Mike Trout's recovery timeline could throw wrench into LA Angels' trade deadline

Eric Cole

Baltimore Orioles v Los Angeles Angels / Ric Tapia/GettyImages

By all accounts, the Los Angeles Angels would be best served as active sellers at this year's trade deadline. This team is very clearly not going to be making a run at the playoffs in 2024 and the Angels have multiple players on both sides of the ball who are already generating a lot of interest across the league from contenders looking for roster replacements/upgrades.

However, a potential wrinkle in those plans could be forming right in front of our eyes. Mike Trout, one of the best players in baseball who Anaheim desperately wants to keep happy, has been out since early May after having surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee. His rehab has much slower than the team expected which, of course, hasn't helped the "this Angels team stinks" problem.

Things have apparently changed now as Trout has been making the rounds lately saying not only is he feeling really good at the moment, but he is expected to return to the Angels by the end of July.

Mike Trout's return could lead the Angels to pump the brakes on a trade deadline sell-off

Objectively, getting Trout back healthy is a good thing for the Angels. He drives fans to the ballpark all by himself and his presence in the lineup, when he is right, makes LA a strictly better baseball team. For Angels fans that are tired of losing and have enjoyed the Angels' recent hot streak, Trout's impending return is cause for celebration.

The potential downside of Trout's return is that LA may not want to completely tear down the roster around him as to not worsen the environment for Trout. While players on expiring contracts are going to be fair game either way, popular trade targets like Tyler Anderson and Taylor Ward, both of whom have team control, could get taken off the market or have their price tags increase to the point where it could scare off potential buyers.

There are still a lot of things that need to transpire before Angels fans meet their fate. If the team falls further and further back, Trout may understand a wider sell-off, and it may not matter since his timetable hasn't been confirmed by the team yet. Either way, there's a lot for Angels fans stay on top of between now and July 30.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.