is this keyboard warrior even blabbering about? Who said anything about retiring? If you had a reading level above Kindergarten, you’d know the post was inferring the Angels will never turn things around because their management is hot garbage. So you’re either slow or just a hopeful Angels fan, which I then pity you. Actually I pity you anyway haha. BYE TROLL
trident
Oo, looks like I hit a nerve on this softy. LOL!
Because you ironically struggle with reading comprehension I’m implying that Mike Trout has 12 years to win a Championship. It is not as if he is retiring today.
Don’t pity me. Look in the mirror. Atlanta is literal hot garbage and the Braves organization struggle for relevancy after losing top prospects in a international scouting scandal and the other teams in their division improved.
citizen
add bonds and judge to the list. then again bonds did too much steroids to be considered a great player.
Vizionaire
bonds already had hof numbers before he started ‘using’. besides, do you think his competition and also pitchers weren’t using?
willclarkgriswold
can I borrow a dollar?
Thurman8er
Just checking in to say YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
rev halofan
It is great to wake up to this news!
SillyBilly
Zippy???
SG
Pretty soon the only one able to pay to see a baseball game will be Mike Trout … LOL
All kidding aside … LOL … maybe he could buy Amazon from Jeff Bezos pretty soon?
Robertowannabe
So much for the fun of watching the Uberfans of a handful of teams arguing about who has the better trade chips to make a deal with Angels……..Full no trade clause. Would have been hysterical watching people post crazy trade packages that no team would accept but the one posting would be claiming that it would be an overpay for Trout……
spooky
Yes, now I won’t have to listen to two years of worthless speculation about where Trout will go. The 2019 season has yet to begin and I had already heard way too much nonsense about where Trout MAY go AFTER 2020.
jjabrony
Don’t worry, now the talk will turn to how much Ohtani will get in 2024
tac3
Tell me you weren’t concerned? If not, you’re naive given the history of FA/sports.
spooky
Naive? Hahaha.
Royalsfan12
This is a waste of time. The Angels will never win a world series.
Vizionaire
god?
srdiaz1972
Full no trade and no opt outs! A4L. Wonder if these reporters talking about him getting less than he is worth stopped to think that maybe he is wanting the team to be able to have the money to sign other pieces. Pujols comes off the books in 2 years and most of the other contracts are team friendly gives the Angels plenty of room to get the necessary pieces to win a title. Angels will be World Champs within 6 years.
tac3
Not disagreeing about him taking less… but 6 years is a long time in sports. Tht is HALF of Trout’s extension
Yep it is
Harper is “ more visible” does that mean running his mouth constantly , fighting with teammates, “ Heck of a player”? 280 avg 26 HR’s 75 RBI avg a season and no World Series appearances is a “ Heck Of a player”? Doing the above gets you hyped the numbers don’t lie. Harper isn’t in the same solar system as Trout.
AndyMeyer
Maybe not, but it’s as if you talk like Harper is a bumb
Emerson83
I think will improve his legacy staying with the same team for his whole career, if that ends up happening
Killjoy391
Or hurts it by the team never really competing for a World Series.
Wolf Hoffmann
I am really happy for Trout and the Angels. He got paid and has stability. He gets to avoid the free agent circus and butt smooching that goes on. He doesn’t seem to be the stripper and Champagne in Vegas type of guy. As a Dodger fan nothing was more sickening to me than seeing Piazza get inducted into the HOF as a Met. I am glad the Angels don’t have to see Trout go in as a Philly or Yankee.
Jimcarlo Slaton
Going into the Hall Of Fame wearing another team’s cap on his plaque was never a likely possibility anyway.
FishyHalo
Absolutely agree with you!-I think the Angel fans would’ve been heartbroken so much by a trout departure.
However, I believe Piazza joined the HOF as a Met, not to slight the Dodgers.
He hit the iconic homerun for the Mets, 10-days after 9/11 and that single hit, was incredibly impactful for the city of New York. That hit was bigger than the game, that’s why he joined as a Met.
3eyedjohnny
He could’ve go a kajilion and it still would have been a good deal for the Halos. Hope they find a way to get some WS talent around him. How could you not root for him against the Red Sox or Yankees on the AL side of the ledger? Congrats Angel fanbase!
urnuts
Wow. Great deal for the Angels.
Hope they load it up the three years after Pujols is gone so that final years they have payroll space for future stars.
DTD
I hear Philly is currently under flood warning from their fans tears
DarkSide830
love the Philly haters not understanding why we were so obsessed with Trout. The guy is local who is an avid supporter of the sports clubs and draws a huge crowd each time the Angels come here, and the best player in baseball. Most of us figured we’d have competition for him. Sure its a bit surprising that this was the deal, and i would argue its the best one he COULD have got, but its perfectly reasonable nonetheless.
macstruts
Of course we understand it, you’ve just been jerks about it…. for the most part.
Jimcarlo Slaton
Selective memory
FishyHalo
Hey baseball community, real question, do you think the Angels re-engage the FA market and go out and sign Kechuel or Kimbrel?
I understand they aren’t even involved in the Kimbrel sweepstakes, but does signing Trout freeup some FA space.
No evidence to prove that, but when Arte makes a move, it’s under-the-radar.
The Angels have momentum, do they take it to the FA market?
Yankeepatriot
Phills fans keep saying he’s a local guy but wasn’t trout born in jersey ?
AndyMeyer
Vineland, NJ. An hour outside the city
Mike's Trout
I really hope Arte is interested in signing Kimbrel or Keuchel.
FishyHalo
Look, Kimbrel on a 3-4 year deal could make sense.
The Angels, woeful lack a closer. I don’t see anything in the farm system that will develop into an elite closer soon. Middleton coming off major surgery.
Kimbrel would be a great add. At that price, there’s half of mlb. Hahahha.
trident
Ty Buttrey is apparently the backup plan in the event that Cody Allen implodes.
macstruts
They are not going to commit more than one year to Keuchel or Kimbrell.
This years entire plan was go for the wild card without sacrificing 2020 flexibility. I think it was a great plan.
its_happening
Good for Trout.
I see some of you have expressed disappointment that he did not test free agency. There is no pleasing you. He made the best decision for himself, his future and his family. I respect that.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Congratulations to the Angels and to Trout. Now let’s see if they can win a World Series.
