The Angels and Mike Trout will enter negotiations about a multiyear contract this spring with the hopes that a deal will be reached shortly after Opening Day, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports. Since Trout is still a year away from arbitration eligibility, the Halos could renew his contract for slightly more than the league minimum (as they did last year, with some controversy), though Trout would get a lot more money in his pocket immediately due to a signing bonus from a new extension.
Though the Angels control Trout through the 2017 season, an extension would give them some cost certainty through his three arbitration years, which seem likely to reach record levels. The Halos would surely look to cover at least a couple of Trout's free agent years in an extension, and agent Craig Landis of LSW Baseball could easily ask for at least $25MM for each of his client's free agent years.
The financial terms are mind-boggling for a 22-year-old player who has only 336 Major League games to his name, yet Trout's performance has justified such an inflated price tag. Trout hit .324/.416/.560 with 57 homers in 2012-13, and factoring in his speed (82 steals in 94 attempts) and outfield defense, Trout has accounted for a league-best 20.8 WAR in that span, according to Baseball Reference. If Trout and the Angels are looking for an extension in the range of nine or 10 seasons, such a deal could quite possibly eclipse Alex Rodriguez's 10-year, $275MM contract with the Yankees as the most expensive contract in baseball history.
He gon’ get PAID.
Dont do it Trout, wait till FA where the the Yankees will be waiting to drown you in money
The insane aspect is he is going to get paid soon… and then in 8-10 years he’ll be 30-32 years old and primed for any even BIGGER contract.
ala kershaw. Dude will be 32 when is contract expires.
I don’t know about even bigger. But still another 100+ MM deal. If Trout signs away five FA years and his remaining four years of control, that’s probably something in the neighborhood of 8/210 or so (54 MM for control at 3/10/17/24 and then 31 a year for 5 FA years). He hits FA after his age-30 campaign under this scenario, and is probably still in line for a 25+ MM AAV deal for 5 or 6 years if his play continues. My only worry is that debuting young might catch up to him earlier, giving him an enhanced injury risk in his 30s.
Why wait when the angels can make him the highest paid player in mlb
Not going to happen while they still have 4 years of team control and dramatically suppressed prices due to arbitration.
His arb will get expensive very very very fast. He has the Roy, MVP votes, power numbers, stolen bases, batting average. All things arb panels LOVE! I wouldn’t be surprised to see him hit 10 million by his second year in arb. Third at the latest
He’ll hit 10 MM in year 1!
It won’t be dramatically suppressed when he becomes arbitration eligible. He will at least get 15 million in his first year of arbitration, and then more in his remaining two. It would be prudent for the Angels to lock him up this season, because if they let Trout hit arbitration, it becomes less likely that he’ll sign before free agency. He’d rather take the big bucks during arbitration, and then get the biggest contract in history in free agency.
He’s not getting $15MM in his first year of arb. That’s not the way it works. He may not even get that much in his second year. The arb record isn’t even $20MM and that is in a player’s last arb year. I realize he’s going to set new records, but let’s be realistic.
I’d love for that to happen but even if its not the yankees I don’t see him staying with that team he’s definitely going to go to another team that’s not in anaheim.
This is why other fan bases hate us
Don’t worry, we’re starting to hate the Dodgers, too.
Yeah but there’s a crosstown and part of the Freeway Series rival. You had other reasons to dislike them before the Dodgers became a spending spree as well. Much like how Met fans for the most part always hated the Yankees, even well before the 2000 WS.
10 years 280 million. He’s worth it.
Dare I say that would be below his value?
Definitely below what he is worth on the open market. It is tougher to determine if you factor in the suppression on his salary given the arbitration process.
This. Even pulling down the 5 million OVER each record arbitration year he’d only make 54 million over the next four years if Trout went year to year.
It’ suppresses the cost dramatically to this deal probably looking a lot less like the 10/280 and a lot more like a 6/120-7/150 deal where the Angels buy out two years of free agency and Trout signs his big deal at 28/29.
