As the best player in baseball, and as a 25-year-old who’s signed through 2020 at a more-than-fair price, Angels center fielder Mike Trout is untradeable, opines Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Unsurprisingly, Halos general manager Billy Eppler won’t even entertain dealing the two-time American League MVP, according to multiple GMs who spoke with Feinsand. “There’s no point to bringing up Trout, because it’s going nowhere,” one GM observed. “Teams will surely try, but it’s like running into a brick wall.” Another GM informed Feinsand that Trout is basically untouchable, but he did touch on what it might take for Eppler to consider an offer. “For a team to inspire Billy Eppler to even return the call, it would have to come to the table stocked with one of the best farm systems and young, upside Major Leaguers and be willing to not put any of those players off limits, because it will take a healthy blend from those two groups,” he said.
More from the AL:
- The Blue Jays offered center fielder Dexter Fowler a four-year, $64MM contract in free agency, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney. That proposal fell well short of the five-year, $82.5MM pact Fowler ended up signing with the Cardinals in December. By joining St. Louis, Fowler ensured he’d remain in center. The ex-Cub presumably would have had to play a corner with the Blue Jays, who have an elite defensive center fielder in Kevin Pillar, and it’s unclear whether they would have re-signed right fielder Jose Bautista for an $18.5MM guarantee in January had they committed significant money to Fowler.
- Red Sox southpaw David Price faced hitters Saturday for the first time since suffering an elbow injury in early March, writes Chad Jennings of the Boston Herald. Price tossed 30 pitches over two simulated innings, which represented “a quality workday for him,” said manager John Farrell. The plan is for the 31-year-old to throw a light bullpen session Monday and another sim game Thursday.
- Multiple pieces of good news for the Athletics’ rotation, courtesy of John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group: Right-hander Sonny Gray, who has missed the first few weeks of the 2017 campaign with a lat strain, will make his season debut Tuesday against the Twins. And one of Gray’s fellow A’s starters, left-hander Sean Manaea, likely won’t require a stint on the disabled list. Manaea left his start after two innings Wednesday on account of shoulder stiffness, but he’s “feeling great right now.” Barring a setback, Manaea’s next turn will probably come Saturday versus the Tigers, per Hickey.
As an angels fan, Artre Moreno is wasting trout’s years with us since he won’t go out and spend the money to put a championship team together, We need an ace in the rotation.
Agreed. Also doesn’t help the Angel’s farm system is awful. It will be interesting to see what happens when 2020 approaches.
By that time the angels would have enough money off the books to give trout a bigger deal, but they need pitching. The farm system needs to be rebuilt. Trout is the only guy who could do that. Calhoun could bring back some decent pieces. I really hope with the money coming off the books this offseason, they go out and sign an ace like cueto or arrieta. then a second tier guy like hellickson. For the line up , I would go after frazier , moustakus , and possibly hosmer.
So you could any to sign declining vets to long term deals, and players whose name value far surpasses their value in the field. what you propose would out the angels in a far deeper hole
Hamilton’s $$ comes off the book’s & the best player out there is from Japan. Shohei Otani is a power pitcher & power hitter who wants to do both. American league is the best fit for the 22 year old.
I think Otani wants to pitch and hit. The angels should push hard for cueto next season. They will have some holes to fill.
There’s no way of knowing he’s the best player available because he hasn’t faced MLB pitchers or batters..telex on this please!
*relax*
Hosmer? Kidding, right? The signings you suggest are the exact boneheaded moves Arte would lobby for and which would tie up the payroll for another 5-8 years.
Don’t complain about Moreno if your ideas are as weak as the bad moves which got the Angels in the mess they’ve been in for the past 3 years. Cueto and Arrieta will cost huge sums, and front-tier FA pitchers are historically poor investments.
Moreno spent money but that failed big time. The problem isn’t spending money but the impatience of Moreno in making a winner. He has pushed his GMs to trade away all the good young players.
So far the angels under eppler got a steal for simmons, If I am Arte next offseason I am spending money to put talent around trout in the line up, the only way they will win and also they need an ace.
I’m no great Arte defender and I understand Arte was the say in bringing in some big contracts, but I’m not sure how much he “pushed” on the trades. Dipoto seems to be doing the same thing in Seattle without Arte. The thing that irritates me the most is that he changes the name to the LA Angels on the premise that it will make them a “Big Market Team” but now we are out of money? WTH???
According to Spotrac, they have a 2017 payroll of $174,123,256 between the active roster, disabled list money, retained salaries, and “buried minors salaries.” I think that easily qualifies as a “Big Market Team.”
The problem isn’t that they aren’t spending money. The problem is that they are spending way too much of it (over $50m this year alone) on 2 players that are old and not very good anymore – Pujols and Hamilton. I’d argue it’s pretty unrealistic to expect them to continue spending big until at least one of those contracts is off the books. And then when that time comes, if they choose to keep investing that money in a gigantic payroll, they better pick correctly this time, or they’ll be in the same place they are now.
