Mike Trout hasn’t played since May 18 on account of a right calf strain, as his recovery has been frustratingly slow. With just over three weeks remaining in the regular season — and with the team set to miss the playoffs for the seventh consecutive year — it looks increasingly unlikely we’ll see Trout again in 2021.
Manager Joe Maddon acknowledged that Trout likely won’t make it back, telling reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and Jack Harris of the L.A. Times) he’d be “very surprised” if the three-time MVP returned this year. However, the Anaheim skipper added that the team hasn’t made any official decision about shutting Trout down as of yet, as the 30-year-old continues to work out with the team in hopes of getting back onto the field.
There’s little reason for the Angels to push Trout unless he’s fully healthy. The team has had another lost season despite his best efforts and an MVP-caliber year from Shohei Ohtani. Over 146 plate appearances, Trout was hitting .333/.466/.624 with eight home runs. That’s not only the best offensive production of any player in the league with 100+ trips to the dish, it was on pace to be the best season of Trout’s illustrious career. His 191 wRC+ suggests he was ninety-one percentage points better than the league average hitter on a rate basis. Had he carried that over a full season, that’d have narrowly edged out his 2018 output (.312/.460/.628) for his best ever offensive work.
When healthy, Trout is arguably still the game’s best overall player. The Angels plan to make another run at contending in 2022, and having him at full strength next Opening Day will be the top priority. The nine-time All-Star would love to make it back for at least a couple games in order to kick off a normal offseason, but the team surely won’t take any chances with an injury that has already proven extremely troublesome.
Jo Adell will likely be penciled in alongside Trout in next year’s season-opening outfield. The Angels placed the former top prospect on the 10-day injured list due to a left abdominal strain, though, and Maddon suggested he’s probably not going to return this year (via Fletcher). The 22-year-old mashed at a .289/.342/.592 clip in Triple-A this season, although his big league output (.246/.295/.408 over 140 plate appearances) has been a bit below average.
Adell hasn’t yet produced much in the majors, but he’s taken steps to put his disastrous rookie season behind him. Adell made his MLB debut last year but hit only .161/.212/.266 while striking out in 41.7% of his first 132 plate appearances. His bottom line numbers in 2021 represent a significant improvement, and that’s come with some encouraging process developments. Adell has cut his strikeout rate from that untenable 2020 mark to a 22.9% figure that’s right in line with the league average. He’s improved his contact rate by nearly thirteen percentage points in the process.
There’s still more to iron out, to be certain. Adell continues to be highly aggressive at the dish, chasing pitches outside the strike zone at an alarming rate. That has contributed to a very low 5.7% walk percentage that’ll need to be improved upon if he’s to reach his full potential. But Adell has made demonstrable strides this season, and he’s not much older than many of the top college prospects from this summer’s draft class. (First overall pick Henry Davis, for instance, was born in September 1999, while Adell was born in April of the same year).
Fellow top prospect Brandon Marsh should continue to get everyday reps over this season’s final couple weeks in hopes of locking down a big league job in 2022. Juan Lagares, Taylor Ward and utility men Phil Gosselin, Jose Rojas and Kean Wong are among the other options to see time on the grass through the end of the year.
I can’t imagine being an Angels fan, having to watch that team without Trout. He’s worth the price of admission alone.
Ohtani is worth the price of admission.
The most difficult part, I’d imagine, is having both Trout and Ohtani, but still not having much hope of making the postseason.
ohtani is not worth price of admission. trout is.
to put ohtani in the same category as trout you are clearly just an espn-loving millennial
how dare he watch and enjoy his favorite players
i guarantee you lordd99 dis not attend a single angels game this season. don’t act like that guy is buying tickets to the ballpark.
Sadly I can’t make any assumptions about someone I’ve never met
Are you kidding? Ohtani has hit 44 homers (one less than trout’s career high), stole 23 bases and struck out 136 guys in 115 innings.
Trout in his peak was a better player than ohtani but if we just talk entertainment value ohtani is probably a more spectacular to watch player and definitely worth admission.