He’s Worth MORE.
But you have to tack on another $100m for not giving him a larger raise before the 2013 season, just because.
500MM
I hope trout doesn’t sign an extension.
It’s going to happen
There is no way that doesn’t happen.
Why is it so inevitable?
Angels have too much to lose and anyone is one injury away from never taking another swing of the bat again. He is four full seasons from Free Agency and won’t turn down a 8-10 year deal at 25-28 mill a year. This positions himself at age 30 or 32 to be right in line for another insanely large contract.
If he is smart he looks for more years and puts in an optout, but its hard to not lock up that money on the table. Lets face it, most of it he is never going to spend in his lifetime. Just leave it for the kids in a trust so they can squander it
Yeah, good call on the opt out. Maybe age 27 season
Why because hes young and could get hurt anytime, money talks and hes not gonna take the risk of not securing his future
I agree. How competitive are the Angles going to be in the next few years? I don’t think the Angles know how to construct a winning team based on the last couple of years. Sure, lots of money but that means nothing with no pitching or team chemistry.
Perhaps a seven year contract extension so there’s financial security now…and hit free agency again before he turns thirty?
15 years, 400 million with an optout after 10 years
And 320 million in the first 10 years, last 5 years at 80 million
I think that is an insane amount of risk to put in one player. You are going $125M over any contract ever,
He is 22 with the greatest start to a career of any baseball player in history. In terms of AAV its not much more than Arod got 6 years ago, so in nominal dollars the AAV is less. Arod was 10 years older.
I would not give it for a pitcher, but position players are less of a risk, and his youth makes him very insurable.
My guess is 10 years $350 mil, opt out after 7 years, $120 mil remaining on the last three years.
Whatever the deal is, it’s going to be uncharted territory…
I don’t go there if I am the Angels. That’s only 3 free agent years (if 2014 is counted as 1 yr). He likely only gets 50 million in his 3 arb years. If only 10 years I would not think he would get an optout.
But you are right, it will break some records
It’s an internet message board and not actually the money belonging to the person making the comment…what do you expect?
The New Jersey Devils tried something like that with Ilya Kovalchuck I believe and the NHL shot it down. I would Bud Selig would do the same.
I really hope he doesn’t sign an extension that buys out free agent years, I want to see him play in a Phillies uniform before he’s 37.
It’s just sad how many people don’t want him to sign and get what he’s worth…. He’s going to do what’s best for him and his family and sign a major contract with the angels deal with it
Lets be real, nobody is really worth that kind of dough. I remember when Yaz signed a 3 year deal for 500K (total, not per year), and my grandfather wailed every morning that he made more money than the President and should never make an out for that kind of money
Hes not worth 300 mill but hes going to get somewhat in that range thats just sports.I just dont get people saying dont sign an extension.
All extensions will buy out free agent years, that’s the whole point of them from the teams perspective
No they all don’t. Some are intended to give cost certainty.
No thanks, I’m good keeping him in the AL West and not having to face him 19 times a year.
2 years, $9 million tops. The talent is there, but the name is too fishy.
(Lets see how many people think I’m serious)
He will be MLB’s first $300MM man and he’s worth every single penny.
He’ll be worth every single penny until his skill level fades.
20 years 1 billion
cashman would do it
Nice, rounded numbers. I’m down.
I’m not sure they are talking a major decade length extension. They might just be looking to cover some arbitration years.
I dont know why he would even entertain a long term deal. Salaries are already becoming ridiculous, just imagine how much he will command in 4 years.
Because players aren’t invincible? Yeah he could take the chance that he’ll put up MVP numbers for 4 more years, or he could pull a Matt Kemp and be one injury away from mediocrity.
There’s no way he turns down a $250M+ deal.