Matt Ragusa
Wouldn’t surprise me if the Angels ended up trading him at the deadline in the near future. I still believe he’s more valuable to them as trade bait, especially now that he’s locked up. I could easily see a team like the Yankees, Dodgers or Phillies offer their entire farm system for Trout. It would also spare the Angels of having to spend years of rebuilding. It will take years for the Angels to build a contender at this point.
Begamin
I sometimes contemplate whether or not literally trading your entire farm for Trout is reasonable. He’s that good
Matt Ragusa
I played against him in High School, so I know how good he is first hand. Players like him come around once in a lifetime.
ReverieDays
In ten years, there is going to be a younger, better Trout who signs a $500 million extension that people will say is an underpay.
Begamin
Is there? I mean, there is going to be another superstar and really good player, but Trout is a rarity. We havent had a player so great in all areas in i dont know how long. Just like we havent had as good of a hitter since Bonds emerge yet
Begamin
Im just saying that I dont know if 10 years is enough. Its obviously possible but i wouldnt guarantee it
FishyHalo
It’s that fact.
He’s also just unbelievable whenever the ball is thrown at the bottom part of the strike zone.
I make the argument, he’s one of, if not the best, low ball hitter of all time.
He’s just such an unbelievable talent, and genuine human being.
trident
“He’s just such an unbelievable talent, and genuine human being.”
I’m really impressed by how humble he is. He seems like a really good kid and doesn’t play the “villain” role like Machado and Harper. But who knows, I thought Bill Cosby was a really swell guy too.
macstruts
I’m 60,and other than a chemically dependent Barry Bonds, Mike Trout is the best player I’ve ever seen.
Batman69
One huge SUCK IT to every Philly and Yankee fan ive argued with on here for the last 2 years. Never did he say he wanted to play on the East coast, never did he say he wanted to leave Anaheim. Real fans new this from day 1, Arte wasnt going to let him leave. Unbelieveable how arrogant East Coast baseball fans are… maybe its not what its cracked up to be afterall? Trout and Kershaw, the greatest pitcher and player in this generation are West Coasters YES
Begamin
Surprised youre taking pride simply because he signed to a team of a certain geographical location compared to another within the same country.
By the way, no one knew he was going to sign an extension with the information presented. There were no peeps that it was in the works or if Trout was even interested in one or interested in testing FA. But go on, pat yourself on the back for something you arent a part of
Mike's Trout
Actually it was rumored that Arte Morenos priority was to extend Trout this off-season. Now they don’t have to worry about that distraction.
Begamin
Yeah but there was no peep from Trouts side. What he wanted/didnt want was primarily and unknown
macstruts
No one knew, but I strongly suspected. The fact of the matter is Arte signed Pujols and then signed a 3 Billion dollar TV contract.
The Angels are in the midst of stadium negotiations. I said that Trout extension would come prior to a stadium deal. I said the news would come sooner rather than later.
Did I know it? No.. I just strongly suspected it and said so many times.
Dubplate
You sound like someone who is a fan of a team who pissed away the best years of one of the greatest players in the history of baseball. I’d be angry too if I were you.
tac3
… and yet the greatest players have combined for Zero world championships. No wonder you don’t know how to act gracious in victory … because you value great players over championships… well done sports fan, well done.
Batman69
Yeah because if theres one thing east coast sports fans are known for its class and grace during victory hahaha
Batman69
notice how every rebuttal here has that underlying tone of “this is why east coast baseball is better”? sheeesh therein lies the problem. dont be so small minded and enjoy the entire sport.
tac3
Nope. Wanna try again to have witty reply?
Batman69
No im all set. what about you? One more shot bud?
megaj
He IS the best player of this generation…but WAR is a really contrived overused modern day stat. He has only hit 40 homers once, only reached 100 RBI twice (barely), never hit 40+doubles, only reached 150 games played in half of his seasons so far, and still strikes out too much. That being said, I hope he lives up to this massive contract because he seems like a great guy and is a great player….just not 420 million dollar great. I can’t imagine what players like Ruth, Mays, Williams, even Bonds would command in today’s market.
Cam
RBI’s are reliant on actually having people on base in front of you to drive in – something Trout cannot control.
Why are we still having this conversation in 2019?
start_wearing_purple
But your argument also makes a lot of assumptions. Let’s take Ruth for example, The truth of the matter is he was partly a product of his time. I’m not saying Babe Ruth was not a great player but he was one of the first true sluggers in a game that abruptly changed the balance of power between the pitcher and hitter after the death of Ray Chapman. Ruth was able to take advantage of the situation. I think if Babe Ruth was a 20 year old kid playing baseball today we’d still consider him a talented player but I do not believe he would be the legend we know him as.
macstruts
Why would anyone use RBIs when it’s been proven that the number two hitter is the most important spot in the lineup.
FSF
Man the Angels are cheap. But now I guess this perfectly explains why they could pay GIo $3m.
dirkg
Love the EAST COAST fans. Trout will never win, waahh waahh waahh. Yankee fan, since your glorious 90s run ending in 2000, you’ve won the same amount of WS championships as the Angels: ONE (Yanks in 2009; Angels in 2002). Philly fan, same thing, ONE in 2008.
95% of you are asleep when Angel games start on the West Coast and you therefore don’t see Mike Trout nor the Angels like we do. 3M fans show up every year to Angel Stadium and SoCal embraces Trout like one of its own. Arte Moreno invests in the club, not all good like Josh Hamilton, but the dude loves baseball and wants to put a quality team out there every year. That’s all you can ask for.
So NY enjoy your talented players and Philly embrace that you just freakin signed Bryce Harper for the love of God, and enjoy some baseball (just as we’ll enjoy Trout for years to come).
Miguel Jr
Where are all those Phillies fans now?
AndyMeyer
Right here
Miguel Jr
Yup..speechless!
AndyMeyer
;-D
lefty58
This will save the White Sox a fortune, not having to sign all of Trouts friends makes them winners in this signing too.
Koamalu
That is pretty much exactly what I said two weeks ago.
heater
Awesome! Love when teams can keep their stars!
DarkGhost
I’m just glad the best player in the game is getting paid the most after Harper and Machado
slowcurve
Trout just showed up to Bryce’s wedding and not only proposed to his girl, he ate the entire wedding cake and drove off with Harper’s mom.
