TROUT SHOULD ESCAPE ANAHEIM, LIKE OHTANI, AND EMBRACE THE EAST COAST
Remaining loyal to the Angels is senseless, after 12 years of wicked letdowns, and Ohtani’s signing with the Dodgers is a massive reminder: He still can star in October and finish a wonderful career
In the mindset of why we celebrate Presidents Day, when so many selectees are crooked, allow me to fix baseball’s groaning injustice. Mike Trout should be traded today, if not yesterday. He has played since 2012 and has been to the playoffs just once, losing a series in a sweep. Before Shohei Ohtani, his teammate in Anaheim for six seasons, he was the best player in the sport. He signed a $426.5 million contract that connected him to the Angels through 2030.
And now that Ohtani has moved up the freeway to the Dodgers, Trout should be pleading for a deal at sunrise and sundown each day. He is 32, with time to win if he stays healthy. His team is owned by a perpetual doofus, Arte Moreno. On Monday, one of his compensated teammates, Anthony Rendon, said baseball never has “been a top priority for me.” So what if he signed a seven-year, $245 million deal in 2019? “This is a job. I do this to make a living,” he said at spring training. “My faith, my family come first before this job.”
If baseball interferes with those “things,” Rendon threatened: “I’m leaving.”
It’s stunning how an all-time player remains faithful to the Angels when his career would be so much better elsewhere. The Dodgers might take a shot at Trout, with billions at play. His hometown ballclub, the Philadelphia Phillies, never hesitates to spend under owner John Middleton. The Yankees might gamble to seek their first World Series title in 15 years. The Baltimore Orioles have a new owner that might make a splash. It takes just one franchise to make a run at Trout and his remaining $248.15 million.
Thus, rather than stall for another porous Angels season, he should ask out now. Enough players have surpassed him of late, including Ohtani — especially when his elbow is ready to pitch next season — and the likes of Ronald Acuna Jr. and Mookie Betts. Why would he remain trustworthy when the Angels have spent unwisely, changed front-office executives and left him with no chance of reaching October?
“I think the biggest thing right now is taking the easy way out is just to ask for a trade,” Trout said. “There might be a time. Maybe. I really haven’t thought about this. But when I signed that contract, I’m loyal. I want to win a championship here. The overall picture of winning a championship or getting to the playoffs here is bigger satisfaction than bailing out and just taking the easy way out. So I think that’s been my mindset. Maybe down the road, if some things change. But that’s been how I think ever since the trade speculation came up.”
Rather than tub-thumping the disdainful Rendon, who has played only 148 games the last three seasons, Trout should use Ohtani’s departure as a way of improving his own career. Anywhere back East — Phillies, huh? — would reinstall what he watched as a local teen rooting for the Eagles. He hasn’t played more than 140 games since 2016, leaving a sense that he’s cursed or can’t remain off the injured list. I’d say he is cursed playing by Disneyland, hitting only .262 with 18 home runs and 44 RBIs in 82 games in 2023. This season, the Angels lurk far behind the last two World Series champions, Texas and Houston, and a playoff-worthy team in Seattle in the American League West.
“If I'm on the field, it makes a difference for sure. It crushes me,” Trout said. “I mean, I hate talking about it. I always want to be out there with the guys, so I'm going to go out there. Even if I'm 60 percent, I try to go out there and play. It kills me when after coming to the clubhouse and not seeing my name in that lineup.”
So why doesn’t Moreno — burned by Ohtani’s departure right up the road, along with scandals including Tyler Skaggs’ drug death --- make a pitch for four free agents controlled by superagent Scott Boras. Why not steal Cody Bellinger after standout early seasons with the Dodgers? Or pitcher Blake Snell? Trout wonders.
“There's a couple of guys out there still that can help this team (be) better,” he said. “I’m going to keep pushing as long as I can until the season starts or until those guys sign. It is just in my nature. I'm doing everything I can possible. It's obviously Arte's decision. I'm going to put my two cents in there.”
Moreno would rather have his $248.15 million. It’s hard to think anyone wants to be in Anaheim if Trout is considering a trade and Rendon is tanking. That leaves a south Jersey man to contemplate. “Am I worried about what happens, or, do I want to get traded, am I not gonna get traded? I'm not worried about any of that,” Trout said. “I’m going out there and play my game. I got to put a full season together and see what happens. The overall build of not getting to the playoffs and then finally when it happens — I think that's bigger than if I just wanted to get out of here.”
He has won three MVP awards and made the All-Star team 11 times. He should examine the monumental attention received by Ohtani. Somewhere, a team will tell Mike Trout how his Hall of Fame career would be remodeled into glory and numbers. Let’s give him until July 30.
Then we’ll salute his escape from prison and celebrate Mike Trout Day, finally.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.