I wouldn’t either. I agree with this totally. Kemp is guaranteed $160MM from that extension and who knows if he will ever be the same again. Granted, Trout is better than Kemp was, but Kemp was pretty darn good. What if Trout runs full-speed into the wall trying to make a catch, tears his rotator cuff, and needs surgery and is never quite the same? You just don’t know. If somebody is offering you crazy money, you have to take it. The Padres’ Cory Luebke was smart enough to have signed what looked like a team-friendly 4 year-$12MM extension prior to last season. Guess what? He had TJ surgery last year and now it’s been announced that he has to have a second TJ surgery. If the guy doesn’t sign that deal, he’s being renewed for the MLB minimum and it wouldn’t be out of the question that the team would just outright release him (the Angels did that with Jose Arredondo). If he can never pitch again, the guy has $12MM coming to him and you can live on that for the rest of your life.
Ellsbury just got 7/153 and has had one season that is even in the same ballpark as trout. Even if he falls off with the power his speed/defense alone which are superior to els will get him at least that much. So lets say he breaks his leg, tears his acl, and comes back in his final year of arb and puts up a close to all star season, he will still get 200 mill easily.
If I’m Trout’s agent, I’d play hardball with the Angels. If they want him to sign a multi-year deal that covers his first couple years FA years, then be prepared to pay him $30m a year. Otherwise have fun in arbitration where he’s going to get $20m+ anyway and then he can hit FA at age 26.
He won’t get $20M in first 2 years of arbitration. His agent really has to be looking for $25M+ aav for any free agent seasons though. Maybe they buy out arb/2 free agent years at $100M?
I think he’ll come close. You can make the argument that his first 2 years are the greatest first 2 years of any MLB player in the history of the game. I believe Ryan Howard holds the record for 1st year arbitration at $10m. I’d be surprised if Trout doesn’t get at least $15m in his first arb year and then closer to $20m in his second arb year.
A 26-yr old stud FA is a rarity nowadays. I think his agent will take full advantage of that and incite a bidding war on Trout on the open market. There’s really no reason to give up 2 prime FA years unless the Angels absolutely blow them out of the water with an offer they can’t refuse.
Ryan Howard’s first two years were better than Trout’s when it comes to arbitration. Howard had a 313 AB / 425 OBP / 58 HR / 149 RBI season. Trout isn’t close in those stats. And those stats are what arbiters look at.
I completely agree that Trout has been the better player but arbitration does not reward for positional differences, defense or base-running (or at least not the same as it does for AVG/OBP/HR/RBI’s).
Well, I guess we’ll see how this plays out. I am surprised though that those are the only numbers that the arbitrators look at, as that’s hardly indicative of the value of the player.
I have to say though, outside of HRs and RBIs, Trout’s BA and OBP are comparable to Howard’s. Trout averaged .324 BA and .415 OBP in his first two years. Then in almost all the other numbers he destroys Howard’s. The guy has a 20.1 WAR in his first two years, which is simply mind-boggling.
Right, but does he have what pays in arbitration. Howard was coming off a 47 hr season, and had a 58 hr season prior. Arbitration is an old school process. They like RBIs HRs, and care less about defense, and obp.
That’s a shame that the arbitration process is so archaic. HRs and RBI’s are hardly indicative of the value of a player. Trout is by far the better player, in every important sabermetric category.
This team gave gave a “32” year old pujols 240 million. No figure would surprise me, heck even a 15 year 400 million wouldnt surprise me. That 10 year deal they gave to a 36 year old trumps anything.
Wow. Trout will easily be the biggest earner in baseball history.
Based on how poorly that team performs, the rather stark lack of offense, and almost no farm system whatsoever, I can’t imagine Trout actually wants to stay there, especially in the “its going to get worse before it gets better” years. Anything more than four years (the Halos’ remaining team control anyway) would be bad in my opinion. He’s currently set to his FA for his age 26 season. Talk about buying the prime of the best player in baseball. It’s scary to think 10 years 350 mill would probably be considerable. At the very least it would be the biggest contract in history.
