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On the heels of the massive contracts that Manny Machado and Bryce Harper received in free agency, the Los Angeles Angels and Mike Trout agreed to a 13-year, $430 million contract that would ostensibly keep Trout in Anaheim for the remainder of his career.
While the Angels haven’t had much team success over the last seven years, Trout has grown to be the best player in baseball year in and year out. He was in the MVP conversation during his rookie season and has continued to prove why he’s worth the contract that he’s received.
In each of his first seven full seasons in the big leagues, he’s finished Top 5 in MVP voting, winning the award twice. He’s finished Top 5 in WAR in every season except the 2017 season when he missed time with injury and he’s had the best OWAR every year of his career.
Trout is going to go down as one of the best players in the history of the game. He’s a once in a generation talent who, unfortunately, has been a part of an Angels franchise that hasn’t been able to build a winning team around him. Even as the best player since he’s entered the league, the Angels have only made the postseason once.
Because the Angels have struggled so much over the years, many thought the Yankees, Phillies and the Dodgers would have a bidding war for his services next winter. With the size of that contract, though, Trout is going to stay in Southern California for quite some time.