Los Angeles Angels: Critics of Mike Trout’s contract are absurd
By Jason Reed
Mike Trout just signed the largest contract in sports history with the Los Angeles Angels, which has been prone to a fair share of criticism.
The Los Angeles Angels did the number one thing on the team’s priorities list by extending Mike Trout to a 12-year, $430 million contract. The next two years are part of this contract, making Trout an Angel at least until he is 39.
This is a huge win for the Angels, who appeared to be the underdogs to sign their own player. While he still had two more years under contract, the Angels’ lack of success this decade gave Trout a justified reason to want to leave.
Trout had no reason to leave as he decided to sign with the team he has fallen in love with as a professional. We don’t ever have to deal with Mike Trout in free agency in his prime, as we did with Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, and instead, get to watch his greatness with no strings attached.
More from LA Sports Hub
- Lakers: 5 Players to Target Through Trades to make another championship run
- LA Chargers: Week 8 against Denver Broncos is a must-win
- LA Rams: Jared Goff wants to keep the Los Angeles title streak going
- Lakers Rumors: Los Angeles Clippers interested in Rajon Rondo
- LA Chargers: Justin Herbert wins AFC Rookie of the Month
Despite this contract making sense for both parties, there has still been a fair amount of criticism around Trout and his decision. There are two angles that the biggest critics have taken.
First is the money argument. Many people argued that Manny Machado was chasing dollar signs when he signed to the San Diego Padres, and rightfully so.
Reports entering the offseason indicated that Machado wanted to escape the West Coast at all costs while also playing for a playoff team. And while the Padres are geared to be successful in the future, they are only a half a mile from the Pacific Ocean.
So much for hating the West Coast.
Because of the Angels’ lack of success, a criticism is that Trout is also chasing the dollar signs. This is not true at all because A) this is not a new team that Trout is playing for and B) he was going to get $400 million in free agency, anyways.
If he were to play out the last two years of his contract and sign a $400 million contract then he would have actually made more money than his extension.
The other criticism also goes along with the Angels’ success and goes hand-in-hand with the chasing dollar signs. It is the argument that Trout will never win, à la Ernie Banks, and remain irrelevant despite being the best player in baseball.
First of all, that is absurd. The argument that Trout “won’t be recognized in a strip mall in LA” is bonkers. ANY baseball fan that even knows a lick about baseball is going to recognize Trout. It is not Trout’s fault that the MLB doesn’t market him to casual fans.
But honestly. If someone that knows nothing about baseball going to recognize Bryce Harper? Probably not. Baseball is not as polarizing of a sport as football or basketball.
And it is way too soon to write Trout off and say that he will not have any playoff success. Sure, the Angels have not given us any reason to be optimistic thus far, but they have 12 years (at least half of which Trout will be in his prime) to figure it out.
The Angels have a lot of money coming off the books in the future and some exciting prospects coming through the farm. They won the most games in the American League in 2014 and got swept in a series that really could have gone either way against the Kansas City Royals.
Trout is going to at least keep them afloat; if they get good performances out of the rest of the roster they can easily be a playoff team. Anything can happen once October hits, especially when you have the best player in baseball.
Next. Why Mike Trout is being underpaid. dark
It is rare that we see a contract that makes so much sense for both parties, something that the Los Angeles Angels and Mike Trout accomplished. The criticism is unfair.