Stark lack of offense? They were 5th in MLB last year in runs and are projected 2nd in offense this season by many behind Boston. Teams capable of a top five payroll don’t usually have to deal with years and years of mediocrity either. There’s a lot of worse places to be than Anaheim, I’m sure he knows that.
Looking ahead, the Angels will have plenty of flexibility after 2016. If they don’y turn it around by then, the way it looks right now they can reshuffle the deck then and focus on building around Trout. I’m pretty sure Dipoto will lay that out for Trout.
In a few years once wells,weaver, hamilton are gone the angels will have alot of money to spend with trout signed long tern
Trout will be the highest paid player in baseball, it’ll be amazing. Staggering figures. The first year Arb. figures are already coo-coo.
—
So ballpark Machado or Harper (Boras)…
He will not be the highest paid player in baseball if he does a deal that covers pre-arb and arb years.
They almost have to go as cheap as they can for now because of the Pujols and Hamilton contracts. Wonder if the Angels can trade one of those contracts to free up some money. If not, in a few years they will be paying 3 players 75 million a season. Ouch.
Not sure how they would trade Hamilton or Pujols without eating most of the salary or including a prospect in the deal which they are low on. If they have to pay most of the salary anyway, is there really any point in trading them?
Agreed, and as a team in win-now mode, they would definitely miss the production of one of those two.
The expiring contracts of Vernon Wells and Joe Blanton will free up about $27 million. The contracts they should move are Kendrick and Aybar. That’s an additional $17 that could be used for pitching, with young controllable players like Grant Green up the middle instead. That’s $44 million that could go to pitching, some raises, and Trout.
You want them to have gaping holes at BOTH shortstop and second base? I can see moving one, but both? Now you are scrambling to fill two hugely important positions where you have above-average players there. And they still don’t have the type of frontline starting pitching you need, and I also don’t love their bullpen (though you can assemble a good bullpen relatively quickly). Not that I trust Mike Butcher with anything pitching-related.
Their best prospect can cover one of the two positions. They can find a filler for the other.
And $44M in freed up money is nothing to sneeze at. That would potentially buy you Garza/Santana/Jimenez this offseason (not that I would advocate those signings).
And you have no guarantee of any production whatsoever at SS and 2B on the big league club for who knows how long.
The only really major FA obligation they’ll be burdened with in the future is Pujols. Hamilton will be off the books by the time Trout even hits his free agent years, and Wells and a lot of other contracts are expiring as well in the next few seasons.
People act like these contracts are going to hamper Anaheim for decades or something. The Angels are capable of having a payroll near the $200M range if necessary; they aren’t exactly hurting for cashflow.
And I’m sure they can absorb Pujols’ future salaries. When breaking down a $150 million dollar payroll (in 2014), subtracting Pujols’ salary still leaves $110 million. No reason whatsoever why the Angels can’t put together a more well balanced roster in the future, especially after 2016. I wonder how much higher the luxury tax threshold will be by then.
Well when it comes to money he’s definitely gonna be a big fish…yeah that was horrible but I couldn’t resist
Sometimes you just gotta make puns for the halibut.