Both are great players though and it is a shame that the angels can’t put a better team around them
ha! the guy is a DH.. he sits in the bench all game. and it’s really not that exciting to watch a guy throw 4-5 innings every once in awhile. just because he’s foreign doesn’t make it any more exciting. it’s not like he is going out and throwing complete game shutouts like a scherzer or a bumgarner. i’ll take watching mike trout make diving catches and robbing homers any day
I do admit to having a child who is a millennial.
@scot – What kind of guarantee are you providing? If lordd99 did attend an Angels game this year, what will you offer as compensation? Maybe a promise not to make assumptions about others based on a single comment?
Ohtani is amazing to watch as well. Ridiculous to suggest otherwise.
That’s the problem with Trout’s new contract. He’s now much too valuable to let him actually play and risk injury.
How will Merlot Joe get to 77 wins without Trout? He’s already running Ohtani into the ground and turning the MVP race – which was once a runaway – into an actual conversation.
Ohtani is not the MVP and never was.
Vlady Guerrero jr. is the MVP.
Has Vlad also pitched as well as Ohtani? I get it the Angels don’t contend but have you ever seen a guy hit over 40 bombs while pitching as well and as much as he has? I think not but I know I’ve seen many guys do what Vlad has done in fact Teoscar Hernandez is also having an amazing season for Toronto and so is Bichette. Who’s protecting Ohtani in his lineup?
Oh and I’m the last guy to defend Ohtani I’ve ripped him apart over the last couple of years and he’s proven me to be very wrong and I have since eaten my words regarding him.
Vladdy is having a great year. Ohtani is having a historic year.
Ohtani is on par with Vlad Jr at the plate and chips in a strong pitching performance. He’s the runaway MVP.
So you all are forgetting that Vlad plays defense 9 innings every game, but you rant about how Ohtani pitches what once every 5 days and is a DH the rest of the time on the bench.
While not a perfect stat, WAR does count all those things.
Per BB-Ref, Ohtani’s WAR is 7.7 and Vladdy’s is 6.6. Semien has the highest WAR on Toronto at 6.6 and deserves some love for his great year IMO.
Over at Fangraphs, Ohtani is 7.4 and Vladdy is 6.3.
So by the most objective measures available, Ohtani has been more valuable this year. Add in the good story (writers love a good story) about Ohtani doing things only Ruth did but against far better competition and you can see an easy Ohtani win.
+1 For Ohtani and this doesn’t take anything away from Vladdy who I hope continues to get better.
Even Ruth didn’t do what Ohtani is doing in a single season. He has the results and the story to get the votes.
Toronto will likely have 4 guys in the Top 10 in MVP. Anyone remember the last team to do that?
I don’t understand how this year is historic for Ohtani. Is he retiring or something?
The combination of Giancarlo Stanton and John Means rolled into one player on a sub-.500 team isn’t that interesting to me. But he was hands down the MVP before he lost 150 pts off his OPS
That is an idiotic statement period. The fact that ohtani is putting up numbers like blas along with top pitching numbers easily makes him mvp. How you don’t see that is wild
He plays first base and we saw him firsthand and he did terrible in Anaheim
gbs42 WHAT??!! While with Boston, the Babe was the best lefty in baseball. Threw 29-some odd consecutive scoreless innings in the WORLD SERIES! Not looking this up, but I believe Babe won 47 or so games over two seasons! Though better than any two-way player since Ruth, Ohtani has yet to measure up to the Babe.
Vlad is 15 points better by wRC+, how are they on par?
Pete you clearly know next to nothing about baseball. We are all dumber having listened to you.
Don’t forget Ohtani’s sb’s
Ehhhhh…. he was.
And semien
As a bias jays fan, I’m thinking Ohtani probably deserves just on the once in a life time nature of his season on both sides of the ball.
That being said, my opinion has always been that I think an MVP should be on a playoff team, so if they both miss the playoffs, Ohtani should be MVP. But if a 22 year old puts up one of the best offensive seasons for someone his age ever and gets his team to the playoffs, then maybe vladdy should get it .
Are we calling what Vlad does, defense?
Wanna bet?
A quick check, Oakland in ’91. Also found Oakland in ’74, Reds in 76, Yanks in 77. 61 Yanks had 5.