El Kabong
Not only that, but he drove off to Orange County and left Harper stranded just outside. Camden.
slowcurve
Good for Trout. Good for the Angels. Good for baseball. Good to see some loyalty from both sides.
slowcurve
hash tag good…am I doing this right?
luckyh
Good for Trout, and good for baseball. I like that he is staying put. He deserves this. Just a stud player and a good guy.
Jim Emmons
As long as Trout is after the money and not a ring, good deal for him. How is it a good deal for the Angels? They keep the best player in baseball but still can’t win it all?
Jimcarlo Slaton
Count me as another Phillies fan who isn’t upset.. Those of you wishing for us to fall into a deep depression should evaluate what the heck is going on in your lives to feel such animosity for an entire city of people you don’t know.
1) His pending free agency was two years away
2) He would have turned 30 during the first year of his new contract
3) I could have seen him choosing the Yankees or Red Sox, just as well as the Phillies
4) I’d much rather he continue to play for the Angels than Yankees or Red Sox
5) Phillies had a tremendous off season, with an owner who is super committed to winning
citizen
if that keeps you awake at night knowing you are a phillies fan, good luck.
Jimcarlo Slaton
You might want to check what you wrote. It makes no sense…Figures.. Were you going for, ‘if that helps you sleep at night’?
sufferforsnakes
Insanity.
citizen
I read its up to $460 mil/10 years . thats what, $46/hr? well worth it.
mooseheadjack
Have fun never winning a World Series in Anaheim!
SargentDownvote
Can we stop discussing WAR??? I’m sick of it. It has no place in the game. What is so civil about WAR? I lay awake at night wishing to avoid it – you treat it like it’s some neato stat for a baseball game. The blood, the misery.
prov356
This makes me happy for 2 reasons: 1 – Trout is about to sign a career contract with the Angels. 2 – All of the “Trade Trout Trolls” might stop spewing nonsense…might.
Idioms for Idiots
1) Good for Trout. He deserves to be the highest paid in the game.
2) As for the Angels, they better pray Trout doesn’t regress in his mid 30’s (or even earlier). Anything less than a WS Championship (I should say multiple championships) in the next 12 years looks bad for the team. And seeing how stupid Moreno spends his money on the Angels, there’s no guarantee they will ever even make it to the WS, let alone win.
3) There is no way anyone can convince me Trout will ever be underpaid with this contract (or the last one he signed, for that matter). Every other player in the game is overpaid, and most of them are grossly overpaid. Any player making over $5MM per year is grossly overpaid. Yes, I get the argument “it’s what the market bears”, but contracts are way out of control.
4) The only thing more out of control than salaries is the stupid WAR stat. WAR was a good try, but it’s severely flawed. Get rid of the WAR stat, it’s a sham stat.
Time to get off my soapbox. And despite everything I’ve just said, again congrats to Trout.
restingmitchface
“Any player making over $5MM per year is grossly overpaid.”
I’ll never get it. Why do so many people complain about player contracts while the owners keep getting richer and richer?
Jimcarlo Slaton
I’m all for paying star players $35 million a year or more.. It’s the guaranteed money for many years past their prime that is especially controversial to me.
El Kabong
They’re jealous that them and their fellow burger flippers make less.
Idioms for Idiots
If the players can fetch those contracts, more power to them. But there’s no way any player making these astronomical salaries could ever be considered underpaid or fairly paid.
You’re going to tell me with a straight face a player playing an fn game making even $5MM is not overpaid. Oh wait, I’m going to get the BS answer “it’s what the market bears” or something to that effect. Yes, I get that. And personally I don’t think the owners deserve all that money either, but no one ran it by me first, so take it for what it is, just an opinion.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Sure, you can argue than any sports star or actor or model is unfairly overpaid compared to say teachers, nurses and custodians. But if you accept the free market system, and accept that great baseball players generate television (and other forms of ) revenue, then Trout earns every penny of this sum.
prov356
Welp, that didn’t take long. Now we’re going to hear how Trout will be a bust and deteriorate within a few years and it will be a waste of money.
mooseheadjack
If he declines as fast as Pujols did, the Angels will be in the basement for YEARS
mlbtalk
I love listening to angels fans you’re keeping the same player you’ve had for 8 seasons and lost 8 seasons. You all are talking like you’re magically going from 4th place to the World Series by keeping the same player you have the 22nd ranked farm system in baseball. Your teams biggest addition in the off season was who? Justin Bour? atleast be honest about your god awful team and how poorly your team is run.
Psychguy
I agree. If they were in it to win it, they would have improved their rotation. They have the injured Heaney and think Cahill is going to do anything worthwhile? Delusional. They should have signed Gio Gonzalez who ended up taking a minor league deal. Gio would have instantly been a solid back of the end rotation piece given their current sad state of options. Eppler should just come clean and say it’s gonna take several years before they are legit contenders.
SargentDownvote
Hey man, if you’re making $35+ million a year… you ARE winning.
At the end of each season, Mikey T calls up the crew and has his own world series… white lines n’ all.
“I wanna rolly rolly rolly rolly…”
macstruts
Let me try to explain it to you, if you are interested.
I suspect, if the Angels are as healthy as the Twins, Rays and A’s. They will have a very good chance at the second wild card. That’s ONE GAME!!! Committing money on Keuchel or any other long term commitment is PURE LUNACY!!!! It’s unlikely to help them for 2019.
I suspect that if Skaggs and Heaney pitch 160 innings, they’ll be good. Not Cy Young candidates, but good. After June of last year Skaggs was an All Star candidate, then he got hurt.
So if the Angels are relatively healthy, they’ll be competing for that one game play in. However, in 2020 the Angels now have the money to go hard after local boy Cole. They have BPs #2 prospect in baseball that will play RF. If they get Cole, they go into the year with a rotation of Cole, Ohtani, Skaggs and Heaney.
They’ll have the best outfield in the game, a very very very good starting four, one of the best shortstops in the game and a weakened Houston Astros.
The people who don’t get it either don’t want to understand what is going on or too ignorant to know what is going on.
AndyMeyer
How is the Astros window closing??? They still have one of the top farms in baseball, two of the elite prospects in Whitley and Tucker with plenty more coming. And they just got extended Bregman.
