What did they do to make Mike Trout mad?
It pains me to say this but its time to trade Trout and rebuild. The Angels have several awesome OF prospects. Trade him to the Yanks for Glayber, Andujar and two top pitching prospects.
I can see this for fans of teams out of contention.
It’s harder to understand why fans of top teams would want lots of their players selected, so they can risk injury in a meaningless exhibition game.
Trout is signed through 2020 at 32 mil per season. His next contract will be mammoth while he will likely be regressing. The last thing we need is another Pujols contract albatross.
Why in tarnation are the Yankees thinking about Manny Machado? The Yanks have solid young players in Andujar at third and Torres at second. Didi has been more than adequate at short. Why bring in another stellar infielder? Infield depth is not the problem! Starting pitching is the problem! For my money you give Sonny Gray AND Sanchez for a #1 starter. Romine and Hasakioka are ready to take over at #1 and #2 catcher, Sanchez has more value as trade bait.
The Yanks aren’t really thinking about Machado but writers need things to write about.
There are also stories about the Red Sox dangling Devers for him. Some planted stories are good, but this one isn’t - Dombrowski isn’t that dumb. They do need a new 2B long term, now that it appears Pedey is done, but Machado isn’t it.
I absolutely, wholeheartedly disagree.
I can understand how frustrating it must be to watch the greatest baseball player in the world waste his time on a mediocre team. I can see why it might be appealing to cash him in.
But Mike Trout is not just another high profile star. He is the greatest baseball player in the world, and will likely end up, barring a serious injury, being one of the 15-20 greatest who ever lived. You know how the Marlins cashed in Giancarlo Stanton? Mike Trout is WAY better than Giancarlo Stanton. He is worth two Giancarlo Stantons, and that’s no exagerration; if you offered me two players exactly like Giancarlo Stanton for Mike Trout, even if the Stantons made no more money together than Trout did, I would absolutely, unhesitatingly turn you down flat. Mike Trout isn’t a guy you compare to Giancarlo Stanton. He’s comparable to Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Tris Speaker. He’s that great.
You can’t replace Mike Trout; he is without any comparison in baseball today.
Trout is only 26. He is the best player in baseball this year, and will be the best player in baseball, in all likelihood, for years to come. If the Angels were worse, or Trout was older, and the window of his greatness was short of the expected window of opportunity, maybe you trade him. But that is not true; he will be great for years, and the Angels really are not a bad team.
The Angels could be a 95-win team next year. They’re not bad now - two games over .500, and they deserve to be about that. Their weakness is primarily older hitters who really suck, and that’s an easily identified and repaired weakness. If the team can summon the courage to dump Albert Pujols and find a few other OK position players they’ll be a contender next year.
I like Manny Machado but my God, he’d be a terrible second baseman. Talk about moving a guy away from his strengths. The Red Sox wouldn’t let him anywhere near it.
Crazy idea; the hole I’d like to fill if I’m the Red Sox is the outfield… maybe Machado can move out there…
A very interesting post. In the off-season thread I advocated releasing Pujols. We have to pay him anyway and he is dragging down the team. They would have been better with Cron. The Angels were in the thick of it until yet another rash of pitching injuries. This many injuries for several seasons leads me to believe that the problem is with the way they want their pitchers to pitch (100% effort on every pitch) taking a toll on young arms. And an inadequate training and medical staff.
In concerned that Trout might walk after 2020. He is worth much more than the compensatory pick.
Trout’s status after 2020 is certainly a concern, but I honestly think this is too early to panic. He is quite tradeable next year or in mid-2020 if in turns out the Angels cannot win.
That said, my assumption is that if they keep him, which I think they should, they try to win, which I think they should. The failure to release Pujols is really kind of ridiculous; there isn’t a person in the world except maybe Albert Pujols who thinks he’s a good player now. Not having the courage to swallow the sunk cost is costing the Angels ballgames.
This may require a massive payroll. If you;re not going to take a shot with a guy like Trout, though, you should just dissolve the whole franchise.
“But what if Pujols signs with somebody else, then comes back here to beat us?”
More decisions get made out of stubbornness and fear of embarrassment than analysis, it seems.
As much as I rag on JBJ’s dismal offensive ability, I’ll admit it’s pretty nice having his defense in CF because it allows Betts, also a great defensive outfielder, to play the almost-as-important-at-Fenway right field.
This is the first season in a long time where I can say I’m pretty comfortable with the Red Sox roster at this point. Even if the Yankees pull something off, I’m OK with the Sox not making any big moves.
Hopefully the Reds can break out the brooms in Cleveland tonight and put the Indians to sleep. Man, if only the Reds hadn’t started off so poorly this season, they’d be in the thick of the division race.
But Beni can play CF pretty damn well too, and sitting/trading Bradley lets another bat into the lineup at LF. Bradley does hit in spurts, yes, enough to tantalize and aggravate, but do you really want to count on his bat in October? I’d trade him for a good-hitting young 2B if they can, but not for Starlin Castro.
Not me. They *need *a lockdown 8th-inning guy to set up Kimbrel in The Games That Matter, and to fill in if he gets hurt. I do not feel confident at all in Barnes and Kelly doing it. Fortunately there are proven closers available, per the usual sources.
I was all for trading JBJ before the 2017 season, when his value was probably at its peak. If they need anything now, I agree it’s a reliever. Raisel Iglesias is a name I’m hearing related to Red Sox interest. And if Cincinnati would throw in Scooter Gennet for a reasonable price (doubtful, but the Reds have been known to make bad deals) I could live with that.
You keep your filthy paws off our Scooter! He’s been an unbelievable player this season…way, WAY better than the back of his baseball card.
They don’t have the prospects to get him anyway.
I for one am tired of the prospects/rebuilding/always next year mindset that seems to have permeated Reds culture for a few years now. While they aren’t really a contender this season due to the hole they’ve dug themselves, they are playing great baseball right now and have been for a month. I hope they can keep it up throughout the rest of the season.
Seems having Riggleman as the Skipper has lit a fire under these guys.
Garrett Richards diagnosed with UCL damage and is weighing his options. If the Angels were a horse we would take it round back and put it out of its misery.