Too LATE to "Free" Mike Trout?

[00:00:00]Here's Brody Brazil.

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[00:00:15]Hey Brody, this is Doug calling from Raleigh and I wanted to ask you, what are the odds you think that Mike Trout's going to dawn another team's cap before the end of his career? Because obviously to outsiders, we think he's got all the reasons in the world to get out of there, but >> yeah, >> for one reason or another, he's >> um not wanted to. He even signed that, you know, huge contract, which was the biggest in history at the time, I think, uh, back in 2019, which to be fair, back then, I guess there, the Angels weren't as much of a lost cause, >> right?

[00:00:58]>> Um, but now, fast forward seven years, they've not improved at all. In fact, even gotten worse.

[00:01:03]>> True.

[00:01:04]>> There's no end in sight. And I don't know if he's just comfortable there. I know he owns a gigantic mansion out Newport Beach, I think. uh and he's got two small kids.

[00:01:15]>> Mhm.

[00:01:15]>> So maybe it's really just comes down to him not wanting to move.

[00:01:21]>> I don't know. But based on what you know, like I'm just curious. Do you think he's just going to settle and stay there? Thanks.

[00:01:29]>> Hey Doug, great call. Great question. In fact, I think you may have even answered your own question or questions there because there's a lot going on here, but it is kind of a a big thing of baseball.

[00:01:40]You've got one of the superstar players who's going to end up maybe playing all his games for one franchise. And usually that's respectable because usually that player gets a chance to be in some playoff series and they're around long enough where they get to see the ups and downs of the franchise.

[00:01:56]There's never really been a total up for the Angels franchise with Mike Trout as a player. And I'm saying that because here's somebody who's been in three postseason games during his 16-year Major League Baseball career so far. So, let's jump though to the present. Is Mike Trout really stuck on the Angels?

[00:02:15]Does he want to stay there? He's under contract here for several more years, but he's also in an interesting spot in his career where I don't know if there's a ton of other options for him elsewhere. 16 years under his belt, but in the last several years, really going back to 2021, he's had a lot of injury problems. He's played on average 78 games per season since 2021. Now, he did play 130 last year, but he also had a couple years where it was in the 20s and the 30s, and it's greatly fluctuated based on the injuries he's dealing with.

[00:02:44]So, I don't know if for him and where he's at in the career and what other teams would uh take a little bit of a risk on taking on the contract and the player and playing time and the guarantee that he'll be healthy. Like, I don't know that a lot of other teams are out there right now necessarily clamoring for a Mike Trout, at least as an everyday player, but for that contract, you're kind of having to be an everyday player. He was signed back in 2019, to your point, through the year 2030. What a huge deal with term of 12 years and $426.5 million that works out and shakes out to about a $35.5 million per year amount per season. So the contract is part of this, the health situation is part of this. I think that's all in the present. Um also this any trade demand that Mike Trout could have would be reasonable, right? He's been on losing teams. Hasn't made the playoffs since, was it 2014? And played three games, not even all four games of that series. Got swept by the Royals.

[00:03:50]That's it. And the year after that, I think 2015 might have been their last winning season. 10 losing seasons since then. So, if Mike Trout came out tomorrow and said, "That's it. I would just like a trade anywhere." and and maybe he'd be specific. Maybe it would be a pre-arranged deal, like he's already talked to the the Phillies. Now, Mike Trout is also from New Jersey. I don't know if playing on the East Coast matters to him. He's been out here in California, out west for so long. To your point, he's got a house. He's got a family. He's got kids. I get it. At some point in your 30s, your 40s, maybe for some your late 20s, you settle in in life. you start to dig in and and build who you are and where you live and you're comfortable. And for Mike Trout, some of it might be that. So maybe we'll never see a trade demand because he's thinking, "All right, it's hard to break my comfort zones here in whatever community he lives in or just in Orange County or Southern California. I like where I live. I like my family situation here. I don't want to move. So what? I play for the team that that they pay me a bunch. I want to win. I guarantee Mike Trout still wants to win and wants to do well. He hasn't been an all-star for quite some time.

[00:05:08]He's not in the silver slugger conversation. Uh, you know, a couple MVPs way back in the day, but that was the 2010s. It's almost like two totally different decades for Mike Trout from performance and health. But look, he's had a great career. He's a Hall of Famer. There's no question about that.

[00:05:24]And maybe his goal is to somehow be around when the Angels are good again.

[00:05:31]But he's waited a whole decade. And he had Show Otani as a running mate. And if you're the Angels, do you want to let go of Mike Trout? No. He sells tickets.

[00:05:40]Fans love him. He's a core piece of your identity. I mean, I I feel like what would you get in return for him right now? Is also an interesting question. If it's a trade situation, you want to command a lot. You want to continue building the future of the Angels, but man, they keep trying to do that and they basically get nowhere with it. So for Mike Trout, what what is the motivation right now? Is it is it personal or is it professional? It might be more personal than professional. And so for all of us externally who are saying, man, we just want to see this really good player on a really good team for once and just see what it might be like, you know, just see what it might be like to have Mike Trout in a World Series. Like honestly at this point we're in 26 and the Angels are what they are and I I think Trout would be done in 30 like done with their career. We're only talking about a few years even left here for this to be a possibility. He signed the Forever contract. I don't know that forever is going to take him to a different city or location. He is a Hall of Famer. Again, a Hall of Famer who might go into Coopertown having played three total playoff games and a 1 for12 batting record. a 1 for12 batting appearance at 15 total played appearances went 1 for12 in those three playoff games 10 straight losing seasons and counting let's add this one on to it already 11 straight losing seasons with the Los Angeles Angels but again Hall of Famer really good player on some really bad teams I almost feel like and again he may not want this the Angels owe it to him to set love free to send him to a place where he can he can go eat. If he's hungry, let him eat. Let him eat in the playoffs. Let him eat on a winning team.

[00:07:27]It's almost like the career of of Mike Trout to some degree, at least the second half of it, feels very wasted.

[00:07:34]I'm not here to say that the the 2010s weren't good for Trout and company, because they obviously were, especially individually. But maybe we're at a point now where it's a lost cause. Maybe we're too late into this conversation. I know I've talked about this before here on the channel, but now that we're really here with three seasons left under contract, maybe it's too late. I don't know. Let me know what you think in the comments.

[00:07:56]Can't wait to see you back here for the next video.

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