Mike Trout could ruin rival Dodgers’ plans with Max Scherzer

It wasn’t too long ago when the LA Angels made a push for Max Scherzer at the trade deadline.

Instead, he went to the LA Dodgers and has been killing it. He’s never pitched this well before.

He has a 1.43 ERA in Dodger Blue, along with a 0.714 WHIP and just 1.1 walks per nine innings. The Dodgers will surely be making strong efforts to keep him this offseason. There’s another force in LA that is apparently working behind the scenes to foil those plans.

Mike Trout is reportedly taking the recruiting of Max Scherzer very seriously for the LA Angels.

Matt Vasgersian, the LA Angels play-by-play announcer, has been hearing that Mike Trout is “very invested” in bringing Scherzer to the team. This could work.

The Angels are already paying three big contracts for next year. Trout will be making nearly $35.5 million next season, Anthony Rendon will be making $36 million, and Justin Upton will be making $28 million next year.

However, get this. Both Rendon and Upton played with Scherzer in the past. Rendon played with him for five years and won a championship with him all in DC.

Upton and Scherzer entered the league together as rookies with the Diamondbacks. I’m sure both players have a relationship with Scherzer. The Angels are real players in the Scherzer sweepstakes.

Arte Moreno is worth $3.6 billion. Yes, Trout, Rendon, and Upton are making a ton next year. Moreno’s riches can still go much further, however.

The Angels can sign whoever they want this offseason, and another cornerstone piece if they want to. Moreno hasn’t always shown the guts to go all out in spending in the past, but he did spend $180.3 million this past year.

We have $111.2 million on the books for 2022 so far, which is top ten in the Bigs. We still have a ways to go until we even match this year’s payroll, and Moreno is absolutely rich enough to go even further.

Scherzer in Anaheim is a serious possibility, and we have a top-tier recruiter already off and working on it.