Being the best player in baseball isn’t easy, especially on a losing franchise. Since Mike Trout’s arrival to the big leagues he has won two MVPs, yet no playoff games. With the worst farm system in MLB, it has increasingly been speculated whether or not the Los Angeles Angels would dish out their franchise player.
Mike Trout has been truly historic in his first several years in the big leagues. Trout has been in the running for the MVP award every year, and has posted video game numbers. Aside from his 40-game appearance in his 2011 debut season due to a late call-up, Trout has managed to play a full season’s worth of games every year. Never missing more than five games, Trout has not only played great baseball, but has been lucky enough to remain healthy. At a time when sports injuries are so prevalent, the superstar has been able to avoid injury.
It is quite phenomenal the amount of success Trout has had in his career. Despite playing a total of four whole seasons, Trout leads all of MLB in WAR – according to Fangraphs – since 2010. That’s without an entire two seasons’ worth of games. Heck, if you look at the best overall WAR since 2000 he ranks 20th, and that’s coming up against guys who had many more years to play. All this success has made us baseball fans numb to him, and perhaps the biggest discussion surrounding Trout is whether or not he should be dealt.
Before anything else: No, I don’t think the Angels will actually deal Trout, but they definitely could. They seem to be trying to build a winner around him, but with a lack of depth and injury problems it has been hard to maintain that talent. That is why it has been suggested to trade Trout to instantly put their farm system on the radar. However, here are three teams that could make this deal without leaving significant holes in their systems. So let’s do some fantasy booking and pick apart those deals.