Mike Trout is the best player in baseball, when he’s healthy. He plays for a terrible team, the Los Angeles Angels. They haven’t been to the playoffs since 2014. The best player in the world when healthy is playing on a team that isn’t a serious contender, which is why they need to trade him.
Mike Trout is going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. From 2012 to 2019, he was easily the best player in baseball, hitting 280 home runs, tallying 736 runs batted in and 1,297 hits. He had a batting average of .308, an on base percentage of .422, a slugging of .587 and an on base plus slugging (OPS) of 1.009. All adding up to an OPS+ of 178. For reference, a player with 100 OPS+ is the average MLB player, meaning that Mike Trout from 2012 to 2019 was 78% better than the average MLB player. According to Baseball Reference, from 2012 to 2019, he had 71.7 wins above replacement (WAR). From that seven year span, he averaged 39 home runs, 103 RBI’s, 111 walks, 181 hits and a WAR of 10. Those are MVP type numbers. So of course he won an MVP. Or two. Or three. Mike Trout won three American League Most Valuable Player (AL MVP) awards. He won in 2014, 2016 and 2019. But I believe he could have won more. Seriously.
The most MVP awards ever won by an MLB player is seven by all time home run leader Barry Bonds. Mike Trout could have tied that number before his age 28 season. He finished second in MVP voting in 2012, his ROOKIE YEAR by the way. He posted a 10.7 WAR, the most by a rookie in baseball history. He then placed second the year after, placed second in 2015 and placed second in 2018. If he had won all those MVP’s, he would have had seven MVP’s in eight seasons. Barry Bonds won his seventh MVP in 2004, his 19th season. He was 39 when he won his seventh MVP. Mike Trout would have been 27. 27!
The 2020-2021 offseason would be the offseason Mike Trout was a free agent. But reports came out saying that the Angels were said to have been having contract extension talks with Trout to keep him in Los Angeles. Slowly, talks started to die down. Jon Heyman, an MLB reporter, tweets on Jan. 15, 2019, “#LAAngels will try to extend Trout this winter, but while he likes it there, the whispers are that an extension is now unlikely.” Buster Olney, a journalist from ESPN, wrote an article on Dec. 21, 2018 that states that Trout “desperately wants to win.” The Angels were not a winning team, but the extension talks weren’t completely out the window. Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times tweets on Mar. 1, 2019, “Mike Trout did not say he would delay contract negotiations with the Angels until next offseason.” The next day, MLB Trade Rumors posted an article with the title, “Angels Have Considered Offering 10 Years, $350MM To Mike Trout”. From that point on, there was nothing. No news. Until Mar. 19, 2019, when on that day, Jeff Passan of ESPN reported something that took the baseball world by storm.
Passan posted an article to ESPN that had the title, “Sources: Angels, Trout near new $430M deal”. The Angels did it. They extended the best player in baseball. Again. Trout was already in a contract extension that he signed in 2014 for six years worth $144.5M. He was still in two years of his contract when he signed the newer one, which was actually for 10 years, $360M, but the rest of his current extension was added onto his new one, making the total contract a 12 year, $426.5M extension, ending after the 2030 season. It was the largest contract in baseball history at the time and was the second largest sports contract in history at the time. Trout started 2019 off to a bang and finished it with a bang, winning his third MVP award. In the shortened 2020 season (due to the Covid-19 pandemic) Trout landed fifth in MVP voting. The contract was starting to look like an underpay. But 2021 is where his career began to go downhill.
Mike Trout started 2021 off hot, playing like an MVP, like he always had. Unfortunately, he only played 33 games due to elbow and calf injuries that ruined his season. In 2022 he made a comeback, hitting 40 home runs for the third time in his career. But he played only 119 games. More injuries sidelined him for some time, like hand, back and foot injuries. One of the biggest what-ifs in baseball is if Trout played a full season that year. He could have hit 50 home runs, if not, more, which could have won him another MVP. He landed in eighth in the MVP voting, which is the last time he has gotten MVP votes. In 2023, his expectations were high. He was an All-Star for the eleventh time, but he played 82 games because of hand injuries, including a broken wrist. 2024 showed up and he was ready again. He had a crazy power surge, hitting 10 home runs in 29 games. Which is the same amount of the games he played that whole year due to a torn meniscus that he needed surgery on. From 2021 to 2024, he played only 266 games out of the total 648 games between those years, adding up to only 41% of all games. In that time, the Angels bounced around from third to fourth. In 2024, they finished last in the American League West (AL West) division.
