Trading Mike Trout and 3 other future Angels roster moves to shoot down

Should the Los Angeles Angels re-sign Shohei Ohtani on record-breaking money despite his pitching concerns? Should the Angels DFA Anthony Rendon? Should the Angels completely tear the team down and rebuild? Fans often discuss what their favorite team should do, but why not discuss moves they should not make?

There are many moves the Angels should not make this offseason including one very obvious one.

1) LA Angels trading Mike Trout would be a mistake for multiple reasons

This is the obvious one. No, the Angels should not trade Mike Trout under any circumstances unless he demands it himself. If Trout doesn't say he wants out, he should be in an Angels uniform on Opening Day 2024. There are multiple reasons why.

First, this is the best player in the history of this franchise. You really want to part ways with him? Something has to be said about how difficult it'd be to watch Trout not only wear another uniform, but potentially win the World Series with another team. Obviously we'd be happy for Trout, but I don't think I'm alone in wanting this guy to finish his career having worn just one uniform. If that's not enough, understandably so, there're baseball reasons as to why this should not happen.

Trout signed an absurd contract to remain an Angel for virtually the rest of his career. He still has roughly seven years remaining on the deal worth $250 million. He's making $35.4 million annually until this contract expires following the 2030 season. That alone eliminates most of the league in terms of teams who'd take his contract.

Now, if the Angels did entertain moving Trout, what exactly could they get? This is a guy who has played 100 games just once in the last four seasons. He hasn't reached the 150-game mark since the 2016 season. Furthermore, when he did play this season, he was in the midst of by far his worst season in his career even with him still being very good.

Trout is 32, hasn't played a fully healthy season in seven years, is being paid a ton of money, and is in decline performance-wise. How attractive is he realistically to other teams? Sure, the Angels can pay off some of his salary to maximize his return, but even then, it's hard to see them getting this monster haul to help kickstart a rebuild without the Angels eating over half of the contract which isn't very realistic under Arte Moreno.

If Trout demands a trade this is a whole other story, but with all of the factors here I don't see how a Trout trade makes any sense.