Angels: Ranking the 10 worst contracts in the American League West right now

When thinking about the worst contracts in the AL West, the Los Angeles Angels come up in the conversation. The Angels have a poor history of handing out lengthy and expensive contracts to older position players that don't pan out well.

Some of the franchise's ugliest contracts like the Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and Vernon Wells deals to name a few are no longer on the books, but the Angels still have their fair share of the worst deals in the division.

While the Athletics don't spend much on payroll, four of the five teams attempted to win in 2023. Doing so gave the division some of the worst contracts in the game. Here're the ten worst in what's been one of the more competitive divisions in baseball this season.

10) Worst contracts in the AL West: Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels

When Mike Trout signed his 12-year $426.5 million deal prior to the 2019 season, the deal ending in some sort of decline was inevitable. Trout was committing the rest of his career to the Angels, and no matter how much we wanted it, Trout was never going to be the same MVP-caliber player throughout the entire duration of the deal.

Unfortunately, injuries have caught up to Trout and the decline has started to appear as well, in the last couple of years. Trout is still an elite player, but the contract is one that looks pretty bad right now.

One reason the deal looks bad is because of Trout's declining play. He's still good, but is slashing .267/.367/.490 with 18 home runs and 44 RBI in the 82 games he's played this season. His .858 OPS and 130 OPS+ would be the worst marks of his career by far, and the eye test confirms that he's taken a step back.

The main reason this contract is bad, is the lack of durability. Trout has played in 237 of the possible 454 games he's been able to play in since 2020. He's barely over 50% in that span, which is obviously not what you want. This season, Trout stayed healthy for most of the first half but suffered a hamate fracture just before the all-star break. He missed a month and a half with the injury, and came back for one game before going back on the IL.

Trout hasn't done much to inspire confidence that he'll be able to sustain playing through a full 162-game season, and that makes the contract hard to justify. The great player he is making this contract only the tenth-worst in the AL West, but if things get worse he will only get higher on the list.