Mike Trout agrees to 12-year, $430M extension

[502 to Right]

I wouldn't call a $430 million deal an underpayment. And I fully recognize that Mike Trout is the best baseball player on the planet.

 

MLBTR is reporting that the 12/430 includes the 2/66.5 he still had left on his old deal, so really only a 10 year/363.5 million extension.

 

Had he stayed healthy & put up two more Trout caliber seasons, one has to believe he would have gotten way more than 10/363.5 on the open market, so really only an "underpay" when viewed in that context.

 

The bolded part is what people are glossing over and it's a very important consideration in the value of this extension.

[sveumrules]

I wouldn't call a $430 million deal an underpayment. And I fully recognize that Mike Trout is the best baseball player on the planet.

 

MLBTR is reporting that the 12/430 includes the 2/66.5 he still had left on his old deal, so really only a 10 year/363.5 million extension.

 

Had he stayed healthy & put up two more Trout caliber seasons, one has to believe he would have gotten way more than 10/363.5 on the open market, so really only an "underpay" when viewed in that context.

 

The bolded part is what people are glossing over and it's a very important consideration in the value of this extension.

 

Not everyone is glossing it over...

 

My strategy if I was him would've been "Half Billion or I test the market", but I guess at that point is it really worth risking injury over 70 million measly bucks?

[jerichoholicninja]

The Angels could have completely transformed the next 10-15 years of their franchise by trading him for multiple players who would hopefully turn into above average to great players and in turn traded those guys for the same. Instead they will have one guy being paid a boatload of money into his early 40's. Trout's great, sure, but they've won nothing with him because having even one HOF player means nothing in baseball if the rest of your team sucks. Extending him is the safe and PR friendly move but probably does very little to improve the competitiveness of the franchise.

[brewcrewdue80]

For the value of numbers that he consistently puts up, this is a massive underpay. It was said before 9.2WAR Avg for him per season. So by the numbers that's paying him 4million per WAR. That extension should have been 430mil on top of the 2/66 he's being paid. Maybe they will have incentives built in? 2mil for an MVP season? 1mil if only top 5? 500k for some other awards? But, I dunno I guess he could compare it as Harper with the playing for 1 team til retirement.

[Warning Track Power]

The Angels could have completely transformed the next 10-15 years of their franchise by trading him for multiple players who would hopefully turn into above average to great players and in turn traded those guys for the same. Instead they will have one guy being paid a boatload of money into his early 40's. Trout's great, sure, but they've won nothing with him because having even one HOF player means nothing in baseball if the rest of your team sucks. Extending him is the safe and PR friendly move but probably does very little to improve the competitiveness of the franchise.

Isn't this more of an indictment of the front office rather than signing an all-time great to a long term contract? Look at what this franchise has done over the past decade. Signing Josh Hamilton. Signing a 31 year old Pujols to a 10 year deal was an enormous mistake. Signing Matt Harvey and Cody Allen this year. Being unable to develop a farm system. All these reek of just bad management. Now imagine Stearns in Orange County, working within the framework of a $150-$200 million payroll.

[xisxisxis]

Well that tells you how much influence Bryce Harper has... Hey Bryce, call up Yelich and tell him how much you hope he becomes a Philly!

[MillerParkSouth]

Tom

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@Haudricourt

4m4 minutes ago

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Yelich certainly sounds open to extension talk at any time: "I love it here. We'll see how it plays out."

They shouldn't be having any conversations about that until after next year at the very earliest. Realistically, I wouldn't look at it until after the 2021 season.

[markedman5]

Tom

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Verified account

 

@Haudricourt

4m4 minutes ago

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Yelich certainly sounds open to extension talk at any time: "I love it here. We'll see how it plays out."

They shouldn't be having any conversations about that until after next year at the very earliest. Realistically, I wouldn't look at it until after the 2021 season.

 

Didn't say they should......just like he fact that Yelich loves it here and seems to be open to the idea.

[jerichoholicninja]

The Angels could have completely transformed the next 10-15 years of their franchise by trading him for multiple players who would hopefully turn into above average to great players and in turn traded those guys for the same. Instead they will have one guy being paid a boatload of money into his early 40's. Trout's great, sure, but they've won nothing with him because having even one HOF player means nothing in baseball if the rest of your team sucks. Extending him is the safe and PR friendly move but probably does very little to improve the competitiveness of the franchise.