AndyMeyer
The Astros have done a better job then pretty much every team in the game at remaining an elite team while keeping their farm stocked and consistent
I doubt they’ll be a weakened team any time soon. The Angels system is on the rise no doubt, but Houston isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Even if they lose Cole and Verlander (i think Verlander will resign), they have Whitley and Josh James waiting
macstruts
I respect your opinion, but there is no history they do a better Job. If they lose Verlander and Cole and still dominate the division, let me know. I’ll change my mind.
macstruts
What idiot has the Angels farm system ranked 22nd.
Because that’s what they are, an idiot.
El Kabong
I live in the Philly area and love it here. But if I’m a pro athlete and the money is equal, Orange County would be my preference.
As with Arenado, I love this deal for the game of baseball. No months of an arrogant agent negotiating through the press. Just quietly get the deal done. It speaks of the quiet dignity we all knew Trout had. Even as a Dodger fan, I’m glad he will remain an Angel.
Sir Becks
He is a idiot if he sign this deal.
That money and more he can get by 3 or 4 teams who will be in the WS hunt.
But well, good luck , enjoy and play all your life in mediocrity.
Sir Becks
He is a idiot if he sign this deal.
That money and more he can get by 3 or 4 teams who will be in the WS hunt.
But well, good luck , enjoy and play all your life in mediocrity.
El Kabong
Mediocrity? He’s the best in the world at what he does. And he gets to do it in a great area to live. If that’s mediocrity, what does it say about YOUR life?
mooseheadjack
Trout isn’t mediocre, but the organization he plays for certainly is.
macstruts
That mediocre team finished with the best record in baseball during his tenure and has last years rookie of the year and BP #2 prospect.
I think you people are clueless, and that’s being nice.
mooseheadjack
and where did they finish? Last place. Ohtani is an unknown quantity. The Angels have no farm, they are not going to contend for years
macstruts
Ohtani is an unknown? His wRC+ was 7th in baseball. If he’s an unknown, so is Soto and Acuna. Ohtani wRC+ was higher than both. It was higher than Aaron Judge. You think he’s a fluke? That makes you clueless.
NO FARM? Wow, you’ve gotten even more clueless.. if possible.
mooseheadjack
How many years has he played in MLB? How many Japanese players come over here and have immediate success, then fall off a cliff. To say he is a certain thing after ONE YEAR makes you clueless. Anaheim’s farm is ranked 22nd. So yes, they have no farm.
macstruts
So Acuna is an unknown and Soto is an unknown. As far as Japanese hitters having a good year and falling off the map, WHO?
Ichiro, Matsui? What Japanese hitter has come over hear, tore it up, then sucked. And unlike those guys, Ohtani is 24.
You just sound stupid. Who ranks the farm 22nd? Baseball America has them 14th in 2018 and I don’t know anyone who thinks they have gotten worse.
mooseheadjack
Yes, Soto and Acuna are unknown. They are rookies. They could be Hall of Famers, they could fall off the map, you don’t know. Fine, a farm that ranks 14th, middle of the pack, nothing special. A roster that has two good players on it. The Angels are not a playoff team and they won’t be anytime soon. I don’t blame them for offering Trout the money, it will keep them relevant. This is another A-Rod deal, after about five last place finishes, they will be looking to unload this contract.
AndyMeyer
MLB has him ranked at 17…..
Ohtani-san
Lots of butthurt, little facts
Vizionaire
here everyone knows who the idiot is!
macstruts
So you know the 3 or 4 teams that are going to be challenging for a World Series in 2021 through 2024.
If you know those teams, you are a genius, But anyone who makes such a claim, is an idiot.
Philliesfan4life
Now Arte Moreno needs to add talent around Trout in the line up
Koamalu
Read just a few comments and if they are any representation of the jealousy and stupidity of the others I am going to skip reading any more.
Trout is 27. Pujols was going into his age 32 season when he signed his deal with the Angels. You can’t compare the two deals.
If Trout plays as well as Pujols did from age 27 to age 31, namely a 40.5 WAR for 5 seasons or an average of 8.1 WAR, then Angels fans are going to be ecstatic about this deal. Trout has averaged a 9.1 WAR in his 7 full seasons in the majors.
Trout is 27. Position players peak between 26-30. More than 99% of all players that have played into their 30s have had a career year, a season that is better than any others in his career, between 26 and 30 years old. Trout’s best season so far was a 10.5 WAR. He should have at least one and possibly several seasons that are better than he has produced so far in his career in his next 4 seasons.
Trout is the best player in baseball and has been for a while. He has produced so much surplus value in his career with the Angels and will produce so much surplus value even if he only produces at his career average for the next 5 seasons and doesn’t play a game past 2023 this will still be a win for the Angels. 9.1 WAR x 5 seasons = 45.5 WAR x 10.5 million per WAR – $477.75 in value.
Even if you value a point of WAR at the salary of all players that are past making the major league minimum (arbitration and free agency), then his value at 45.5 WAR would be over $350 million.
The Angels are far from bereft of good prospects. They have both good prospects and the money to go after other good MLB players. Add Keuchel or a similar starter to that rotation and they could contend for a WC in 2019.
mooseheadjack
they may be better than the Rangers, but they are not better than Oakland or Houston. No shot at the playoffs next year.
macstruts
Have you seen Oakland pitching staff?
If you think Oakland is good, it’s because you are looking at last years win totals. But why would you ignore 2015, 2016 and 2017?
But then again, if you think Oakland is good, you completely make the point that no one really knows who is going to be good two years from now.
No one had any reason to believe that Oakland would be good in 2018.
Oakland’s win total the previous three years, 75,69,68.
Their second best player gone. Their best pitcher, gone. Their second best pitcher… gone. What starting pitcher on their team is good? They have a rookie who I like, but everyone else stinks.
AndyMeyer
, Sean Manaea was solid before he went down
Jesus Luzardo is one of the top pitching prospects in the game
Koamalu
Ok Nostradamus. If you say so. Angels projected at 82.5 wins today. Oakland at 83.5. Add 3 wins for Keuchel and deduct a – 2 wins for the Angels projected #5 starter and they are at 87.5 wins. That is better than the Athletics. In the AL only the Red Sox, Yankees, Indians, and Astros are projected to win more than 85 games.
macstruts
You seem like an intelligent fan, but I think you are missing the boat on Keuchel,
Keuchel isn’t a big deal and has red flags all over him. The Angels are currently playing for that one game playoff. The last thing the Angels want is a 15+ million dollar pitcher with a 4+ ERA taking a rotation spot for three years. Next year they are going after an real ace.
