Los Angeles Dodgers: Why the Dodgers are front-runners for Mike Trout
By Jason Reed
1. A winning culture that’s built to last
If Mike Trout does end up leaving the Los Angeles Angels when his current contract is up it is likely going to be from Trout’s lack of success in Anaheim despite being the best player on the planet.
The Angels’ front office has done a terrible job in constructing competitive teams around Trout, who does not have a single postseason win in his career. The Angels have not won a postseason game since 2009, with Trout’s lone appearance being in the 2014 playoffs.
At some point, that has to be tiresome and if Trout does leave the Angels he is not going to go to the highest bidder if the highest bidder is a non-contending team. The Angels have shown that having Trout doesn’t automatically make you a contender.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have the winning culture that Trout has been without his entire career and that automatically puts them ahead of other teams. While the Philadelphia Phillies are now contenders, they still have not proven anything.
Granted, the team has two years to do that but the Dodgers have done it the last six with no signs of slowing down. Los Angeles has the current core that is willing them to contention, most of it being young pieces in Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, Walker Buehler, Julio Urias, etc.
Throw in the fact that the Dodgers have been able to maintain a top-10 farm system while making the postseason six years in a row and the Dodgers are exactly what the Angels haven’t been during Trout’s career.