He’s actually become an excellent defender at 1b and gotten better throughout the year. Nice try tho
Yeah but vlad is a mediocre defensive 1b who probably should be at DH while ohtani has elite speed (69th out of 549 registered players while vlad is 338th in sprint speed) and could probably play center if he wouldn’t pitch or at least a good corner OF
Your first statement is 100% wrong.
Ohtani is batting under .200 the last month and has an ops under .800 since the all start game.
Saying someone ‘could play’ CF means absolutely nothing
@gbs
Ohtani is having an amazing and historic season, but don’t confuse Player of the Year, with MVP! Angels could have finished 4th without him. Not much value to that. @rocky7 As to Guerrero, forgetting that he attempts to play defense 9 innings a game is the only way he can be considered for MVP. He’s one of the worst 1B I’ve ever seen play. He has a Buckner moment weekly. Toronto would have an offense w/o him, but w/o Robbie Ray they wouldn’t be contending.
Lol you haven’t watched one inning clearly
Ohtani is about 1.5 WAR over Vlad. Vlad will not get the MVP even if he wins the triple crown. The triple crown has been done before, Shohei is doing something that hasn’t been done especially in this day and age..
How many other players can do that? Can’t believe the shade on Ohtani. Idiocy at it’s finest.
Why a playoff team for a regular season award?
Phil Gosselin #3-hitter extraordinaire — what are you talking about hard to watch?
Watching the Angels squander Trout’s career is not worth watching. How many years do they go into the off-season needing pitchers? Every off season!
soon to be albatross…
how wrong were you? adell is not a bust! stop trolling at every post. you look cheap.
im talking about the $300 million man. I haven’t and am not trashing Jo.
Adell has still been very bad, what are you talking about?
he’s literally 22
Mike Trout?? Albatross??? Wut
His best days are long gone (no longer good in the field, no longer a base stealer) and he can’t stay healthy either. Still not nearly as bad a contract as Rendon because at least Trout is a homegrown player and also because he is of course much better than Rendon. Rendon’s contract replaces pujols contract, basically.
That is a really bad take. Trout’s lowest OPS+ outside of his 2011 cup of coffee is 168. If Mike Trout is playing, he is the best player in baseball no debate. The Angels have zero regrets locking up their franchise icon for life. Rendon sure. But not Trout lol. That’s just looking to be controversial.
His lowest OPS has been 168, yet every aspect of his game aside from hitting (fielding, base stealing, durability) has fallen off a cliff. He’s now a great hitter (when healthy), and that’s it. He’s roughly 60-70% as productive as he was 2012-2016.
One of the dumbest takes I’ve ever seen on this site. He’s well on his way to being a top 10 player all time and you’re prematurely calling his contract an albatross when he just turned 30 years old.
Missed a substantial amount of games in only two of the past ten years and had a 195 OPS+ before going down this year. Skip Bayless-level take, bro.
He’s hoping it’s an albatross.
That must be one very very strained calf.
Two years ago I had a severe calf strain that took 6 months to heal to the point where I could run again. I am not in Mike Trout shape, but I am in very good shape and I’m highly active in life. Calf strains can be brutal.
Yeah, and it might be that he tried to do everything he could to rejoin his teammates ASAP (understandable, to say the least) but maybe he pushed it too hard, too soon…?
I’m not an Angels fan, but come back 100% next year, Mike Trout. It’s a better league when you’re playing baseball.
Do they have TJ surgery for a calf?
Joe stating the obvious. Really hope Trout’s torn calf doesn’t hamper him long term and the prolonged rehab is designed to avoid that.
this season has sucked in many ways but I’m still glad I bought my ticket plan and spent time at the ballpark with family and friends. I’d missed that a ton last year.
$37 million a year and a strained calf costs this guy almost the entire season? Wow just wow, if that isn’t the true definition of soft then what is? Guys come back from broken bones and torn muscles but he can’t come back from a strain. If Angel fans are okay with that then they deserve mediocrity. Guys like Jesse Winker and Chris Bassitt are fighting to get back to help their teams while it seems like this guy is okay with chilling on the bench watching the teams true superstar Ohtani carry the load. Weak AF. Oh but they got nothing to play for right? How about that $37 million, isn’t that enough of a reason? Thief.
