Much to the chagrin of the other 29 teams that hoped to pounce on Mike Trout in free agency following the 2020 season, the Los Angeles Angels’ superstar outfielder isn’t going anywhere. Trout, the best player in the game and someone putting together a resume that rivals some of the greatest to ever take the field, has reportedly agreed to a 12-year extension to stay in California worth a record-setting $430 million.
The news of the deal between the two sides was broken by Jeff Passan of ESPN. According to Passan, the deal tops baseball’s records for contract size and annual value while smashing the record for the largest contract in all of sports, previously held by Canelo Alvarez.
The 27-year-old Trout, who has won two American League MVP awards and finished second four times, will receive an average of nearly $36 million a year, topping Zack Greinke’s previous record average of $34.4 million with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The $430 million-plus total is more than 30 percent larger than the $330 million deal Bryce Harper signed with the Philadelphia Phillies on March 2 and bests boxer Canelo Alvarez’s deal with DAZN by more than $65 million.
There’s no other way to put this other than to say this is a gargantuan win by the Angels to keep Trout off the market. Despite the rather slow period this past offseason that saw the free agencies of Harper and Manny Machado drag into 2019, a Trout bidding war had the potential to get competitive once other teams got involved.
It’s a worthwhile investment for Los Angeles, too. Trout is a two-time AL MVL, boasts six top-2 MVP finishes during his time with the Angels, and the one year he finished outside the top-2, he came in fourth. He’s already put together an historically great career, sitting fifth in baseball history in OPS+, and during his eight years in the majors, Trout has a .307/.416/.573 slash line with 240 home runs.
