Angels finally get good news on Mike Trout when it’s already too late for LA

Mike Trout may go down as one of the biggest "what if" stories in the history of baseball.

What if Trout could just stay healthy? What if the Los Angeles Angels could have put a team around him that could win games? What if he landed somewhere else? What if?

The big issue, recently, with Trout has been the injuries. It seems like going into every season, the baseball world is all hoping that Trout can stay healthy so we can see a full season of him again. He's played less than 140 games in each of the past six seasons.

2024 was looking to be a historic Trout-like season after the Angels' superstar began the season with 10 home runs and six stolen bases in less than 30 games. His season would seemingly be cut short when he underwent knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus. The timeline on the recovery put him back on the field in late July or early August.

Here we are on July 20 with some exciting news about the best player of our generation.

Mike Trout set to begin rehab assignment, return to Angels shortly after

Trout will be heading to Arizona today to face live pitching at the Angels' Spring Training complex. He will begin his rehab assignment on Tuesday with a return to the big leagues set for soon after that, barring any unforeseen setbacks, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com.

Trout, 32, has been selected an All-Star or won a Silver Slugger in each of his 12 full-time seasons in the big leagues. He's slashed a ridiculous .299/.410/.581 for his career while totaling nearly 400 home runs.

But it's just too late for the Angels this year. Trout won't be playing for a pennant race or a postseason berth or anything like that, much like the rest of his career. He will be playing for the love of the game, his teammates and for the fans of the Angels and baseball in general.

There has always been speculation that the Angels could look at possible trades for Trout before his career is over. Obviously, that would be incredibly complicated as Trout is still attached to six more years of his historic contract, worth over $200 million. The injury history doesn't help either. And then you add in the fact that he's Mike Trout, so why would the Angels even consider dealing him?

But as the years go on and the Angels rebuild and rebuild and rebuild, repeating a cycle of mediocrity, one may beg the question: Will we ever see Mike Trout in another uniform with a chance to compete for a World Series?