Koamalu
All the projection systems have Keuchel at about 3 WAR. Las Vegas has the over-under on his WAR at 3.0 That also does not include the improvement just by not having Pena or Tropeano taking the ball every fifth day.
jlahman
Kaaa chiiing ! :-p
GDrank
There was never once for a single moment a debate between Mike and Bryce. Jeter and Arod are still better known outside of baseball than its “most marketable commodity”. I don’t think I’ve heard one single person mention him who wasn’t a baseball fan. He’s signed now dammit, can we please let him show at least one fringe MVP season before we ever compare him to Mike “God” Trout again?
Jimcarlo Slaton
I think anyone who still compares Harper’s ability to Trout’s, probably isn’t an avid fan, that or they’re too focused on his MVP season.
GDrank
Honestly I don’t think Jeff Todd isn’t an avid fan nor making a statement that Mike Trout and Bryce Harper are comparable players, but reading “The Harper vs. Trout prospect debate has been resolved conclusively to this point” just made me wonder how the Bryce Harper cult has gotten this far
Though now I realize it reads “prospect debate” and not simply “debate”. Oops
Koamalu
You mean like the MVP season that he already had at age 22?
ffrhb14Sox
Harper shouldnt even be mentioned in this article. I love how they want to only include the extension and say Trout only got $30M more than Harper bc the media has overhyped Harper from day 1. In the next 12 seasons Trout will make over $426M, in the next 13 Harper will make $330M. Thats a huge gap and representative of the difference in the 2 players.
timewalk42
Ridiculous contracts
timewalk42
To much invested In War
rock6622
Interesting question. Will we remember Trout as a legend in terms of Traditional stats or will he be remembered as a legend in terms of war. Because looking at his numbers he doesn’t have a traditional monster season such as .330 40 100.
macstruts
Rickey Henderson doesn’t have one of those seasons? Neither does Rose or Morgan. Mantle only has one of those seasons.
I think we are getting smarter, at least I hope we are.
Trout is going to bat second and he’s going to score runs. Four times he has led the league in runs scored. From 2014 to 2017 Pujols averaged 105 RBIs and more than 30 HRs… Does that mean he was good.
Koamalu
3 of the last 4 years Trout has led baseball in OPS. The last 4 seasons he has led baseball in OPS+. He hit 39 HR last season and 41 in 2015.
STLBaseballFanSince2020
No traditional monster seasons??
His 8 year career slash line is an MVP season in either league..
MLB Top 100 Commenter
It is hard to imagine the Angels as contenders this year with the Red Sox, Yankees and Astros all clearly superior on paper. But you can’t blame Trout for the Angels, nor the Angels for wanting to keep Trout. Sure, toward the end, the stolen bases and superior defense will decline. But Trout is so much superior than Harper, that even accounting for age, it seems like a winning contract for the Halos. And who knows, maybe the Angels can do better than low-budget teams like the A’s and Rays and sneak into the post-season.
hoof hearted
Can’t win a thing without pitching.
LAA have a serious need for pitching.
macstruts
The Angels are not competing with the Sox, Yankees and Astros. They are competing with the As, Rays and Twins (and the famous over achieving team) for that one game play in. I think they will be competitive, but those odds of being that one in five team are… well… one in five.
We’ll see what happens this year, but I’m very confident this team will be looking good in 2020. I like Skaggs and Heaney. I’m not sure they can stay healthy, but if they can, they are talented. Ohtani is going into the rotation next year. Adell is legitimate. And I think they are going hard after local boy Cole.
I think the Angels become legitimate contenders in 2020.
srdiaz1972
Yes and being the better team on paper is what wins World Championships!
CKinSTL
Seems like a pretty sweet deal for Trout… All that money and he doesn’t even have to play in October!
Seriously though, it seems like that is where Trout wants to be – so good for him. He is definitely fun to watch, no matter what team you root for.
spooky
Why would a guy from SF-south be so arrogant?
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Good news! MLB has just dropped its tampering investigation of Bryce Harper. LOL.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
The Angels got a bargain.
I thought it would absolutely take at least $400 million and more likely $500 million.
Trout is so much better than Harper that the idea of just nudging ahead of him is comical.
Betts or Lindor could potentially do better if they go to market.
STLBaseballFanSince2020
Harper is making $25 million AAV and I swear Heyward’s contract was regarded as a better value by the public at the time.
Grizalt
This should also send a message to fans on here not to assume you will be able to sign a player just because he grew up a fan of your team or just because you traded for him.
tac3
Thanks for the wisdom, o great fan
SmokieLink
The Phillies still have a chance. Trout was spotted at the Anaheim Cheesesteak Factory wearing a Flyers snapback and a throwback Philadelphia A’s jersey.
Papabueno
I can’t stop laughing, thinking about Harper and Machado dragging out their FA periods trying to make sure they could get more than the other, only to be crushed by Trout weeks later.
I guess we can also forget about all the chirping from Philly about an outfield with both Harper and Trout in 2020? Ha!
STLBaseballFanSince2020
If you stop thinking, then you’ll stop laughing. Maybe you’ll recognize how unintelligent this post is.
Z-A 2
Not as good of a deal. Phillies would give him more. 430/12 on top of his current deal should be his price.
Moneyballer
If Trout chose to test the open market Bryce Harper style, this website would quite literally explode! Half billion would be on the table from multiple teams.
madmanTX
Anything that ties up that much of the Angels money and will become a bad deal in the last 3 years is ok by me!
Api4u2
If this is accurate, I’m glad they got Trout signed long-term! Now, if the Angels want to compete for a place in the post-season, they need to make 2 year offers with player opt out options after one year to Kimbrel and Keuchel.
SmokieLink
A foolhardy decision. As a free agent he’d have gotten more money and could have picked from several WS contending teams. The Halos will not be WS champions in the next 10 years so neither will Trout.
Welcome to the Ernie Banks Club, pal. Hope the paychecks are worth it.
davidcoonce74
10 years? Uhhh, that’s presumptuous to say the least. And your post contradicts itself so hard I don’t even think I have to point it out, but I will: in the first sentence you acknowledge Trout could have made more money elsewhere, then in the second you tell him to “enjoy the paycheck, pal.” (Which, as you point out, will be less than he could have received on the open market) Which is it? Is he just playing for money? Or does he feel some degree of loyalty to the team that drafted and developed him? I honestly don’t care one way or another if a player chases rings or security or comfort – those things are all individual choices. But to argue that any player should just sign with the team with the best chance to win a Championship is more than a little absurd.
