Reveille1984

I would trade him just because we need to restock the team honestly.  I love Ohtani and he's been a pleasure to watch the last six seasons, but I don't want to sign a $500M player where we're one injury away from losing both an ace and MOTO bat.  That has the capacity to be a franchise crushing contract, even more so than the usual big budget FA.
If this truly is the start of a Trout decline, and Ohtani walks for nothing, this team is going nowhere without some expert maneuvering from Minasian.  Our lineup would be a mishmash of something like - Neto/Trout/Ward/Moniak/Adell/O'Hoppe/Drury/Walsh and sometimes Rendon.  This on top of still having a bottom five farm system is  going to be very rough, and keep us in perpetual mediocrity.

Here is a trade I seen today 
 
 

I think re-signing him at the variables discussed - 10/500 would a.) almost certainly prove to be an awful investment production per dollar and b.) would pretty much destroy any flexibility the team has moving forward.
I only don't trade him if I feel the team has a 20+% chance at making the ALCS. They likely have a lower chance than that of actually making the postseason
He also presents an opportunity to establish a level of organizational depth through trade that they haven't had in many years

Dodgers dragging their homerun balls across Trout's face.

There is a lot of anecdotal info and observation in regard to Mike Trout's ability to handle high fastball.   There always has been.  It's been his 'kryptonite' for years.  Yet until recently, he was still putting up hall of fame numbers.  Why now, all of a sudden, is he struggling, and does it have to do with attacking him up in the zone?  How's he performing on pitches up in the zone?  How's he performing on pitches up and out of the zone?  Is he swinging at each of them more than he used to?  
I think our eyes are telling us that they are, not very good, even worse, and yes.  But do our eyes deceive us? 
First off, I would like to add that Trout has always had a bit of a complicated setup.  Leg kick.  Hands high.  Lots of timing mechanism to get things in the right place.  But once he does, that swing is a thing of beauty.  Over the years though, we seen have have these streaks where he's working on getting that front foot down on time.  Something he's been quoted on several times.   The swing hasn't changed as of yet.  A little video from 2019 to 2021 to now shows pretty much the exact same setup and trigger points. 
I've always felt like his approach was sort of the reverse of many in that he made a point to be on breaking balls and off speed while adjusting to the fastball - if you will.  I'm not sure if that has changed. 
One thing we know for sure is that he's swinging more in general (44.7% of the time in 2023 compared to his career avg of 38.8%) and that's been happening since he returned from injury last year.  Another thing we know is that he's swinging more at balls in the zone (68.2% in 2023 vs. 56.4% career) and he's still  among the top in the league in terms of offering at pitches out of the zone - right in line with his career.  But all of the above is for all pitches.  Not just fastballs.  
So let's see if a deeper dive can yield any info in that regard.
First off, lets look at how they're attacking him with fastballs.  A comparison of 2023 to 2019 is in order I think considering 2019 was Mike's most recent MVP season.  
In 2023, they're throwing fastballs at him 49.6% of the time.  In 2019, they attacked him with fastballs 42.8% of the time.  But where?

Side by side it 2023 vs. 2019.  
Up out of the zone 2023: 35.4%
Up out of the zone 2019: 33.0%
Up and in the zone 2023: 22.8%
Up and in the zone 2019: 22.8%
So pretty damn close here.  
Is he swinging at them the same amount?  
Balls up in the zone 2023: 7.8%
Balls up in the zone 2019: 5.4%
Balls up out of the zone 2023: 1.5%
Balls up out of the zone 2019: 0.9%
Alright, we might be getting somewhere here.  
And how about the results?
Balls up in the zone wOBA 2023: 
   
Balls up in the zone wOBA 2019:

