3 reasons why an offseason Mike Trout trade makes no sense for the Angels

The Los Angeles Angels are in the midst of yet another disappointing season. This one felt different as the team showed a huge sense of urgency to win especially at the trade deadline only to fall flat on their faces with an ugly finish to the season. The Angels wound up playing zero meaningful baseball games which once again has fans of MLB in general pondering where Shohei Ohtani will end up this offseason.

The Ohtani free agency saga will be the number one storyline from the moment the final out of the World Series is completed until the moment Ohtani finally puts pen to paper on what will likely be the richest contract in MLB history.

Ohtani will be taking up much of the Angels' time until he signs either with them or elsewhere, but there's another superstar out there that you can only wonder what he's thinking. Especially if Ohtani signs elsewhere, who would really blame Trout for requesting a trade this offseason? He gave the Angels his loyalty and they've rewarded him with one singular playoff appearance in his Hall of Fame career.

On paper, a Mike Trout trade sounds somewhat inevitable if Ohtani leaves. However, it's much more complicated than you might think. Here are three reasons why a Mike Trout trade will not happen this offseason.

1) Mike Trout has a full no-trade clause which makes everything more complicated

When Mike Trout signed his mega-deal to essentially play the rest of his career in Anaheim, it came with a full no-trade clause. This means that even if the Angels were to decide that they wanted to trade him, they'd need his approval.

Would Trout accept a trade to go to his hometown team of Philadelphia? Maybe. Would he accept a trade to go to somewhere like Kansas City if they were interested? I'd bet not. I'd bet there are a whole lot more teams Trout would never even consider which puts the Angels in an uncomfortable situation.

Trading Trout only makes sense if the Angels can either get out of the large amount of money they still owe him and/or if they can find a way to land a prospect package that's actually worthwhile. Lessening the field to only a couple of teams Trout would even consider makes that more difficult.

It's unclear as of now where Trout would consider playing if there are even any spots. What I do know is him having the ability to veto any deal makes it less likely for one to go down.