I’d find it hard to believe he’d get $300M after two years of experience, though he’d easily get it if he was closer to free agency. I think something around 8-10 years and $200-250M would be more realistic at this point. If he gets a fat signing bonus (say, $10M), makes about $1M in 2014, and around $60M in arbitration he’ll be at about $70-75M for first four years. Assuming he makes at least $25M for his free agent years would make it around 8-years/$175M to 10-years/$225M which seems a low. Paying $30M for free agent seasons after just two years at the MLB-level doesn’t seem like a huge discount and wouldn’t make much sense for the Angels to go anywhere past that threshold at this point. He’d still make around $200M-$250M on that AAV of $30M. If he gets hurt in his arbitration years and/or his production wanes they’d be footing a massive bill, and if he plays like 2012-13 for the next four years he probably wouldn’t get THAT much more than around $35M AAV, albeit that would yield a contract of at least $280M over 8-years. The discount would likely not be worth that risk at over $30M for those last 4-6 years given his low service time
Would you rather wait till he’s 33 then pay him 300 million when he’s old and washed up? No! Even tho he has very low service time, he’s proven as a great superstar player. Now it’s your job to lock him up. If a 32 year old washed up pujols gets 240 mill. A young talented 22 year old Trout, with all his great years in front of him, should get between 270- 330 million
But if he goes year-to-year in arbitration, he won’t make anything near $30M AAV over the next four years. I agree you want him for his prime years, but signing him as if he were a free agent already is ridiculous. Paying him $270M for ten years right now would be paying him in the neighborhood of $35-40M for six free agent seasons. Despite all this tv money and what inflation may be in four years, he may not get that AAV for free agent seasons if he hits the market after 2017. Also, if you sign a guy years before free agency, it comes at a discount, which 10/$270M would not be with two years of service time. I’m sure 10/$270M would be a steal if he were a free agent, but the Angels would be shooting themselves in the foot and every franchise trying to lock up superstars in the future
But the angels and trout both know he’s 3 years away (remember he wont get a contract before the season starts because they’re waiting for the wells/blanton deal to expire). for getting 400 million. So if you’re the angels and u want to keep him from paying him 40 mill a year or having him leave you, you have to offer him a historic contract but at the same time isnt too big that’ll destroy any chance of building around him. Giving him 10 year 280 million after the season would be such a huge bargain. 28 AVV for 7 free agent years when he could get 40+ mill. Which is the whole point. You may have to pay him way more than what you could pay him in arb. but you still get a lot of FA years at a reasonable price.
But what people on this board don’t seem to understand is that 10/$280M right now only means an AAV of $28M for the whole deal. He has one pre-arbitration year left, followed by three arbitration years. Even if he shatters records, which he should, he will absolutely not make more than $60M over the next four years. Even if he gets a gigantic signing bonus, that would leave six years and over $200M left. That means the angels would be paying over $33M AAV for free agent years, which would be a record AAV. You don’t set record-breaking AAV on a preemptive deal with a player who has two years under his belt. Now if that $28M AAV doesn’t kick in until his final six years of a ten year deal, that’s more understandable (though still not a very big discount), but would result in a contract worth less than $250M for sure, probably even below $230M. It’s not as simple as setting an AAV below market-value because he’s not on the market.
I see what you getting at but this is my point of view.
1. only the AAV counts towards the luxury tax so it doesnt matter how much money he’s making in arbitration years and free agent years.
2. I get he’s not going to get 60 million over 4 years but he’ll get pretty close. If he has a similiar year to those last 2 years, he’ll get (according to fox sports’ ken rosenthal) 13-16-21 in his arb years. Thats 50 million in 3 arb years + 600K in 2014. Why wouldnt Trout take that then head to FA and get 400 mill?
3. Giving him 280 million would such a bargain because he can get more than 120 mill in FA. Doesnt matter how you split it in arb + free agent years.
4. They actually dont have a pre-arb on him because they have to wait to for the blanton/wells deal to expire which eliminates that pre-arb.
5. 280 mill for 10 years. split like this.
2015- 15 mill
2016- 19 mill
2017- 21 mill
2018- 29 mill
2019- 30 mill
2020- 30 mill
2021- 31 mill
2022- 32 mill
2023- 35 mill
2024- 38 mill.
Washed up Pujols? The guy had averaged over 7 WAR for about a decade. In his “down” year – dealing with nagging injuries – he hit 299/366/541 with 37 HR’s. His first season with the Angels – still dealing with nagging injuries – that washed up guy knocked 30 bombs while playing half his game in Angels stadium.
10 years 200 million. That’s where trout and his people. Should start. Be a free agent at 32. Assuming health he could still get a monster deal after that.
If the Halos offered Trout 10/200, they’d be laughed out of the room.
