Trout reeling in whopper deal
No fish tale: Angels OF hooks $432M
Mike Trout is on the verge of becoming baseball’s first half-billion dollar man.
Trout and the Los Angeles Angels are close to finalizing a $432 million, 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 deal was disclosed Tuesday by a person familiar with the negotiations who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been finalized. The contract was likely to be announced by the end of this week, the person said.
Trout would set a baseball record for career earnings at about $513 million, surpassing the roughly $448 million Alex Rodriguez took in with Seattle, Texas and the New York Yankees from 1994 to 2017.
“I’m pretty sure I ain’t paying one more dinner for him,” said fellow Angels star Albert Pujols, in the midst of a $240 million, 10-year deal. “It’s well deserved. I don’t think there’s anybody in baseball
besides him who deserves that.”
Trout’s latest deal would top the new $330 million, 12-year contract between Las Vegas native 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 six-year 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.
Progress toward an agreement was first reported by ESPN.
Whether Trout’s contract is the largest in the world for a team athlete is difficult to determine. Forbes estimated Lionel Messi earned $84 million from Barcelona in 2017-18 and Cristiano Ronaldo $61 million from Real Madrid, but precise details of their contracts are not known.
“You think about Angels, you think about Mike Trout,” Los Angeles shortstop Andrelton Simmons said. “You locked up the best player in the game. That’s a big first step to take. You can build off of that. That’s a good base to the house.”
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 offseason, prompting complaints from the players’ association, top stars have gained robust deals.
Four of the largest seven contracts will have been agreed to since Feb. 19, with the 27-year-old 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).