That is the problem every team have fans that think you can spend spend spend and it equals wins. You need cheap young players to compete.
Ridiculous. Arte has spent plenty of money that other organizations and their fans would give their right arm to spend. But really hasn’t really been the problem. Jerry Dipoto threw a grenade into the Angels’ philosophy, and was a major control freak trying to run the entire thing from his office from a computer. He refused to spend money on his bullpen, and when you look at 2012, 2013, and the first half of 2014, that was their main issue on the field. He finally gave in and got Grilli and Street mid-2014, and look what happened. They had every chance to bring in a championship with Mike Trout, not just 2014 but in 2012 and 2015. But they were just a bullpen arm away, and Dipoto didn’t do it. Then he quit on his team halfway through 2015 because he couldn’t run his little fantasy league like he’s still trying to do in Seattle. Have you figured out why Scott Servais is the M’s manager? Dipoto was trying his hardest to push Mike Scioscia out and install Servais as his saber puppet manager. A GM should just be a GM. But Dipoto couldn’t do that. And to make matters worse, they lose four SP’s to season ending injuries, with a fifth recovering from TJS. The blaming Arte and wasting Trout’s talent arguments are pretty much out the window after what they endured last season. Plus the AL West is much more competitive than it was ten years ago when the Angels were handed their division titles. I think the biggest problem for Angels fans alone is the fan base thinks it’s entitled to playoff appearances and still has to learned to deal with the actual game of baseball.
Cardinals will give Reyes for Trout. How much more will it take?
that’s an offer that gets laughed at
Significantly more.
Funniest post of the day, assuming you were kidding.
This is a common perception. My question to you is, what FA would you have liked them to sign as an “ace”? This past off-season was really the first that the Halos had any flexibility without worrying about the luxury tax threshold. The top FA contracts for SP from this year were Rich Hill, Jeremy Hellickson and Ivan Nova. See an “ace” there? Offensively, last year’s FA class was slim pickings as well.
I know it’s frustrating, but I’d rather the Angels sign the “right” FAs than just sign guys because they can. More flexibility next year as Hamilton drops off the books. And the next two FA classes are far, far better than the last. Patience.
Why would fowler want to stay in center? He’s much better and more valuable in a corner spot.
Maybe he likes to play CF…
Touché
If there was an offer to possibly tempt the Angels it might come from the Yankees. They would start with Gleyber Torres and Clint Frazier. Then they’d want some young pitching in Justus Sheffield and Kaprielian. Then they’d want someone who can play right away like Judge and maybe a young pitcher like Pineda. Trout for Judge, Pineda, Torres, Frazier, Sheffield, Kaprielian would have to be tempting
That is a very tempting offer, plus I would also look at the phillies system, and the cubs.
Phillies – Mickey Moniak , J.P Crawford , Nick Williams , Jorge Alforo plus a couple pitching prospects.
Cubs – Eloy Jimenez , Ian Happ , Jeimer Candelario , Dylan Cease and prolly somebody on the roster right now like Baez.
I think the braves could theoretically get it done, but would have to mortgage their entire future. What about a package of ender inciarte, one of dansby/Albies, 3 pitchers from Mississippi’s rotation and say Kevin Matain or Ronald Acuna? Would that even get a callback?
This would not happen. For the Angels to make a deal to send the best player alive and their franchise cornerstone away they would need multiple established big leaguers who can make an impact now
Please don’t do this braves but I think it would be:
Inciarte, Swanson, Albies, Acuna, Fried, Allard, Wisler or Folty
Replace Jeimer with Schwarber or Contreras (and leave Baez in), and I think the Cubs would actually have a legitimate shot at Trout. Might have to add in another pitching prospect or something. That’s a gigantic offer, but that’s the only way I see the Angels having any interest in moving him – multiple young big league pieces and multiple high end prospects.
I’ll do that Phillies deal, plus we have a ton of money to spend
Still not enough. Those players are still all “ifs”. Still not nearly enough for a generational player like Trout.
Any team that can trade for Trout would be left with a team that will be stripped down to just Trout and no minor league left.
So, what you’re saying is they basically become the Angels…
This. A team would have to strip away all young talent (that is, not just promising AA players, but Kris Bryant-level talent) to even get a return phone call. GMs work long-range plans, and none will blow up his plan to get one player.
How is this for a Phillies fans pipe dream…. Franco, Herrera, Crawford, Hoskins and Nola or Velasquez or Eickhoff? Any Angels fans want that?
I’m sure Angels fans would be more than okay with that. Phillies fans should hate that proposal though.
Angels fans would never be ok with sending away Mike Trout regardless of what they get back. This guy is baseball in Orange County and I don’t see why people don’t understand that. If any other teams wants Trout they will have to take a huge gamble and give up at least 2 or 3 established impact players and as many high end prospects if they want negotiations to even begin
I’m an Angels fan, if anyone knows what our farm system needs and knows the ins and outs of our organization it is Matt Klentek. He was lobbying hard to be our next GM before arte hired Billy. So I wouldn’t count the phillies out fully, plus that’s close to where trout grew up.
no, there is no deal worth trout. period
average salary for fowler, for either the jays or cardinals, was about the same, buster, not well short, like you said, buster.