Monk – you do realize that Trout is set to earn $500k this year. And his next 3 years would be worth maybe $45M (that would be a record amount for arbitration. I don’t think that 6/$155M is a laughable amount of money. That’s $26M AAV – just slightly behind Kershaw and Trout has 3 years less service time.
Any agent that laughs a deal like that out of the room should be fired.
They should probably start at least double that. 10/$200 is where the Angels should start.
He only has two years of service time. Even if he made an AAV of $30M for his three arbitration years (which is completely ludicrous) that’s still over $50M AAV for his free agent years. He could break $300M in two or three years, but he could only approach $400M in some kind of crazy 12-year-or-more pact down the road
It’s negotiating. You always start high, unless you’re Jered Weaver.
10/$400M is more laughable than Cano getting $300M. Now if the market keeps inflating with all this extra money, maybe they can use that as a lofty goal in four years of he’s on the market. But with a year of league-minimum eligibility and three arbitration years left, $300M would be unobtainable to begin with, let alone $400M
People are insane on this board.
Trout is not a FA. Trout is not even arbitration eligible. Trout can only negotiate with one team.
To even suggest 10/$400M is beyond absurd. He really would become the laughing stock of baseball.
Anybody in the world is worth what the market says they’re worth. In the case of Cano, he IS worth $240M (edit) because the Mariners said so by writing a check. Whether you think it’s laughable or not means nothing. And if I were Trout and my agent wanted to start negotiating at 10/$200M, I would fire him immediately.
Cano is worth $240, a big difference from $300M, and that was Seattle paying a premium because they are perhaps the least appealing team for free agent hitters right now. Trout should start higher than 10/200, I’m not disputing that, but starting anywhere near 10/400 at this point will lead the angels to say “yeah right, call us when you guys are serious.” He’d be very lucky to get 10/240 right now
Yeah, I meant to say $240M. Saw your $300M and didn’t think twice.
Yeah you’re right. After this year, his 3 arb years could pay him maybe a total of $40MM or so (he’ll break records), and then you have to value his free agent years at probably $35MM if he hit the open market. However, if you give a guy long-term security, especially for as young as he is, the guy has to take a discount in exchange for the security. So let’s say his free agent years in a hypothetical extension are worth $30MM a year. Say you buy out 5 free agency years. That’s $150MM plus the $40MM for the 3 arb years. That’s an 8 year, $190MM extension, and he hits free agency again at age 30. Or, Trout can bank on his talent, elect to not take an extension, and then when he has another couple of years of outstanding play on his resume, he can negotiate for that crazy $300MM type of contract.
Blank Check.
_______________________x Sign Here.
Pleasure doing business with you Mr. Trout.
Dear Angels,
Give up now and pay the man a record deal.
Sincerely,
Common Sense
Don’t sign for less than $300m Mike. Don’t do it!
Baseball needs to learn to reverse payment policies. Give a guy like Trout $25MM a season for the next 8 years, then drop down to $20MM, $15MM then $10MM. This makes sense both by paying fairly for prime years, avoiding overpaying for declining years (which is the standard right now and has been for decades) on the team’s side and for the player, taxes WILL rise in the future so they keep more if their money now.
Actually, a lot of teams are starting to not offer long-term contracts past the age of 36, like the Dodgers. That’s the way I’d do business. But I suppose desperate teams will always do horrible deals for certain players, like the Angels with Pujols and the Mariners with Cano.
What’s interesting about some of these massive contracts is that the teams were bidding against themselves. There wasn’t much evidence of teams outside the Cards or Angels vying for Pujols, given his contract demands. Ditto Cano.
I respect the hell out of the Yankees for learning their lesson and limiting the years on deals. It’s fairly apparent they’ve established an unofficial 7-year contract limit on free agents, or perhaps like you said, giving themselves an age-related cut-off. Ellsbury will be 36 when his deal ends, 37 if the Yanks pick up the option. McCann will be 35 when his deal ends, 36 if the option vests.
By contrast, Cano will be a month away from his 42nd birthday when his deal concludes and there’s nothing the Mariners can do about it short of Cano voluntarily retiring early.
