Trout elated to stay an Angel ‘for years to come’
Stephen A. Smith asserts Mike Trout is worth his $430 million contract for the Angels. (1:46)
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels officially announced their 12-year contract, a record deal that keeps baseball’s top player with Los Angeles for what likely will be the rest of his career.
What if L.A. had given the outfielder $600 million? $700 million? Heck, with what the Angels will get for the next 12 years — and beyond — they could’ve handed him 10 figures.
Two-time AL MVP Mike Trout is close to smashing the record for the largest contract in professional sports history, as he’s finalizing a new 12-year deal with the Angels worth more than $430 million, sources told ESPN.
After an 0-for-9 start, Bryce Harper finally got his first spring training hit with the Phillies on Wednesday.
The contract is worth more than $430 million, as sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Tuesday, and is more than 30 percent larger than the $330 million deal Bryce Harper signed with the Philadelphia Phillies on March 2 and bests boxer Canelo Alvarez’s deal with DAZN by more than $65 million.
“This is where I wanted to be all along,” Trout said in a team release Wednesday. “I have enjoyed my time as an Angel and look forward to representing the organization, my teammates and our fans for years to come. I want to thank Arte and Carole Moreno for their efforts. Their leadership and commitment to winning played a key role in my decision. Thanks also to my teammates, coaches, John Carpino, Billy Eppler and his Baseball Operations staff, the entire front office and Angels fans for all their support. It has made a tremendous difference not only for me, but for my family as well!”
Angels owner Arte Moreno said in the statement that he is thrilled the 27-year-old Trout “has agreed to wear an Angels uniform for his entire career.”
“This is an exciting day for Angels fans and every player who has ever worn an Angels uniform,” Moreno added in the statement.
Trout, who has won two American League MVP awards and finished second four times, will receive an average salary of nearly $36 million per year, topping Zack Greinke‘s previous record average of $34.4 million with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Trout was due to be a free agent following the 2020 season, at which point he was expected to set off a frenzied bidding war among the large-market teams in the game. The clamoring already had begun, with Harper lobbying for Trout to join him in Philadelphia, 45 miles from Trout’s hometown of Millville, New Jersey.
The Angels have nullified that possibility by ripping up the final two seasons of his six-year, $144.5 million deal and replacing it with the new 12-year deal through the 2030 season, sources told ESPN.
The Angels now have two impressive cornerstones in place with Trout and AL Rookie of the Year Shohei Ohtani, who will return as their designated hitter at some point this season. Ohtani won’t pitch until 2020 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, but the 24-year-old two-way star is tied to the Angels for at least five more seasons.
“I’m really happy and excited to play with such a great player for a long time,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “If anyone deserved such a big contract, it’s Mike.”
Information from ESPN’s Jeff Passan and The Associated Press was used in this report.