The Angels have three elite players on the roster already; they won 80 games last season – it’s certainly not hard to see how a team with Trout as its centerpiece could win a World Series at some point, and projecting any team 10 years out is a fool’s errand.
And Banks is far from the best player to never win a WS, and that’s a foolish analogy anyway, because Banks never had the choice to play anywhere else.
SmokieLink
I concede that saying the Angels won’t win it all sometime in the next 10 years is a statement that could be proven wrong. Sure they could win it all sometime during the length of Trout’s contract.
But I think there are 10 teams more likely to win the Commissioner’s Trophy in the next 10 years than the Angels. At least some of those teams would’ve been willing to pay Trout as much as the Angels did or more in an effort to greatly increase their chance for the ring.
Comfort and security are swell. Trout could have had the comfort and security plus a better chance to win a World Series had he not settled for the Angels.
Ernie Banks was pre-Curt Flood so yes, you’re right, he was stuck with the Cubs. He was such an amazingly optimistic man, and so loyal to the Cubs, that had there been free agency in his day he might well have “pulled a Trout” and stayed with the Cubs even if much better teams wanted him.
Membership in the Ernie Banks Club is not dependent on free agency choices or non-choices. A great player who never wins the World Series is the only criteria. Yes there are better players who qualify, like Ken Griffey Jr. I’ve been to more Griffey Mariners games than I can remember. You can love on Trout, but the 1991-1999 Griffey was the greatest I ever saw play. If he’d made the choice to stay with the Mariners, with the core they had, he’d have had a great chance to win a ring. They won 116 games without him. Griffey had no chance of a title with Cincinnati, they never had the team for it. He went there for the comfort and security of being home (though he lived in Orlando).
But I’m a Cubs fan and the image of Ernie playing his heart out during a HOF career but never winning a title sticks with me, It is part of who he is. In the streets outside the bars after the Cubs won it all, over and over I heard “if only Ernie could’ve been part of this.”
I hope Trout gets more than comfort and security and the HOF and he’s not one of the greatest who ever played the game, but never won a World Series. When someone has more money than you can ever spend in 5 lifetimes, I think comfort and security become much less important and a championship becomes the reason you play the game. I think his chances to win one would’ve greatly improved with a better team than the Angels.
Philliesfan4life
When Trout comes home in the offseason, Philly fans should not boo him. All because he took 430 million. We can’t predict the future. Philly can still go after mookie betts and other players.
STLBaseballFanSince2020
Don’t tell Philly fans what to do!
davidcoonce74
One aspect of this extension that hasn’t been mentioned, at least here, is that when Trout was ready for the majors, the Angels didn’t mess around with service-time manipulation. They called him up directly from AA mid-season, at age 19, which started his service clock despite the fact that he’d never even played in AAA. The Angels were in contention that year and called Trout up to help with the playoff run despite the fact that it would cost them a year of control. Trout wasn’t ready; he struggled badly in 2011 in the majors. The next year he started at AAA and demolished that level for about a month before being called up for good. Trout, in his rookie season, put up a 10.5 win season in just 139 games
Obviously the service-time manipulation is beneficial for the club, which is why they do it, but it seems like it irks the players and fosters some ill will. Bryant is obviously the most obvious example. Trout wasn’t manipulated and just signed what is probably a below-market extension. That’s an interesting thing to note. Like in about any job, treat your employees well and they will reciprocate.
modifish
Ok Mike.. Ok.., if that’s what you want, stay with your Angels we wish you happiness…cause if you let something go and it doesn’t come back it means…well even if you never had it..but if you did have it and you let it go…..WHY WHY WHY MIKE….Why couldn’t you see how perfect it could’ve been…us,… you… the world series would’ve been ours forever till the day we all died together…it would,ve been like heaven…well…but without angles…cause that would be weird….but almost like heaven,,,ok…get it together…ok…we still have Bryce….he’s been nice to us so far…he treats us nice, tells us how cool we are and how he wants a family and wants to be here for almost ever…13 years…yeah 13 years he must really like us….that’s a long time…..man 13 years….yeah 13 years…….wow…feels like a long time now….Maybe he can be like Mike sometimes…ya know an MVP here, a 10 WAR there…maybe lead the league in OPS sometimes…just little things that will remind us of Mike and then….MIKE MIKE MIKE how could you do this!!! They can never love you like we would they just pretend and give you things to keep us apart….you want millions…we have millions…you want championships we have…um….a couple…championships, you want sun and sand we have that too….remember New Jersey?….you know, the nice part of New Jersey, the part that disappears in the Atlantic ocean! It would have been amazing…..MIKE MIKE MIKE how can this be…wait…there’s still trades right…yeah that’s it…A TRADE!…he just wants us to trade for him to show how much we care….We’ll give everything for him and then it will be ok…then he’ll know that he belongs with us and we’ll be happy… just us and Mike and a bunch of single A guys that we never heard of….but Mike will be ours and he will be happy and we will be happy and we won’t have to BOO….um…I mean turn our faces to hide our pain…every time an Eagle hands him a TD ball at the Linc….yes…it will all be ok….in just a little while…the more you suffer the more it shows you really care right?………….Mike? is that you? …..oh sorry Bryce…yeah was just thinking bout you….yeah exited to see you too….no I didn’t just call you Mike….I don’t even know a Mike…..
Begamin
lmao what am i reading
KENNETH A LICHTIG
Modfish skipped his depression meds
modifish
It’s Mikes fault….but maybe if we were all on meds…maybe then he would…..that’s it we’ll give him meds….alot of them….then he’ll be here and we’ll all be happy…now where is that Cosby guy living now? I haven’t seen him around Temple for a little while…..
Ok I’ll stop now….just having a little chuckle bout how some of us Phillies fans thought we had a chance, kinda like that hot chick that’s out of your league, but she makes the mistake of telling you that she doesn’t like her boyfriend that one time and then things spiral out of control and next thing you know your crying and she’s like “I’m sorry you misunderstood” and I don’t think we can be friends anymore and then you hate her and…………ok…..ahem…..where the heck is that Cosby guy… he always answered his phone before with that stupid “Hey,Hey,Hey” ..always hated that…..
