The Los Angeles Angels are set up to have an eventful offseason. After their eighth consecutive losing season wraps up, the Angels could be preparing to not only lose Shohei Ohtani, but their best player in franchise history, Mike Trout.
A Trout trade shouldn’t be seen as likely as of now as one would be extremely complicated to pull off and would need his approval to begin with, but the Angels trading away their franchise icon in the same offseason that they could be losing the best player in the game would certainly be a hard pill for fans to swallow.
If a Trout trade were to go down, only a select few teams actually make sense. Trout is owed a lot of money for a long time and will have no interest in being part of any rebuild. He is in control over if and where he goes. Some of the spots Trout would presumably be open to like Philadelphia or San Francisco wouldn’t be an issue for Angels fans. Others present very real nightmare scenarios.
1) The LA Angels seeing Mike Trout in the AL West playing for the Texas Rangers is the ultimate nightmare scenario
The worst case scenario here involving Trout is he wants out and only wants to be traded to a team in the AL West. This is an unlikely scenario, but considering the fact that there are three other teams in the division who can be seen as contenders that would also be willing to pay at least some of the money Trout is owed for the next seven years, it’s not impossible.
The most likely suitor for Trout in the division would be the Texas Rangers who have shown to have very few finiancial limitations in recent years. The Rangers have gone from the bottom of the AL West to a team fighting for a playoff berth, and have done so on the backs of some lucrative signings like Corey Seager and Marcus Semien.
The Rangers have a loaded offense but only one of their three outfield spots are solidified. Leody Taveras had a great first half but has really cooled off, and Evan Carter, while being one of the top prospects in all of baseball, has played in just 11 MLB games. Trout would fit in seamlessly in a hitting environment he’s always excelled in.
The Astros could be a team that makes sense too, but Trout’s struggles at Minute Maid Park could make him look the other way. Texas, on the other hand, is a scary potential landing spot if that’s what Trout wants.
2) The LA Angels seeing Mike Trout win in a Boston Red Sox uniform would be a hard pill to swallow
The Boston Red Sox are in an interesting position. They just fired their General Manager after a disappointing season, and seem to be gearing up to potentially compete in 2024. What better way for Boston’s new GM to introduce himself to their passionate fan base than by acquiring Mike Trout?
This would likely require the Angels to eat a decent amount of money as Red Sox ownership has been pretty cheap in recent years for their standards, but with only Jarren Duran pencilled into Boston’s outfield long-term and only four playes locked in under contract after 2025, the Red Sox could realistically fit him into their long-term plans.
The Angels have a ton of history in the postseason with the Red Sox, losing against them three times in the ALDS in the last 20 years alone, and the 1986 ALCS defeat is one most older Angels fans still haven’t gotten over.
These two teams haven’t been rivals recently with the Angels lacking much success, but still, watching Trout potentially win in Beantown would be tough. It’d be good for Trout who deserves it more than anyone, but is that the team he really has to win with?
3) Mike Trout in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform is something that would make all LA Angels fans cringe
I get that the Angels only play the Dodgers four times each season, and that this isn’t a crazy rivalry also. The Dodgers have absolutely dominated the recent season series between these two teams, and play in the other league. Still, watching Trout remain in Southern California and wear a Dodgers uniform would just feel so wrong.
The Dodgers are a team that most of the industry feels will end up with Shohei Ohtani. The fit makes sense as Ohtani seems to love it out west and wants to win. What if Trout is the same way? He obviously enjoys it out west as he committed to play the rest of his career there, and we all know how badly Trout wants to win. If he were to ask out it’d be to go to a winning organization.
The Dodgers are a team with seemingly unlimited resources, and with veterans like Jason Heyward and David Peralta making up two-thirds of their outfield, the Dodgers would absolutely have room for Mike Trout. The Dodgers have the prospects, the money, and would seemingly check every box Trout wants.
The Dodgers would be a lesser evil than any team in the AL West or even the Red Sox thanks to the simple fact that they play in the NL, but again, watching Trout win in Los Angeles and not Anaheim would be so wrong.
