Red Sox: Trading Baseball’s Best to Boston
By Blake Yagman
Last Friday, several major sports news outlets speculated about the availability (via trade) of baseball’s best player: Mike Trout. Mike Trout, a 24-year-old former MVP and Rookie of the Year, is unlikely to be dealt at all.
However, if any General Manager/team were able to acquire Mike Trout, it would be Wheelin’ Dealin’ Dave Dombrowski and the Boston Red Sox. Although the Red Sox currently have one of the best offenses in baseball, Trout may be too good of a fish to pass up. Also, Trout to Boston means fish puns all the time. There simply aren’t many in the sea like him.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Trout’s team, have had a tempestuous start to their 2016 season. Speculation around the outfielder’s availability stems from the Angels sub-.500 first month of the season and the loss of many of their best pitchers. And, although the Angels have stated that Trout is unavailable via trade, L.A. owner Arte Moreno is allegedly growing impatient over the team’s lack of continued success. Moreno would be the key to a Trout trade, as the rest of the Angels front office has not publicly expressed interest in trading the star.
Moreno, a billionaire billboard mogul, has a history of making aggressive moves which he feels are in the best interests of the franchise. In the early 2000’s, Moreno’s purchase of the Angels from the Walt Disney Company was highlighted by that very aggressive style. Before bidding on the Angels, Moreno failed to acquire the Arizona Diamondbacks and immediately set his sights on the 2002 World Champion Angels. This style has become trademark of the Angels during the Moreno era, spending lavishly in free agency throughout (see Albert Pujols, Gary Matthews Jr., C.J. Wilson) and yielding no World Series Championships.
More from Chowder and Champions
- 3 Midseason Chaim Bloom Decisions That Have Killed the 2023 Red Sox
- 10 Patriots Who Will Be Cut by Tuesday’s Roster Deadline
- MLB Screws Red Sox Fans With Broadcast for Mookie Betts Return
- 3 Most Underpaid Celtics Heading Into the 2023 Season
- Red Sox Continue Rollercoaster Season With Massive Win
Make no mistake, Mike Trout is one of the most valuable trade assets in all of baseball. Acquiring Trout is going to take a perfect alignment of the planets over Yawkey Way. If the Angels were to hypothetically trade Mike Trout to the Boston Red Sox, several different things need to take place:
First, the Angels have to continue to fail.
If the Angels continue to lose, the front office will start to soften it’s stance on moving players because of the desperate state of the franchise. For any team to even have a remote chance of acquiring Trout, the Angels need to continue to lose so that they continue to feel pressured to begin an entire rebuild of their roster. Although Trout is one of the best players in baseball, the team is lacking the offensive production necessary to carry their anemic starting rotation.
Second, Trout has a full No-Trade Clause in his contract, and would have to approve of any trade (involving himself) the Angels may make.
This ultimately begs the question: would Trout even want to play in Boston?
As a native of New Jersey, Mike Trout may welcome a move back to the East Coast; however, the notoriously vicious Boston media has scared away more than it’s fair share of unassuming athletes. If Trout felt as though Fenway Park and Boston could realistically be the place where he spends much of his Hall of Fame career, that merely begins the trade discussions themselves.
Next, the actual trade itself. To bring the former-MVP to Boston, the Angels would likely ask for three high-level, highly rated prospects. The Red Sox possess one of the few farm systems that can sacrifice the prospects to complete such a deal. Of Boston’s minor leaguers, the Angels pickin’s include: Cuban phenom 2B Yoan Moncada, slugging CF Andrew Benintendi, catcher-turned-outfielder Blake Swihart, former second-round pick Sam Travis, and 18-year-old strikeout demigod, pitcher Anderson Espinoza.
Live Feed
Call to the Pen
Once the Angels have selected a package of prospects, the Red Sox need to look back to Trout’s contract. Trout’s current deal, signed before last season, keeps the young outfielder under team control through the 2021 season. However, Trout comes at a cost: over $130,000,000 remain to be paid out over the duration of this contract. Next question: do the Red Sox have $130,000,000 to spend after the pricey acquisitions of David Price, Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez and Rusney Castillo?
The Red Sox, although not bereft of enough money to pay Trout’s contract by any means, will have to consider the financial burden of adding Trout’s contract in the context of the other current players on the team. On the roster, Red Sox SS Xander Bogaerts, OF Jackie Bradley Jr., OF/2B Mookie Betts, 3B Travis Shaw, and C Christian Vasquez will all command relatively expensive paydays within the next few years. GM Dave Dombrowski will already have a difficult time retaining all of these players, if they continue to produce and develop. The rotation will need to be improved, which will also be costly.
Mike Trout is a once in a generation talent. The Yankees (absolutely starved of offense) will undoubtedly inquire on, if not abduct, the outfielder. Most teams- New York included -do not have the pieces necessary to acquire him. However, the longer Trout remains in open water, the more likely the Angels are to take someone else’s bait.