Lol…ok I’m done now. really. Just found all of this Mike Trout and Philly stuff kind of amusing and I’m even a Phillies fan….
macstruts
Ironically, the reason Mike Trout has only been in one playoff series is because Mike Trout has been unable to play in four of his seven seasons and had the horrible playoff series against KC.
Mike Trout didn’t make the team in 2012 because he was seriously ill in spring training and didn’t play.
In 2015 Mike Trout hurt his wrist diving for a ball in July and for the next five weeks he hit 210 and slugged 350. The Angels went 10-19 in those games. They missed out on a wild card by one game.
Mike Trout health is the reason he hasn’t been to four playoff series.
I don’t think people have any idea what they are talking about when they say Mike Trout can’t win with the Angels. . All he has to do is stay Healthy and then be Mike Trout when the playoffs start.
AndyMeyer
I’m rooting for Trout and the Angels. Always liked that team
If he didn’t come home here to Philly, i would’ve preferred him to stay out there l
Their farm is steadily on the rise and certain pieces are in place. They’ll be competing with the Astros for years to come. Should be entertaining for sure
It’s great for the game
macstruts
You make me want to root for the Phillies who I have liked for decades. Why? Because of Jim Fregosi and 1994.
The Angels are not going to compete with the Astros this year. They can compete with the Rays, Twins and A’s for the second while card spot.
If Ohtani comes back, Skaggs and/or Heaney pitch up to their stuff, and they steal Cole from the Astros in 2020, they can compete then. I think it will be an uphill climb until the Angels get a legitimate ace.
AndyMeyer
Agreed. Skaggs and Heaney have shown they have the stuff, it’s just a shame they haven’t been able to stay healthy
Koamalu
Trout has only missed games due to injuries in 2017 and 2018 and in neither year were the Angels close to a playoff spot.
In 2015 Trout played in 159 games and was literally the best hitter in the AL with a 176 OPS+ and a .991 OPS. Only Harper, the NL MVP, had a comparable season. In July of that season, Trout hit .367/.462/.861/1.323 with 12 HR and a 260 OPS+. The best month of his career. He sat 2 games that month. Both were part of doubleheaders.
macstruts
And he hurt his wrist near the end of July and then stunk fora month. If you don’t closely follow the Angels, that’s what you believe, but you are wrong. That why I documented the cases that were not obvious. What I wrote is fact.
macstruts
Let me give you some more facts…
Why do you think Trout only got 6 ABs in the spring of 2012? The Angels won 89 games that year and the Angels were 6-14 when Trout joined the team.
He didn’t sit out one game, he sat out two. Why do you think the Angels sat Trout out games 99 and 100 of 2015? Were they resting him. NO…. It’s because he rolled over on his wrist trying to make a catch in game 98 and he tried to play through the injury. After that he stunk for about five weeks, as noted above and the Angels missed the playoffs by one game.
Those are facts. You can spin it all you want, but those are facts.
Those are facts.
JFactor
So between both contracts, he’s being paid $504M over 16 years?
He’s easily worth it all.
johndietz
I haven’t seen anyone point out this interesting tidbit. Once this contract is finalized, Trout will be the first player to be guaranteed over $500 million over an entire baseball career. A-Rod only made a little over $440. I don’t think the Angels have ever been given enough credit for taking care of Trout with the first extension. An extension that’s paid him $30m more than Bryce to date. Arte can spend with the best of them. It’s his 5th, 9 figure contract he’s given out.
GeoKaplan
You’re right, this is been overlooked by most of the analysts. Because he had that first extension, which made him $135M, there was no desperation to have the one big FA payday that most players experience—he’s already had that payday.
That gave him the luxury of choice of being able to play where he wanted to play, instead of auctioning himself off to the highest bidder, which we saw all too clearly with Machado and Harper.
Of course, it helps that he wanted to stay with the Angels, and Arte made it easy for him to stay. But he didn’t have to worry about leaving money on the table, because he had already banked about $150M to date, not including endorsements.
SmokieLink
Arte is a crap owner. He can’t hold a candle to Disney. They knew how to maximize their assets. Arne just spends money when he wants a shiny toy (see Pujols, Ohtani, Trout).
Z-A 2
If you take all of the big fish (pun intended) out of the hot stove market, will we have an offseason that isn’t tediously drawn out like this one and last year’s?
Guest617
$426.5M – 97M taxes – 25M agent – 5M lawyers – 5M accountants = 294M
Koamalu
If he is paying $10 million for attorneys and accountants he is not paying $97 million in taxes.
Guest617
60% take home is about avg
timewalk42
Philly Fans still think he coming to play with the 330 million Mr overated
AndyMeyer
A guy with a career OPS of .900, won an MVP at 22 years old and isn’t even in his prime years yet. He’s so overrated!!
Stop
tac3
Right … because it was preposterous to think that a guy from a huge sports town (suburbs) that regularly attends Philly NFL & NBA games, that had a potential FA period coming up, would want to be the final piece in a lineup with Hoskins,Harper,Realmuto, and Segura & and a strong farm team to boost… is just crazy talk … to think it could happen … because there wasn’t enough “stupid money” to go around? Ultimately the Angels benefited from the changing financial landscape of players salaries. These are last of the 13 year deals will see. The new LT deals will be 6 years, after the new CBA. Trout got his while he could. I’m sure CA isn’t a terrible place to live either, with an organization that has treated him more than fairly. It’s a 50/50 surprise that he won’t hit FA. I’m sure the MLBPA is not to happy with him! (As if he cares)
All that said, Any Angels fan that wasn’t worried about Trout joining the Phillies in FA is either a lying sack of poo, or incoherent baseball fan.
It’s over now, and would have been awesome to have, but the Phillies will still win a WS without Mike Trout, possibly more. They are setup for a large championship window. Not sure LAA could say that anytime soon without him … possibly even with. So he was offered 430mil to not test FA.
Good luck to him, but as they say, there are other fish in the sea!
Mkinsella8
2011 Stl 116
2012 Sf 137
2015 KC 126
2017 Hous 138
If those payrolls can win a world series and the Angel’s sit around 180, there is NO reason to assume they wont have enough payroll to win a WS after paying Trout. This is a great move for the team. Even if they have “only” say 140ish to spend on the rest of the team, that alone can still win a WS… then add the guy who will retire the greatest player of all time (sorry Bonds) if he stays healthy, and you have a decent shot at consistently competing. It’s all about how they choose to spend that 140ish, but it has nothing to do with the 140 not being enough money.
