11 biggest Los Angeles Angels contracts in franchise history

The history of economics in baseball are truly staggering, and the Angels franchise are pioneers in turning those economics on its head. Remember when the California Angels would pay a player like Nolan Ryan $27,000? Well, the Angels would go on to shell out massive multi-million dollar deals to players who would go on to completely under-perform given the lofty expectations. Just as Marvin Miller once dreamed.

Many of these giant contracts have had a hand in the Angels not reaching the playoffs for a decade. Arte Moreno is one to spend large sums of money on large players, then cry poor when it comes to rounding out the roster. Some of these other contracts have either brought in or locked up some fan favorites for years to come.

For the record, we are going to exclude Vernon Wells. Yes, the Angels assumed a 4-year, $86 million deal when they traded Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera for the washed up outfielder. However, we are going to focus on the contracts that the Angels themselves signed instead of the ones they traded for.

1. Mike Trout: 12-years, $426,500,000

2. Anthony Rendon: 7-years, $245,000,000

The largest contracts in Angels history belong to two members of the 2025 team. Well, technically speaking.

Trout, a future first ballot Hall of Famer, is an icon, the best player in Angels history, and possesses the largest contract in team history/one of the largest contracts in North American sports history. He has tracked down fly balls in centerfield nearly every inning of his 14 year big league career. Well, we have reached the end of an era in that regard.

Trout is heading to right field full-time moving forward. It appears that he will primarily play corner outfield for the final six years of his deal. It's the right move for Trout and the Angels, as his career has taken a turn for the worst and measures were needed to be taken to keep him available. The Angels need him more than his bat then his outfield prowess, but seeing him out of centerfield in favor of a Jo Adell/Mickey Moniak platoon is pretty sad.

Some say that Trout's contract is currently one of the worst in baseball, given that the injuries are piling up and he is is not nearly as reliable as he once was. However, when he has stayed on the field, he has shown that he is still the tremendous player that everybody has come to know and love. Perhaps becoming a right fielder will keep him healthy, and hopefully will spearhead a playoff run for only the second time in his career.

Every Angels fan knows about the Rendon contract: the second largest and single worst in team history. Sleep easy, Josh Hamilton (we'll get to him shortly).

Arte Moreno already disclosed that Rendon will miss the entirety of the 2025 season after undergoing left hip surgery. It sure seems like they will cut ties with the third baseman before the 2026 begins, which is mercifully Rendon's last year under contract. In five seasons with LAA, Rendon has only hit 22 home runs and caused a multitude of headaches for fans and the team in that span.