There was an $18.5MM difference in offers. That’s a sizable gap. And Buster Olney didn’t say the Jays’ offer was “well short” of the Cardinals’. I did.
i also said, average salary, 16 mil vs. 16.5 mil. not that much short, in comparison..
Right, but there’s the rather important matter of total value.
based on your username, i see what your trying to do here
i calls em as i sees em
What if blue jays trade Stroman,Vlad Guerro Jr, Tellez,Alford, Bichette, Travis,Pillar, and Reid Foley. Stroman is a amazing young pitcher anf Pillar and Travis are great batters,Reid Foley is a great pitching prospect and Tellez is a great batting prospect, Both have a ton of potential, but to cap it off you get 2 future stars in bichette and vlad jr who both have family history in baseball and are climbing up the baseball prospect rankings fast, The only reason angels wont accept this is because they want more really good pitchers or pitching prospects which blue jays have minimal of. We only have sanchez stroman and reid foley.
no. just no.
Bichette is a future star? Because he’s had a good first 3 weeks of A ball?
What if blue jays trade Stroman,Vlad Guerro Jr, Tellez,Alford, Bichette, Travis,Pillar, and Reid Foley. Stroman is a amazing young pitcher anf Pillar and Travis are great batters,Reid Foley is a great pitching prospect and Tellez is a great batting prospect, Both have a ton of potential, but to cap it off you get 2 future stars in bichette and vlad jr who both have family history in baseball and are climbing up the baseball prospect rankings fast, The only reason angels wont accept this is because they want more really good pitchers or pitching prospects which blue jays have minimal of. We only have sanchez stroman and reid foley.
So…
As a Jays fan, would you want to gut the whole farm system for trout? who’s he going to play with in a few years that will get then into the playoffs?
Wish they would have kept Segura and Trumbo and passed on Pujols, Josh Hamilton and CJ Wilson. Hindsight is a mother #%^#!
I think they would of passed on Pujols if Morales never got hurt after that walk off grandslam, The culture changed after they let torii hunter go to the tigers and arte lied about not having money.
He didn’t lie about not having money. He didn’t have tens of millions to spend on re-signing Torii, which, at the time, was the correct move. Torii had more in the tank than most in baseball expected.
I wouldnt trade Trout for anything less than a teams top 5 prospects and 4 solid MLB regulars. Trouts a perennial 10 WAR player, thats impossible to find.
You trade a superstar for 3 or 4 prospects with the hope they might add up to 10 WAR
per year.
you don’t trade him for anything
I would re sign Trout after this season. Money coming off the books. And the closer you get to his free agent year, the more expensive he becomes. Sign him as 2x MVP rather than a 4x MVP which would cost more money down the line.
What reason does Mike Trout have to agree to that? You don’t just get to force players to sign contracts
So Trout should get a pay cut because …
If the Angels failed to put a championship team on the field within the next 2-3 seasons..
Trout is history.. It will be a bidding war between the Yankees and the Red Sox….
All you girls that want Trout traded aren’t Angel fans. The fans don’t want him traded and that’s all that counts.
All you self righteous losers that say he’s being wasted never was a fan at Anaheim. You’re not better than the fans.
No one said Helton or Mattingly were wasted and I’m sure I’m missing more.
Fans want perennial mediocreness?
It’s as if Angels fans think Trout is entitled to a championship. Nope, even he has to earn it like any other player. Mays never won a ring. Williams didn’t either. The list goes on. If Trout’s talent is being wasted then you have to say the same of many of the legends of baseball history.
Mays won in 1954.
Duh! Trout isn’t going anywhere! Angels are in a good place right now. Have decent starting pitching! Money comes off the books next year and get 2 starters back. Go out and sign another ace (GR is an ace in my book), add a little more offense and we’re golden!
Such bad reading comprehension on this board. Article cogently states the case that Trout isn’t being traded, and why.
And comment suggestion is filled with, “yeah but what about” posts.
Any plausible trade scenario has to include: 1) multiple talented proven major leaguers, combined with 2) that team gives the Angels the pick of their entire farm system. None of this “but so-an-so is off limits”. The *entire* farm system, and the Angels take as many as they want.
So start with that, and maybe you have a plausible trade offer. And the Angels fans will respond with, “No, not enough.”
Trout is coming to the Phillies in 2021 anyway
Sorry but he will never make it to free agency!
A Trout trade would have to be a very complex 3-team trade. No way any single team has the prospect means to acquire Trout
Seeing as it would take young, established major leaguers in addition to prospects, I disagree. The Cubs and Red Sox could easily put together great packages, but it’d mean subtracting significant pieces from their current rosters, which is why I don’t see a deal happening.