Begamin
It isnt so much how much you spend. Its more how well you spend. Angels dont spend will if their payroll is always maxed out and even the best player cant stop them from missing the playoffs for the 4th time in a row
Mkinsella8
That’s what I’m saying. People here are making the argument that Trout shouldn’t be paid such a large percentage of a teams payroll, but that’s not true at all. He is well worth it. There is plenty of money left to build around him. It’s just a matter of spending in a smart way. I know they’ve made some poor choices, but they can turn a corner very soon. Last year they signed a star and he came relatively cheap. Now if they can build up their pitching and their prospects keep developing, they have a bright future. Pujols proved that nobody is a sure thing, but I’d be betting my money on Trout continuing his dominance.
GeoKaplan
You’re right. Maybe folks need to actually study the Angels payroll first before offering their takes. Eppler has taken all kinds of criticism for writing 1-year deals for Harvey, Cahill, and Allen, but the apparent belief is the 2020 rotation will be bolstered by Canning, Suarez, the returning Ohtani, Tropeano, Heaney, Skaggs, Barria, and others. There is enough flex in those controlled salaries to make a run at a Cole as free agent if they want to.
Assuming Adell makes a full recovery, the team could buy out Calhoun’s option for $1M, with Adell offsetting the contracts of Trout and Upton. Both Cozart’s and Simmons’s contracts end with 2020 season, though team may wish to extend the latter. Otherwise, players at 3B/2B and 1B are minimum salary. That allows for a run at Rendon if he isn’t extended by the Nats.
Lucroy is the only catcher under contract and that is just for 2019.
The point is Eppler has mapped this out to allow younger talent to rise to the majors without being blocked by a fat contract. If the team wants to make a run at a key FA, it certainly has the flexibility to do so, but the team as currently constructed won’t be Mike Trout and 12 ugly FA deals. The payroll projects to be lean, and capable of making necessary adjustments and acquisitions on the fly.
macstruts
To me what you wrote is so obvious I’m surprised how few see it. I agree with the vast majority of what you wrote.
stan lee the manly
Worth every penny, good for him. Now if only they can make the playoffs so the world can watch him in October, that would be good for baseball.
stewartnbuck
BRING ON THR TROLLS…….
bjhaas1977
And my dreams are crushed.
Ahnpaul1984
All hail the new king fish! Long live the king fish!! Hail!!!
jleve618
Pennies on the dollar.
jayspoon
Here’s my hot take for you. It’s 3AM Eastern Time and this topic deserves to be written by someone much smarter than me…
I think we’re seeing a market correction in Free Agency and the league/players association should keep their hands off.. Even though older players are getting squeezed out, we’re seeing younger players sign extensions before hitting free agency. This is a great thing. I think as this goes on, it will become a trend and not just for the Trout’s and Arenado’s of the world. I’m a Yankee fan and just saw it with Aaron Hicks, so it’s not like just the larger than life players are signing long term deals before Free Agency. (I’m talking long term deals, like Hicks who got 7 year 70 million… not the contracts that buy out arbitration years plus 2 years of Free Agency.
Why is this good you ask? It’ll be like the old days where players spent a majority of their career with one team. THAT is good for baseball… in my eyes at least. I’ve been wondering for years now how baseball could figure out a way to stop the constant roster change overs. The best answer turns out to be the usual best answer… keep your hands off and let it work itself out.
Anybody else have an opinion on this?
sidbream1991
I think stars like Trout staying in one place their whole career is good for the game. Especially when it brings attention to smaller markets and/or west coast teams.
But the system is broken. You make nothing as a minor leaguer and while you make a good living in the first 6 years of service time, it’s rarely enough to retire on. Players used to use their first FA contract as their retirement fund. Now that’s not happening for most players.
They need to double the league minimum, fix the service time clock, and let players go to FA after 4 years.
GeoKaplan
I’m happy for Trout’s deal, and can honestly say it is financial deserved, but there is a bigger problem being obscured by the fascination with he megadeals recently written: The horrific salaries paid to minor league players, which are below the Federal poverty line at AA and below. The teams want these kids to learn and grow, they need to pay them enough to live on without forcing them to live 6 to a 1 BR apartment, eating PB and J 7 days a week.
kershawsgrandma22
Lol why would players need to make enough in their first 6 years to retire on? If they only play for 6 years they’re likely in their 20s or early 30s. I’m pretty sure they’re more than able to work.
prov356
I agree. I think the one team career player is great for baseball.
hothothotinc
Looks like he won’t be playing with Harper in Philadelphia…
progwell
The Angel Trout, plays the Harp in Philadelphia.
progwell
city in Pennsylvania, U.S., from Greek, taken by William Penn to mean “brotherly love,” from philos “loving” (see -phile) + adelphos “brother”
Michael Birks
Interesting that Trout’s contract is worth HALF the value of the Rays entire franchise
axisofhonor25
According to Fangraphs dollar WAR projection, the guy is worth 78mil if he hit free agency this year. Angels technically getting him for a bargain by paying him 36 mil annually each of the ten years in the contract.
dirkg
It’s nice to see an organization and player invest in each other.
From Jeff Trout’s (Mike’s Dad) minor league teammate, Greg Morhardt, scouting Mike and seeing something 21 other teams didn’t (Nats and D-backs passed twice in the draft), to Mike marrying his high school sweatheart and driving a Ford pickup truck, Trout is a refreshing blend of Uber-athlete and strong Loyalist.
Great for baseball and great for the Angels!
Wolf Hoffmann
The posters on here criticizing Trout for signing this extension for less hypothetical money than he might have gotten elsewhere cracks me up. I know none of these naysayers make more than $18,000 a year and yet they feel they are in a position to give financial advise to a guy that is going to earn $400,000,000 in his career. Hilarious.
1988wasalongtimeago
They’re moving to Long Beach in 3 years. This team right now is horrible. Pitching is awful.
darkangel
as a little kid i saw the Los AngelesAngels play in South Central LA at Wrigley Field. in 2002 i went to all four World Series games in Anaheim. but the signing of this gentleman makes me as proud as ever to be an Angels’ fan.
ullnvrknw
Mike trout the player that could’ve,should’ve but wasn’t the best player of all time because he signed a life contract with the angels