Don’t expect Angels to sell Trout down the river

THE 2019 pitching loss of Shohei Ohtani and another lost season has renewed questions whether the Angels should trade Mike Trout, with the idea the team could be better with all they get for the game’s best player and the money saved, rather than just sticking with a player who can be a free agent after the 2020 season.

It shares similarities to the Mets’ decision with Jacob deGrom, who also could be free after the 2020 campaign. The Mets have a win-now rotation, but are lacking in other areas, in part because their highest-ceiling position player ( Yoenis Cespedes) will miss a good deal of next season.

The Angels have a win-now positional core with Trout, Ohtani (as a DH), Justin Upton, Andrelton Simmons and Kole Calhoun (.914 OPS since coming off the DLin mid- June). But they are lacking elsewhere, notably because their highest-ceiling starter (Ohtani) will not pitch next year. Just remember a position player’s prime (Trout) is easier to predict in performance and health than that of a pitcher (deGrom).

“We have no interest in trading Mike Trout,” Angels GM Billy Eppler said.

Though you can see the broad wisdom in trying this, it would be a unique trade in MLB history. Great players have been dealt in their primes, but almost always for financially motivated reasons. Think Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Rickey Henderson, Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Giancarlo Stanton.

That would not be the case here. The Angels clearly have the finances and desire to retain Trout if he wants to stay. The worry is that the fanatical Eagles fan will want to return closer to his original home and, say, sign with the Phillies in two years. But he has given no indication that is his desire and already has signed a long-term deal with the Angels once.

You would be trading someone on the arc to be among the greatest players of all time, in his prime (27) for unknowns. Going into the 2014 season (via Baseball America), the Twins had the first ( Byron Buxton), sixth ( Miguel Sano), 45th ( Alex Meyer) and 52nd ( Kohl Stewart) prospects in the game. That would have felt like the kind of haul you should get for Trout. It would have been a disaster.

Also, no executive wants it on their ledger that they traded the best player in franchise history in his prime when he has done nothing but play great while not causing an iota of trouble.

“In Mike we know we have the best player in baseball and one of best people I’ve ever been around,” Eppler said. “You don’t enjoy it until you are around him every day and you don’t capture all that he is unless you are around every day.”