The Angels should consider trading Trout - ESPN

[ScottT]

Another team either won't part with four 3 WAR players or they will only because it saves them money.  Consistent 3 WAR players aren't cheap.  Forget four.... three will cost more than Trout... if they really are reliable.

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

hahahahahahhahahahahahahaha.........hahahahahhahahahahahhahahaha.......hahhahahahahahhahahahahahah

[joeybaseball]

Ya know, it seems like its today's media that keeps bringing up the "trade Trout" mantra. Probably for a couple reasons: 1) To get a rise out of the readers, and 2) get the best player in baseball off of our team in California, that they don't wanna pay attention to, for various reasons we already recognize. Put him on an East coast team and they would love to make a fuss about him like they do Bryce Harper.

Wouldn't you think that, if Trout were in the same situation on a Yankee team that was bad, EVERYONE would be screaming and pounding the Yanks to build a team around him, no matter what, rather than trading him.

The media of the 1950's, 60's, or 70's would have been crucified by Cub fans, and the Cubs, if they were pushing for the Cubs to trade Ernie Banks (who played on some bad Cub teams that never saw the post season). Hard to imagine "Mr Cub" being the legend he is, if he was traded to the 1964 Washington Senators- or even, God forbid, the 1965 LA Angels. Plus, Cub fans would have disowned the team for trading away their legend. It would have been a black day for baseball.

Point being, "trade Trout" talk is sad to hear- can we just keep and watch and have some joy watching the greatest player to ever be developed by the Angels, no matter what?

I'm sure Ernie Banks would agree...

 

 

 

[Mad5577]

Any trade would involve the other team taking on pujols and hamliton a contract, and it has to start with that

[Mark68]

8 hours ago, ettin said:

There is a thing called scarcity and Trout is at the top of the food chain. The fact that he is a 10 WAR player and no one is above him creates added value to an already extremely valuable player. Trading him now would be selling very low even if you get a haul back from a team like the Dodgers for instance. His production, youth, positional scarcity, and actual player pool scarcity create a player so valuable that the Angels would be stupid to trade him.

Nothing any team could offer, without breaking, in part, their own teams to get him, would be worth his value right now.

The Angels need to see what the rest of this season brings (you never know stranger things have happened) and if by the deadline we're behind potentially sell off Santiago, Escobar, Street, Smith, Soto, Wilson, Calhoun, and Salas where it makes sense and rebuild/retool the team towards a serious run in 2018.

This doesn't mean the team can't or won't compete in 2017, they will. But the reality now is that Richards and Heaney won't be back until mid-2017 and by then we may be out of the playoff race and quite frankly there is no guarantee that either one will come back fully healthy and READY to contribute in the last half of next year. What is more likely is that either or both of them will be better prepared for the 2018 season.

So the goal, if the Angels continue to flounder, is to sell off pieces of our team that will not contribute past 2017 (and maybe even pieces that would contribute in 2018 such as Huston Street). The Angels should seriously consider extending Kole Calhoun through 2020 or longer and build a core around Trout, Calhoun, Pujols, Cron, Simmons, Skaggs, Heaney, Richards (consider extending him if he returns healthy), Tropeano, and Bedrosian (future closer).

Retooling, if we flounder this year, could allow us to bring in another quality starter by packaging up Santiago and, for instance, Salas to get a Heaney like return. Additionally a combination of the rest of our trade-able assets could bring back potential players for LF, 2B, 3B, the rotation, and the bullpen depending on what Eppler can find out in tradeville.

My recommendation from a layman's point of view is for the Angels to focus, if and only if they are out of the race, on acquiring a quality mid or front-line rotation starter, a LF, and a 2B as their primary goals. A bullpen addition (think someone like Mychal Givens or Alex Reyes for instance) that could compete for our closer position (assuming Street is out of the picture) would be good too to give Bedrosian some competition (and as backup in case of injury). These acquisitions will need to be near-MLB ready or even already promoted to the Majors so that they can effectively help the team in 2018.

Just my 2 cents on where we have to go now. What this all means though is that we CAN build around Mike Trout and still compete moving forward. A 2018 rotation could easily consist of Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney, Nick Tropeano, Tyler Skaggs, and Nate Smith for instance. If Kole is extended you'd have an OF that still has Trout and Calhoun plus a quality LF we either obtain through trade or free agency. You'd have an IF with a 2B acquisition, a 3B acquisition or Cowart/Kubitza, Simmons, and Cron. Pujols will DH (we'd still need a power bench bat that can hit RHP). Bullpen will be led by Bedrosian and company.

If the 2020 trade deadline arrives and we haven't extended Trout and we're not in the pennant race then guess what? Time to trade Trout at that point only in my humble opinion. Even then Trout will bring back a huge haul.

I think something along these lines is the best option. Although I wouldn't rule out trading Calhoun either. In 2018, he'll be 30.

The ONLY team that could possibly pay nearly fair value for Trout is the Cubs. However, that is only with a package that includes a healthy Kyle Schwarber. And they don't really have the pitching that we would need.