Angels, Trout close to $434M deal
Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels are close to finalizing a $432-million US, 12-year contract that would shatter the record for the largest deal in North American sports history, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press.
The agreement had not been finalized and had not been announced. The contract was likely to be announced by the end of this week, the person said.
Trout’s total would top the new $330-million US, 12-year contract between Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies, and Trout’s $36-million average annual value would surpass pitcher Zack Greinke’s $34.4 million in a sixyear deal with Arizona that started in 2016. The contract also would best Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez’s $356-million deal with sports-streaming service DAZN.
Trout would set a baseball record for career earnings at about $513 million US, surpassing the roughly $448 million Alex Rodriguez took in with Seattle, Texas and the New York Yankees from 1994 to 2017.
Whether Trout’s deal is the largest in the world for a team athlete is difficult to determine. Forbes estimated Lionel Messi earned $84 million US from Barcelona in 2017-18 and Cristiano Ronaldo $61 million from Real Madrid, but precise details of their contracts are not known.
Trout’s deal would include a signing bonus and supersede the $144.5-million, six-year contract that had been set to pay him $33.25 million in each of the next two seasons.
While the marketplace has been slow for many players this off-season, prompting complaints from the players’ association, top stars have gained robust deals. Four of the largest seven contracts will have been agreed to, with Trout and Harper joined by Manny Machado ($300 million for 10 years with San Diego) and Nolan Arenado ($260 million for eight years with Colorado).
Los Angeles selected Trout with the 25th overall pick in the 2009 amateur draft, and he signed for a bonus of $1,215,000. He made his major league debut on July 8, 2011.
A 27-year-old outfielder entering what should be his prime years, Trout is considered baseball’s top player and would have been coveted as a free agent after the 2020 season.
Trout has been an all-star in each of his seven full big league seasons and hit .312 with 39 homers, 79 RBIs, 24 steals and 122 walks last year. He led the major leagues in OPS in each of the last two seasons.