MLB superstar Mike Trout on Angels extension - 'I don't know'
The MLB landscape could see a seismic shift come next season, as both Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper and Orioles third baseman Manny Machado will become free agents after this year.
But there is another player whose free agency is also generating headlines, despite the fact that he won’t enter the market until after the 2020 season.
Mike Trout will become a free agent in 2021, but there are already rumblings as to whether the two-time MVP will re-sign with the Angles beforehand, re-sign with the team as a free agent or leave the only franchise he’s ever known.
One can assume that Trout’s decision will hinge on the success of the Angels, who have made the postseason just once since he was called up in 2011.
Angels general manager Billy Eppler was recently asked if Trout has said he won’t re-sign if the team continues to miss the playoffs.
“He has never said that,” Eppler told the Los Angeles Times.
The Angels sit at 37-29, and are four-and-a-half games back in the race for the AL West and the second AL Wildcard spot.
When Trout was asked if he would consider re-signing if the Angels don’t make it to October this year, he was noncommittal.
“I don’t know the answer,” Trout said. “I want to get to the playoffs. That’s my mindset. I can’t predict the future. So I just take it one game at a time now and see what happens.”
Trout’s first taste of the playoffs did not go well back in 2014. The Angels won 98 games that year and clinched the AL West, setting up a matchup between them and the 89-win Kansas City Royals.
Trout went just 1-for-12 in the series, and his team was swept. The Angels haven’t been back to the playoffs since.
If the Angels do end up missing the postseason again this year, you can place blame on anyone within the organization except for Trout.
He has been worth a whopping 5.4 wins above replacement and is on pace for 47 home runs and 32 stolen bases, all while posting an OPS north of 1.000.
This season has been what Angels fans are accustomed to seeing from Trout, who has posted 59.2 WAR since becoming a full-time player in 2012, the most in MLB.
The difference in WAR over that span between No. 1 Trout and No. 2 Josh Donaldson (35.9 WAR), is as large as the difference between Donaldson and No. 101 Austin Jackson (12.5 WAR).
Trout still has time to decide what his future holds, and the Angels have a couple more years to build their team so Trout doesn’t want to leave.
That could start with the team acquiring a starting pitcher, as the Angels were in the market for one even before two-way rookie star Shohei Ohtani went down with an elbow injury that could be season-ending.
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