Not all that compelling...
How about out of the zone?
Up and out of zone wOBA 2023: 0.0 but that's 8 results
Up and out of zone wOBA 2019: 0.0 on 11 results.  
So he really doesn't make that many outs on fastballs up in the zone in general because he doesn't really offer at that pitch all that much.  Yes he's on pace to do so a few more times this year but by seasons end we're talking like maybe 8 more outs.  Which is still not great but really on 10-12 points of batting average.  
So he's swinging more.  But why? 
Is it because he's in more two strike counts in general?  Nope.  Almost the exact same amount.  
Are they attacking him with fastballs up more with two strikes?  9.8% of the time in 2023 vs. 8.2% in 2019.  It averages out to about 30 more results from pitches up in the zone for 2023 than in 2019.   
None of the above screams that he would be tanking to the tune of an ops 175 points below his career avg.  And a few things I'd like to leave people with as they contemplate his demise.
His avg exit velo is higher than the 2019 season.  His hard hit rate is higher than his career avg.  His chase rate is at about his career avg.  His swing and miss rate is higher than his avg but down from last year.  And for all you stat nerds, his xwOBA for contact is .490.  Still elite but off his .513 career avg.  
His xba is .269 compared to his actual of .252.  His xSLG is .508 compared to his actual of .467. 
Personally, I just think he's swinging too much.  Yes, there are some signs of decline there, but there's some bad luck too.  Why swing more when your swinging strike rate has gone up?  He used to leave certain strikes alone.  You can't tell me that pitchers have become better at commanding the ball than they did before. 
Albert Pujols called and he wants his late career approach back.  Let him have it.

Yeah, MLB has him at 6'0" 185.  Not the biggest dude, but "pint-sized" is a bit of a stretch.

I guess he needs a third of the games off on top of taking a third of each game he plays in off

I guess he needs a third of the games off on top of taking a third of each game he plays in off

I use a VPN and MLB.tv now.

What a stupid post. 

Two top 100 prospects is underselling an Ohtani trade? I'd take that as a centerpiece for Shohei any day of the week.  We'd likely get some major league talent coming back as well, but that's pretty obvious if we're moving him.
I think people forget how few actual contenders have multiple top 100 guys in their farm system they're willing to move (or at all).  The only two I can think of off the top of my head are the Dodgers & Orioles (Orioles have EIGHT in the top 100, holy sh*&), and I don't see Baltimore making that type of move.  Some other teams have a couple of guys, but they're more towards the bottom 100 than top.
 
 

"Outside work"
Indo that when I'm off, too.
I picture him picking up dog shit and fixing a sprinkler.

Can't depend on an Irishman, everyone knows that

I agree. But can we at least admit that the roster is better with Moniak and O’Hoppe than Marsh?

When I saw you on tv I said to my dog ,hey I know that guy. She was far less impressed than me, but she can be kind of a bitch. I still thought it was pretty cool.

This is the Angels we're talking about.  We'll make some kind of headway, hang around about 5-6 games out at the ASB and keep Shohei around under the justification of "having a shot".  Then we'll fade completely, finish around .500, and Ohtani will walk in the offseason for squat.
We all know this will happen barring some catastrophic collapse in the next two months.  

Nevin 100%.
There was no reason to shift Drury to 1st base and Urshela to 3rd. Rengifo can play 3rd which keeps a better defensive player at 1st while there is a string of left handed batters. That was exposed by two important playable balls going right by Drury which could have ended the inning. 
There was no reason to leave Wantz in for a second inning of work, there were rested arms in the bullpen.
There was no reason to bring Tepera in for a high leverage situation. Once there he had to face 3 batters, all of which scored. 
Nevin orchestrated this loss, Tepera was his second fiddle. 

My boy is now a forever fan.  Trey Cabbage handed him his bat at the end of the game.  He was also thrown a ball during the game.  Great game overall.  Jo Adell wasn't the best striking out 4 times.  Was not patient at all.  Jonathan Holder was nails!  2.2 innings at 7 strikeouts. I see Jordyn Adams being a big leaguer one of these days.
 

He needs a steady diet of high/inside fastballs in the batting cage if they expect his days off to help.

Every single fan should miss Scioscia. 

The fan should of told him the bat and ball is cool and all, but how about hitting that ATM while you're here.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Joking!

That was fun