Phillies should set the sights on him in a couple years. Doubtful the Angels can afford that kind of deal after the ones they gave to Pujols and Hamilton.
You would be wrong then
You’d be very wrong in assuming that. The Angels have plenty of money. With a billionaire owner and a mega tv deal, they’ll find a way to get an extension done.
In short I would propose a 15 years/$300MM deal:
2014-2019: $25MM per season
2020-2024: $20MM per season
2025-2029: $15MM per season
It won’t be a deal for that long, because Trout will want to position himself to hit free agency again around age 30 or 31, somewhere where he can cash in greatly again. At a similar position in their careers, the Giants extended Buster Posey for 9 years and $164MM, and his free agent years were valued at just about $21MM per season (they basically took him through his 3 arbitration years where the salaries would go up, plus bought out 6 of his free agent years). With the market having changed again since Posey’s extension, you have to figure that Trout’s arb years will be worth a bit more, and Trout is also better. Now factor in that Trout’s free agent years have to be worth more than Posey’s, even though you can argue that to offer this type of long-term security, Trout won’t get full market value on his free agent years. Still, if it’s a 9 year deal, let’s say, I’m thinking it has to eclipse $200MM. And they won’t agree to anything until later in the season, if they agree to anything at all, so that it won’t count on the luxury tax for this season.
I’m banking on evidence from Freddie Freeman’s extension that teams are finally wising up to the fact that 6+ year FA deals worth $20MM+ AAV for guys entering their age 32 season and beyond end up looking horrible or hamstringing the teams. Look at the Angels themselves, with Pujols and Hamilton having below average numbers making $25MM per. My money (zing) is on teams finally accepting that you pay for the productive years, make these guys rich as possible while they’re young, healthy and productive, then pay them something far more reasonable/commensurate/budget conscious in their declining years, when their goals become more about hitting statistical milestones and earning titles, not fattening their wallets.
I agree with the point about not paying premium prices for players in their decline years, but Trout has no reason to accept a deal more than 10 years at this point and he’s only 22, so he’ll still be in his prime at the end of a 10-year deal. In other words, he isn’t going to accept any extension at age 22 where he isn’t getting premium value for ALL of his free agent years.
In that case, then, a 10 year deal would probably require a $300MM commitment.
Trout Contract:
2014: $15MM w/ $20MM signing bonus
2015: $15MM
2016: $20MM
2017: $25MM
2018: $30MM
2019: $27MM
2020: $26MM
2021: $25MM
2022: $24MM
2023: $23MM
2024: $30MM
2025: $25MM
2026: $20MM
2027: $15MM
2028: $10MM
JD/Arte get this done and I will forgive all your other recent failures!!!
10 years 290 hes the best player right now
the kid deserves everything he he gets…..he’s the real deal and don’t expect his head to swell like some of the jackarses in sports!
This is going to be really fun to see the megadeal Trout gets… Cannot wait.
Probably be something like 5/100 or 6/120 so he can still get that megacontract.
I’d say try to sign him through his arb years (give him what he’s worth, maybe a little extra) and if he is still putting up ridiculous numbers a year or two away from FA then break the bank. I wouldn’t be talking about the highest dollar contract in history at this stage of the game. Granted Trout is a special player so far, but he is still quite young in his professional career. Plus the Angels already have two semi-regrettable high dollar contracts on the books, it’d be tough for them if they showed Trout the money and for some reason he tanked.
Those semi-regrettable contracts were given to guys on the wrong side of 30 after they it Free Agency and were looking for their career-defining contract. This would be different. Even a 10 year-pact would end around the time he was Pujols’ age at the time he signed his deal. A 15 year deal would be pushing it, but still be half the time committed to Pujols and equivalent to the time committed to Hamilton for the equivalent age-period.
STL paid $104m for 10 years of Pujols in his prime. The Angels are paying $240m for Pujols in decline.