It was a tear according to everyone but Maddon/the Angels, who always downplay injuries.
So now Mr. Baseball Brainiac you’re declaring Trout to be a “soft player” who can’t tie Ohtani’s shoes? Trout is and has been the best overall player in the game for several years now and regardless of what Ohtani does both offensively and on the pitching mound, you absolutely can’t say bad of Trout without exposing your limited knowledge of the game!
I’m frustrated too but if you know anything about trout it’s not about the money. If anything this angels training staff needs to be redone everything about this team needs to be redone
Lol what exactly do you think a ‘strain’ is
Question to Angel’s fans. I got to see Adell a few times and really looked overrated. You think he is major league ready?
FanGraphs did a great piece on him about a week ago. Is he fully ready? No. But he’s not far off, he’s made a key swing adjustment, and we’re going to need him for the future so I don’t mind him getting some MLB experience this year.
FG piece: blogs.fangraphs.com/checking-in-on-jo-adells-much-…
Was typo. I meant over matched.
I’m curious what they do with adell, elite prospect, does great in minors, still only 22 but hasn’t done well in sparse mlb chances. Angels pitching is iffy, I wonder if they flip adell for an equally as good pitching prospect
If we’re going to actually compete any time soon some pain will need to be felt. Either Arte will have to suffer some luxury tax and high payrolls or one of Adell or Marsh will need to be traded for pitching. Perhaps both Arte’s wallet and a trade.
People think “Pujols is off the books” but Rendon’s contract was structured to give him a huge raise this year. In actual cash flow, the Angels don’t have a ton to spend. So I’m expecting a trade of one of Adell or Marsh, and it will hurt.
Lifelong angels fan, and good god, that Rendon signing is looking worse and worse
Certainly makes what they’ll do about Ohtani in the future a much more interesting topic as far as payroll doesn’t it.
Fortunately Upton comes off the books after this year so sliding Ohtani that money would be a lateral move.
There’s a reason Perry drafted 20 pitchers, including 3 closers, this year. He’s trying to build a cost controlled pitching staff ASAP. I wouldn’t always suggest this strategy, but it makes sense for where we are right now.
Sandoval, Detmers, Suarez, Canning…there’s some cost controlled mid to back end rotation pieces with MLB experience. There are a couple guys like Davis Daniel and Ryan Smith that aren’t getting much hype but could be long relief to mid rotation types soon. The aforementioned college closers, Bachman could be MLB ready in a bullpen role next year.
Perry has his work cut out for him and needs to hit on a couple of arms.
Agreed. Really like Rendon as a player at the time of the signing but it was an odd fit at best and looks bad now.
Hopefully he returns and competes next year. Because we’re stuck with him.
Unfortunately, Upton comes off the books after next year – not after this year.
The Rendon situation is unfortunate. I understand the adage of adding the best player(s) available, but for a team that was (still is) so desperate for pitching, devoting that much payroll to another offensive player, when already having multiple pieces on large contracts, was definitely a head-scratcher.
Yes. I’m already looking past 21. Can you blame, ha ha?
2012- 2016 was good while it lasted. Trump is a shell of his former self. His best days are long gone.
Meant Trout.
Right on both counts.
@Eric
Ha! Your subconscious mind insisted on being heard.
Hahaha!
The Angels may have yet another MVP on a losing team. Confused franchise. Too bad, their fans deserve better. That said, I give Vlad the MVP – being in the playoff hunt has to count.
A player’s teammates don’t affect his value.
So, on a winning team, teammates don’t help a potential MVP’s case? Ohtani is amazing, not knocking the guy, but I have to go with Vlad. Vlad is in Triple Crown range, that’s no small detail to overlook.
If Vlad gets the triple crown he will be the youngest to do it. He def should get MVP then.
It must get frustrating for guys like Trout and now Ohtani to be in the running for individual awards year after year to watch their rivals play in the post season .
While disappointing, it makes sense to slow him down now and have him come back fresh next season. I don’t understand the negative takes here on Trout. You’re best of the best by staying motivated and ultra-competitive and putting in the work. Why is this calf strain any different?