Isn't this more of an indictment of the front office rather than signing an all-time great to a long term contract? Look at what this franchise has done over the past decade. Signing Josh Hamilton. Signing a 31 year old Pujols to a 10 year deal was an enormous mistake. Signing Matt Harvey and Cody Allen this year. Being unable to develop a farm system. All these reek of just bad management. Now imagine Stearns in Orange County, working within the framework of a $150-$200 million payroll.

 

Sort of what I'm saying. Couldn't care less about how much Trout personally makes but even for as great as he is this doesn't really do much for the Angels franchise. They'll essentially be in the same place for at least the next few years with little talent to trade and a lot less money to sign players. I guess it makes the fans happy but trading Trout could have set them up much better for well past his prime years and cost a whole lot less money.

[TURBO]

Oh no. I was so looking forward to hearing about his free agency for the next 2 years and whether he would sign with the Yankees, Red Sox, or Cubs.

 

Any info on no-trade language in the deal?

 

Or take a one year deal with us for 50 million...

[BrewFan130]

This makes me laugh after all that talk from Harper trying to recruit Trout and other talent around himself. I find Trout to be the superior talent and far more likeable personality that players are more apt to move towards.

I’m curious to see how future FA’s respond to opportunities and deals from the Phillies to play with Harper.

[danzig6767]

Sort of what I'm saying. Couldn't care less about how much Trout personally makes but even for as great as he is this doesn't really do much for the Angels franchise. They'll essentially be in the same place for at least the next few years with little talent to trade and a lot less money to sign players. I guess it makes the fans happy but trading Trout could have set them up much better for well past his prime years and cost a whole lot less money.

That's just assuming that the players the Angels would get in return for Trout would turn out to be really good.

 

Prospects are only prospects for a reason. Plenty of highly ranked prospects don't pan out for either mediocre performance reasons or health issues. This is why often when teams trade a star for young players, the team trading the star doesn't end up being happy with the trade beyond the day it was made.

[jerichoholicninja]

Sort of what I'm saying. Couldn't care less about how much Trout personally makes but even for as great as he is this doesn't really do much for the Angels franchise. They'll essentially be in the same place for at least the next few years with little talent to trade and a lot less money to sign players. I guess it makes the fans happy but trading Trout could have set them up much better for well past his prime years and cost a whole lot less money.

That's just assuming that the players the Angels would get in return for Trout would turn out to be really good.

 

Prospects are only prospects for a reason. Plenty of highly ranked prospects don't pan out for either mediocre performance reasons or health issues. This is why often when teams trade a star for young players, the team trading the star doesn't end up being happy with the trade beyond the day it was made.

 

Agreed. But they've done nothing with Trout putting up HOF numbers. What are they going to do when he's not?

[RollieTime]

I agree in that Trout probably could of commanded something along the lines of $500 million if he were to test free agency, but $430 million is $430 million. Tough to say no to that kind of money. Get the guaranteed money now and not risk getting seriously injured at some point the next couple seasons.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Its arguable the aav is "below market value" but ahhh.. Lets look at a few things here

 

Nobody knows what Trouts value will be when he's 39.

 

Its the biggest contract in mlb (and sports) history.

 

It's possible he could have gotten more but at that point it seems like youre just digging change outta the couch.

[MadScientist]

538 has a good analysis on possible expected value.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/mike-trout-is-a-430-million-bargain/

Despite the title and some of the text, the numbers suggest that if he ages in line with the average of the most comparable group, he will be worth a little more ($450M instead of $430M), so it is likely a pretty close to fair contract, given all the uncertainty.

[LouisEly]

I'd be surprised if the annual salaries didn't decrease the last 2-4 years of the deal. I'd bet higher than AAV through age 33, then below AAV after 36.

[Dead Simmons]

It is tough to feel bad for someone making $430M but I feel bad for Trout. That franchise has no clue what to do to become a winner and I could easily see his entire career waste away on it with us never really seeing him on a dominant team.

 

Yup, not that he cares...but yah. A shame how much of his career has already been wasted on losers.

Trout is a bona fide throwback: he's happy with his home in LA, happy with the money he makes and knows he already has several lifetimes worth of it, and happy with his team.

 

Bully for him!