Trout will be MLB’s best paid at $34M
A slowly developing and player-unfriendly offseason across Major League Baseball will produce at least one unintended consequence.
The game’s greatest player will now be its best-compensated, too.
Mike Trout, the two-time American League MVP for the Los Angeles Angels, will almost certainly take over as baseball’s top earner, as his salary jumps to $34.083 million in 2018, according to salary data obtained by USA TODAY.
Trout narrowly takes the torch of highest-paid star from Clayton Kershaw, whose $33 million salary was tops in 2016 and 2017. Kershaw will make $33.238 million in 2018, the fifth year of a seven-year, $215 million deal. The Los Angeles Dodgers ace can opt out of that deal after this season.
Zack Greinke, who will make nearly $32 million in 2018, will likely remain the highest-paid player based on average annual value — his contract averages $34.4 million. He’s among five pitchers in 2018’s top 10 highest paid to date.
As for Trout, he signed a six-year, $144.5 million contract extension in March 2014, opting for long-term security over progressively larger arbitration paydays that would lead to a free agent jackpot after this season.
The Angels got Trout at a relative bargain — an average of $17.75 million — for his past two seasons, which included his second MVP award in 2016 and a fourthplace finish in 2017 despite missing several weeks with a thumb injury.
Trout’s salary leaps to $34.083 million for the next three seasons, before he hits the free agent market at 29. The avid Philadelphia Eagles fan and newlywed also can, for the first time in this deal, reach incentive clauses that could total $875,000.
Trout, 26, would receive $50,000 for All-Star Game MVP, $75,000 apiece for Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards, $75,000 for AL Championship Series MVP, $100,000 for World Series MVP and $500,000 should he win his third AL MVP award.
The current free agent market remains ice-cold and virtually ensures Trout will remain the highest-paid player after all teams are done dealing. The consensus No. 1 position player, outfielder J.D. Martinez, was seeking a sevenyear, $210 million deal but will likely not approach that. He has received a fiveyear offer from the Boston Red Sox, but the average annual value is below the $30 million a year he was seeking.
Top starting pitchers Jake Arrieta and Yu Darvish might land nine-figure contracts but will be hard-pressed to receive more than $30 million a year in the current climate.