I wouldn’t be surprised if this was at least in part a protest move by Trout, considering his laughable, over the top reaction to pujols (a terrible clubhouse presence) finally being dumped. Either that, or Trout is just an extremely fragile and extremely slow healing player. And he’s not going to play a full season (140+ games) next season, either. He’s paid tens of millions per season to play baseball- coming back fresh 6.5 months from now shouldn’t factor in. It should just be that he can play, or he can’t play.
Stephen A Smith says Ohtani cant be the face of MLB because he doesnt speak english.
Angel’s are close. A couple good pitcher signings… a solid shortstop and they challenge in the west.
Ohtani can speak some English but not fluent but shouldn’t be the issue for being the face of baseball. It’s whether he is good or not. Unfortunately he’s in a big time slump post all-star.
It’s weird, I think the Padres have morphed into the Angels. Couple really good players followed by a boatload of over priced veterans. Can’t recall a team that was loading up for a window and the window never happened.
I thought the biggest issue with Adell was his defense. How’s that coming along
Including Bachman, the Angels have eight cost controlled SP options next year. Cobb could be resigned at a reasonable cost due to his injuries this year making a ninth option. Add a co-ace to pair with Ohtani via trade or free agency and the Angels SP may surprise on the upside.
As for RP, the fact that the Angels drafted 20 pitchers has gotten alot of ink. What’s not mentioned is that the Angels have been aggressively drafting pitchers dating back to 2017. Some of those arms are getting looks now with more to come in ’21 and beyond. Many won’t be good enough. Some will get injured. But some will become productive major leaguers. Add a high leverage guy or two this off-season and the bullpen may surprise on the upside, as well.
Young, internal, cost controlled arms are arriving now. And many more are getting close to major league ready. The Angels may be better than people think next year.
They will never win!
Good insight, bucincharlotte. You had me at the exclamation point!
What is it in Anaheim that makes players play so badly other than Trout, Ohtani, & a few other players play they signed Pujols for 10/300M, and he went in the tank. Josh Hamilton 5/175M, Rendon stole a few million, CJ Wilson- they are all great unti they get there
Pujols was already (at least) 32 the first year of the contract and he had already been declining significantly since 2009. The writing was already on the wall and it was a horrible contract before he played his first game. Hamilton was already 32 the first year of the contract and he was a very good player in the years prior- he wasn’t a superstar (aside from 2010) to begin with. Again, horrible contract before he played his first game. Rendon was 30 the very first year of his contract- again, a horrible contract before he played his first game, and he was just a desperation move when they didn’t get the player they really wanted (Cole). Rendon’s contract replaces the pujols contract, basically. CJ Wilson was 31 before he played his first game- another bad contract, although more understandable since pitchers tend to age somewhat better on average than everyday players. Justin Upton was 30 the first year of his contract- again, another terrible move. Amazingly, the Angels *still* have not learned to avoid signing aging players to huge contracts. Players usually fall off big time around 30 (this can also be seen with Trout’s declining overall game and durability). Prime years are almost always over by around 30 or earlier, accompanied with a sharp decline phase, yet the Angels still have not learned. Incompetent organization.
Steroids
Is Trout the new Josh Hamilton?
Stay tuned.
The best talent is availability and Trout will never stay healthy. Has anyone checked for steroid use? Hope they have availability clauses in that giant contract.
All players on a 40 man roster are tested at least twice per year. They can also check at random.
As of a couple years ago Trout has two exemptions. One for HGH for a “thyroid condition” and one for Adderall.. At that time around 15% of players had exemptions. I’m sure it has gone up.
Exactly…was thinking the same thing. 5 months for a calf strain come on man. Age and possible years of use catching up. I hope not bc I would love to see that lineup stay healthy for a full season.
Calf issues can ruin an mvp’s career. Jus sayin
Gotta hold back on the bases. Otherwise Trout is turning into the Gronk of MLB. Trout’s bat alone gives elite production. And considering his lowest OPS+ outside of 2011 is 168, even a decline for him down to 130 is still great to have on any team. We’ve seen 10 years of the game’s greatest player, now I think it’s time to be more cautious and do whatever is necessary just to keep Trout on the field.
Beginning of the end for Trout