Angels have lived the Mike Trout reality behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s revealing contract comments

Recently, Toronto Blue Jays star slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made some controversial comments about his huge contract. He inked a $500 million contract and recently said that he felt he got paid more for what he did prior to signing the deal rather than what he will do.

Naturally, fan backlash was pretty swift and fierce. Blue Jays fans especially had to be pretty peeved, considering the Jays were one of the biggest disappointments of the season, but Los Angeles Angels fans have been experiencing a little bit of that same feeling for years now.

Mike Trout signed a 12-year, $426.5 million deal back in 2019, and while it was unrealistic to expect that Trout would be as productive as he was leading up to that point in his career, Angels fans have to wish that Trout lived up to that contract more.

Since signing that huge contract, Trout has hit .265/.387/.536 with 186 home runs and 424 runs batted in with 27.4 WAR in 725 games played. Those are really good numbers compared to your average player, but compared to the .307/.416/.573 slash line with 240 homers and 648 runs batted in which added up to 64.3 WAR that Trout posted from 2011 to 2018, it's fairly pedestrian.

Mike Trout was never going to be able to sustain production from 2010s

Trout would obviously never publicly say that he got paid more for what he did than what he would go on to do after signing that big contract, but that's the reality. He obviously wishes that wasn't the case but injuries have slowed him down and there's naturally going to be a decline as a player ages. Father Time catches up with pretty much every single player eventually.

One would think the Angels might be looking for a way to move off Trout's big contract, but that doesn't seem to be the case. One of the first things that interim general manager John Mozeliak did after taking the job was affirm that Trout would not be moved. Mozeliak has also kept Trout abreast of the team's plans for the future, which suggests that he is not going anywhere for some time.

Trout had a solid 2026 campaign, so it's not like he is a totally unplayable player or anything like that. He will obviously never reach the peak he was at in the mid-2010s ever again, but if he can still be a solid player and serve as a veteran mentor while getting butts in seats at the park then his contract is worth it.

Guerrero's comments cannot help but make Angels fans think about Trout's deal, but he has done so much for the franchise that it's really the least he deserves.

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