An Angels-Mike Trout trade is a matter of when, not if

Mike Trout has long been the Los Angeles Angels’ centerpiece. In his 14-year career, Trout has had 11 All-Star selections, earned 3 MVP awards, and won the 2012 Rookie of the Year. Once touted as the best player in baseball, Trout has aged significantly since his prime. Trout has spent all 14 years of his career in an Angels jersey, but with the Angels' many struggles, is it time to send the king packing?

Despite his age, Mike Trout is still one of the premiere players in the game of baseball. This year, Trout hit 10 home runs with a .220 average before getting injured. While only a sample size, we see the power is still there. However, his batting average has dipped significantly. This has been the case for at least two years, but we’ve seen a decline prior to 2021 when Trout posted a .333 average in an injury shortened season.

Speaking of injuries, decline isn’t Trout’s main concern. Trout can still send baseballs well beyond the outfield walls and potentially recover at least some of his batting average. However, over the course of his illustrious, Hall-of-Fame worthy career, Trout has been plagued with numerous extensive injuries.

With as much time as he has missed, potential trade partners might question how much production they will actually get out of Trout. Right now, that isn’t a concern as Trout is signed through 2030 leaving plenty of opportunities to make a sizable impact. But this still leaves significant questions.

For one, will Trout (who turns 33 in August) still produce as much as he currently can or more? If not, his over $37 million a year contract is going to appear as a poor value. If Trout can’t appear as productive or healthy as he has prior to 2023, his trade value will plummet and the struggling Los Angeles Angels will not get the trade package they seek. Even worse, they will find themselves eating more of his massive contract. The longer they wait, the more risk the Angels will assume.

So, how would a Mike Trout trade fit into the Angels’ strategy?

Perry Minasian’s trade deadline approach for the Angels

For as long as Perry Minasian has been the Angels’ GM, he has always been overly optimistic, and not by a small margin. A huge opportunity was wasted when the Angels kept Shohei Ohtani even after the season was lost. This year, even without Ohtani, Minasian still kept his hopes high. But like with past seasons, this one too is going down the drain. The Angels’ approach thus far has been cycling through managers and making offseason acquisitions. But the problem was never the managers and the acquisitions haven’t made a sizable difference. So, what does this mean for the Angels now?

The Angels have plenty of desirable trade candidates (Logan O’Hoppe, Luis Rengifo, Zack Neto, Brandon Drury, Taylor Ward, Carlos Estevez, Tyler Anderson, Kevin Pillar, etc.) Despite this level of talent, the Angels have again failed to produce a postseason run. Does this mean we can expect an Angels’ fire sale? There are hints that is not the case.

Rumors have swirled that the Angels will keep all players that are signed or under control through 2025. If true, this would mean most of the Angels’ highly sought-after trade candidates such as Rengifo and Anderson will remain Angels unless the front office is completely blown away by an offer.

This also likely means Trout will be staying too. But there wasn’t much of a chance of a Trout trade happening this year either. In any case, Trout loves the Angels organization. In February, Trout said this:

“I think the biggest thing right now is the easy way out would be asking for a trade. There might be a time, maybe. I haven’t really thought about this. When I signed that contract, I’m loyal and want to win a championship here. I think the overall picture of winning a championship or getting to the playoffs here is a bigger satisfaction than bailing and taking the easy way out.”

But he did leave the door open to a trade in the future. He went on to say:

“Maybe down the road if something changes [I’d ask out], but that’s been my mind-set ever since the trade speculations. I can’t predict the future. But I think the overall build of not getting to the playoffs and then when it happens, it’s bigger than if I just wanted to get out of here. The overall relationships with everybody in this clubhouse, everybody in this organization has been great. If things change, obviously, and people feel different way, we'll go from there.”

Trout has a full no-trade clause in his contract. If he doesn’t want to go, he doesn’t have to. But this is still a case of the inevitable. If the Angels hold onto what they have, their chances of making the playoffs are much slimmer than when they had Shohei Ohtani. Their best bet to make it to the postseason in the near future is by bringing in a huge trade package for Trout and dumping most of his salary.

If they repeat the same mistake they made with Ohtani, the Angels will be paying for it for a long time.