Lets make sure we’re on the right side of this deal. Lock him up for 10 years then let someone else overpay for Trout in his mid-late 30s.
I think something like 10/250 is reasonable given that includes 4 years of team control. That’s AAV of $30m for 6 FA years. Trout gets financial security for life and the chance to sign another FA deal later on. The Angels get 10 years of a star player in his prime.
I think the only way a deal would be reached is only guaranteeing the next five years or so. I just don’t know how you place a true value on his play. Seriously, like many of you have said this guy will probably be the highest paid player in the league. I do not know if 300 Million is in the fold, but if the deal is around 10-12 years? I suppose that could be the case. either stinking way, the dude is about to become filthy rich.
It makes me really upset and sad to see people not wanting a homegrown ultrastar player not sign an extension because they “want their team to sign him” I think it’s awesome that so many more players are signing with their respective clubs’ it’s not done that much anymore. So shame on you guys. Let’s also not forget 20+ other teams passed on Mr. Trout in the draft
I love that this is one of those topics where all the commenters are just saying: “Pay him.” Isn’t it nice when we all get along?
I don’t even want to think of what an actual mega-deal for Trout looks like. Giving him a raise this year to lets say, 3 MM, as part of the deal, then going 10, 17, 24 for his arb year is 54 MM for 2014-2017. He’s 26 year old in 2018, going on 27, so 8 free agent years at 31 MM apiece (Kershaw’s AAV rounded up. isn’t unreasonable. That’s 248 MM for 8 FA years, or 12 years and 302 MM altogether. Dock it down to the nice round 300 MM to make it 25 MM AAV, and done. The again, he’s in unchartered territory for arbitration. I could see him going something like 12/19/26 through arb, or something else crazy. That’s 57 MM through arb. Regardless, it looks like he’s going to have between 50 and 60 MM for arb, so tacking on 240 to 250 MM for eight FA years from age-26 to age-33 brings us to 300 MM. If he actually waits to hit FA at age 26 he could secure a ten-year deal worth 300+ MM, assuming limited injury risk. The scary part is that even with 30 MM a year from 2018 onward, with $/WAR already at 6 MM+ per and Trout’s baseline as *at least* an 8 or so WAR true talent player going forward (even accounting for 20% regression off his WAR totals the last two seasons) he should still provide massive surplus value during his 20s under this deal, so much so that the sunk cost of the last two years of this deal probably don’t even matter since you’ve got probably the most WAR of any player in the next decade right in your grasp.
If this gets done this season, I’ll predict an 8 year extension for something like $200MM, give or take $10MM or so. This allows him to have have the burden of the ridiculous 10-year deals and/or the record total value, and he can be a free agent again at age 30 and probably get another $200MM contract, at least. I’m valuing his next 3 arb years at about $40MM total, and his 6 free agent years at $25-27MM per. If you all think he can get $30MM on his free agent years now (keep in mind he isn’t even arb eligible yet), then that’s a $220MM extension over 8 years.
The Angel Farm System is barren. We are currently saddled with the insane Pujols and Hamilton Contracts for up to 7 years. We even are saddled with paying Vernon Wells Millions of Dollars on his last year of his albatross contract with the Yankees paying a minor share. Joe Blanton will possibly be released with the Angels paying his salary too.
I say trade him to replenish our Farm System. We need Major League Ready Starting Pitchers. What will happen if this season Weaver or Wilson gets hurt? This also applies for Aybar or Kendrick? Who is Major League ready?
Trading Trout will be no different if Tampa decides to trade Dave Price for Major League Ready prospects.
NO ONE IS WORTH THIS MUCH MONEY. A Ryan Howard type injury was a game changer for Philadelphia.
BASEBALL INSANE CONTRACTS WILL CAUSE A FAN BACKLASH. I would not want to pay $20.00 for parking, $20.00 for one Hot dog and a soda. Cable/Satellite PPV Baseball Coverage. Even the thought of paying for a baseball game ticket makes my head hurt.