The Top 3 reasons why the Angels should and shouldn’t re-sign Mike Trout.

Mike Trout has been the most amazing and talented players the Angels have ever had.  He has done so much already in the seven seasons he has worn Angel Red.  However, should the Angels break the bank to keep him?

From a fan’s perspective it is a no brainer that the LA Angels should do everything in their power to keep Mike Trout on the Angels for his whole career.  Besides the fact that he is an amazingly talented player, he is also a great ambassador for the game of baseball and the Angels. Trout is always gracious to those around him and fans he comes in contact with, which is not always the case with superstar players (Bryce Harper, Barry Bonds, and a few others come to mind, although I do think Harper is improving in this area).

However, baseball is also a business and on that side of things the decision to break the bank for Trout is not as simple. Teams including the Angels have signed major players to big contracts (Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and Alex Rodriguez come to mind) that have not worked out so well for the team.  So here is a look at the top 3 reasons the Angels should re-sign Trout and the top 3 reason why they should not re-sign Mike Trout.

3. Mike Trout is the best player in baseball and is just now coming into his prime. 

Mike Trout has put up eye-popping numbers in his first seven seasons in the big leagues not to mention that he has finished in the top two in the MVP race in five of his first six seasons, winning the award twice. Trout has hit 236 home runs already while driving in 640 runs, stealing 189 bases and batting .307.  He also has a career .990 OPS.  Trout has an outside chance of winning his third MVP this season as his numbers are better than ever other than his RBI total.

The chance that Mike Trout’s production will drop off is minimal at this point in his career. He has at least six more prime seasons remaining in his career and probably three or four more good years left after that.  There is always a risk of injury, but so far Trout has avoided any serious injuries.  Putting him in the third or fourth spot in the line-up is a luxury for any manager as Trout has shown the ability to produce stellar numbers even in the lead-off spot.

1. Mike Trout is still a franchise player.

Despite only making the playoffs once during his career, Trout is still a player that will help make any team a championship contender with the right pieces surrounding him. Trout can beat you in s many ways, with his bat, his arm, and his legs.  He is the ultimate five-tool player scouts always speak about. If the Angels make the right moves and build a young nucleus around him this Angel team can be something special. The fact that it hasn’t happened yet is alarming, but not unusual.

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There have been many great players who have waited a long time before playing for a World Series championship team or even a pennant winner for that matter.  People have been saying for awhile now that the Angels are wasting Mike Trout’s best years, but it does take time to build a winner as well as some luck which the Angels have not had much of in the past few years. They now have Shohei Ohtani who is the next great thing for the Angels, but Trout is still the top dog at the moment.

This is not to mention all the intagiables Mike Trout brings to the table especially from the fans perspective.  If the Angels do not re-sign Trout or trade him away it will cause a severe backlash in the Angels fan base that may take some time for the team to recover from.

3. Teams like the Yankees have a plethora of young talent they would trade for Mike Trout.

With the events over the past four seasons fresh in everyone’s mind, I want you to stop and think for a minute about how nice it would be to have some of the young talent teams like the Yankees would give up if the Angels were to trade them Mike Trout.  The Angels farm system is improving greatly, but it still doesn’t have many impact players that other team’s farm systems do.

Every time you turn around you are hearing about the next great Dodger, or Yankee, or Red Sox young stud that is tearing up the majors. Names like Aaron Judge, Luis Severino, Miguel Andujar, Cody Bellenger, Walker Buehler, and Mookie Betts are just a few names that come to mind that are home-grown talent in their teams’ farm systems. Think about if the Angels had a few players like that not named Trout.

This could be a possibility if the Angels are willing to part with Trout. This could set up the franchise for years to come.  However as always it is a risk.  A proven commodity for a few unproven top prospects.

2. Mike Trout has been on DL twice in the last two seasons, is this a trend?

After playing in at least 158 games in his first five seasons in the majors, Mike Trout has had injuries that have required a stint on the disabled list.  While these injuries didn’t keep Trout for a half or full season, it still did cause him to miss time which hurt the Angels chances of making the post-season greatly.

Is there more of these issues on the horizon?

Mike Trout trains very hard and seems to have been pretty strong and able to avod any major injuries.  However, will this trend continue.  Most likely not. Trout plays with reckless abandon and that is the only way he knows how to play.  Trout will run into walls or slide aggressively head-first as well diving to make a game-saving catch.

The same things that we all love about Mike Trout may prove detrimental to him in the future.  We all remember Darin Erstad playing the same way and he had his career cut short due to injuries as he went along.  Mike Trout is no good to the team sitting on the bench with an injury. This will happen more and more as Trout gets older.

#1. If the Angels sign Ike Trout to a big extension it will not allow them to sign other players. 

Giving Mike Trout whatever he wants to stay in Anaheim may sound good in theory and by all means he deserves it, but it may not be a smart decision. The Angels threw 240 million dollars over 10 years at Albert Pujols and his contract plus the ill-fated Josh Hamilton contract are two of the biggest reasons the Angels have not won a playoff game since 2009.

The Rangers paid Alex Rodriguez 250 million dollars over 10 years and then ended up trading halfway through the deal because they couldn’t afford to build around him. If the Angels do decide to sign Mike Trout to an extension they have to make sure the deal makes sense financially and allows them the flexibility to put together a championship team around Trout.

As much as we all love to watch Mike Trout, what would rather see a team that is in the mix year and year out for a championship. Or do you want to see a team that has Mike Trout and may be good for a year or two and very non-competitive the rest of the time.

This is definitely what the Angels and general manager Billy Eppler are weighing out to see if they can do both re-sign Mike Trout and contend for another World Series title.

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We will see how things play out this winter.  Hopefully we will be able to see Mike Trout in an Angel uniform for many years to come, but hoisting multiple World Series trophies rather than just MVP awards.