The Angels aren’t a playoff contender, and Mike Trout is on that team. He needs to be traded quickly. If he isn’t and the Angels continue to be a terrible team, he would be the face of a terrible team which could lower his chances of a Hall of Fame plaque. Being traded to a playoff contender could increase his chances of being a Hall of Famer. But trading him isn’t that easy, considering the gigantic contract he’s currently under for the next six more seasons, as well as his injuries. But if he did end up getting traded, which team would he get traded to?
I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of teams he could get traded to. I don’t think a lot of teams would take on his large contract. But there could be a few. I’ll start off with my favorite team, the San Francisco Giants. They have been off to a great start in the 2025 season. As of April 22, they are 15-8. If they keep this pace up, they will be well on their way to a playoff berth. And considering Trout is now primarily a right fielder, it fits for them even more. The right fielder for the Giants, Mike Yastrzemski, is a free agent after the 2025 season. They also have many prospects to trade in exchange for Trout, like Trent Harris, who in three minor league seasons has a 1.45 earned run average (ERA) with 145 strikeouts in 105.1 innings. They also have outfielder Wade Meckler, who in four minor league seasons, has a .330 batting average and an on base percentage of .423. And hey, the Giants can re-sign Yastrzemski since he’s a fan favorite and they can switch both Trout and Yastrzemski from designated hitter (DH) and right field. Or maybe the Angels can just sign Yastrzemski and still trade Trout to the Giants. Another reason I can see him in a Giants uniform is because of the new President of Baseball Operations, Giants legend and likely Hall of Famer Buster Posey. He wants the team to be back to their early 2010 days. Mike Trout could be a leader for the Giants team and can mentor young rookies. I think Posey would want that.
Another contender could be the San Diego Padres. I could definitely see Trout in a Padres uniform. The Padres have had first place in the National League West division for a majority of the season, but as of April 22, they are tied for first place with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are also a big contender, but I really don’t see Trout in a Dodgers uniform. The reason why is because of just how stacked that team is, and with Trout’s large contract, I think they wouldn’t have enough money left to get them more free agents. The Padres already have an outfield consisting of superstar Fernando Tatis Jr., who is actually looking like a contender for the NL MVP early in the season, and younger superstar Jackson Merrill, who finished runner up for Rookie of the Year in 2024, which landed him a nine year contract extension with the Padres. Tatis is also locked up for a long time, signing a 14 year contract extension with the Padres in 2021. An outfield of Trout, Merrill and Tatis Jr. would be one of, if not, the best outfield in baseball.
I have one more contender, and this is the team I see him getting traded to the most. The Philadelphia Phillies. Trout was a die-hard Phillies fan growing up. Not to mention he has a great friendship with the Phillies superstar and sure to be Hall of Famer Bryce Harper. If Trout trade rumors do heat up, Harper could be a big reason that Trout gets traded to Philadelphia if that does happen. The Angels have also been in need of a third baseman for a few years too. The Phillies have an All-Star third baseman in Alec Bohm, who really hasn’t been looking great this year. Who knows, maybe he just needs a change of scenery? The Phillies also have some prospects, like Moises Chace, who is a strikeout machine, who in 237.2 innings in the minors has 329 strikeouts. They also have Mick Abel, who is also a strikeout machine, who in 396.1 innings in the minors has 471 strikeouts. The Phillies have been close to the World Series, reaching it in 2022 but losing and reaching the National League Championship series in 2023, but after being up in the series 3-2 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, they ended up falling apart in the last two games. The Phillies need a World Series win and a healthy Trout could definitely help.
It’s for the best to trade Trout now rather than just wait for him to get mad and request a trade. We saw this example not too long ago with superstar and best player in baseball, Shohei Ohtani in 2023. Fans were begging the Angels to trade Ohtani, even though he was looking like an MVP (which he did eventually win). Talks were heating up about an Ohtani trade, until it was reported that the Angels were going to hold onto him. The Angels could have traded him to get a bunch of top prospects, yet they decided to hold onto him, finish fourth in the American League West division and let Ohtani storm out of Anaheim, up the road just about an hour away and play in Dodger Stadium in a Dodgers uniform. That could be the case for Trout. The Angels hold onto him, keep underperforming and make Trout get mad and demand a trade. And even then, he probably won’t get traded because the Angels don’t want to trade their Hall of Famer for top prospects that could most likely help them rebuild and actually win them games.
