Mike Trout Contract Caps off $1.32B Spent on Four MLB Players

What started off as one of the slowest offseasons in recent memory is suddenly capped off by Mike Trout‘s record-breaking MLB contract.

This MLB offseason can be defined as somewhat of an enigma. It started off with weeks of absolute nothingness, then suddenly, within a couple of weeks four players (Manny Machado, Nolan Arenado, Bryce Harper, and Mike Trout) received a grand total of $1.32B.

Baseball is known for it’s insanely rich, guaranteed contracts. Lately, however, with the advent of analytics, those head-scratching deals seemed to happen with less frequency.

Before this offseason, Giancarlo Stanton was the last to receive such a massive contract. By comparison, his 13-year, $325M deal before the 2015 season looks quite meek now.

Before Stanton, Alex Rodriguez had gotten the massive, record-breaking deal… twice.

The first in 2001, when he doubled the highest paid American professional athlete, Kevin Garnet’s salary. That season, A-Rod signed a 10-year, $252M deal with the Texas Rangers. Then, after the 2007 season, A-Rod signed another 10-year deal, this one worth $275M.

With MLB seeing an increase in revenue every season and ballplayers seeing a decrease in pay, it was starting to feel like the supersized deal was rapidly becoming a thing of the past. In 2019, however, they’re only becoming more lucrative.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the four record-breaking contracts signed this offseason, in the order that they occurred.

Manny Machado came up with the Baltimore Orioles at the young age of 19 and immediately turned heads with his offensive and defensive ability. Originally, Machado wasn’t much of a power hitter, slugging a combined .434 in his first three big league seasons.

With age, however, Machado became one of the rare breeds of athletes who could smack 30 dingers in a season with regularity. In fact, beginning in his fourth big league season, Machado’s ability to hit for power has gotten better and better. He slugged a career-high .538 in 2018.

Defensively, Machado has always fared much much better, especially as a third baseman. Since 2012, at 3B, Machado features a 61.7 defensive rating (Def) on FanGraphs. That’s tops among all 3B in the same time span. Directly behind him, the 2nd player on this list (next slide), Nolan Arenado has a 50.4 (Def)

Not everything is good with Machado, however. The elite infielder carrier what some would characterize as a bad attitude on the field, highlighted by his attitude on and off the field during the 2018 postseason.

All that being said, the San Diego Padres still decided to honor Machado with what was at the time, the biggest contract in American professional sports based on AAV. On February 21, 2019, the Padres and Machado agreed on a 10-year, $300M deal ($30M AAV).

Machado would hold the mantle for close to a week. Then, close to a week later…

Bryce Harper, like Manny Machado burst on the scenes at the age of 19. While a completely different player than both Machado and Arenado, Harper has a propensity to be the center of attention in MLB.

He’s got the flash, the hair, the power, and, after last year’s Home Run Derby, the dramatics. What’s more, he’s single-handedly taken the reigns on the “make baseball fun” movement (pictured above).

Unlike, Machado and Arenado, Harper’s bread and butter is his ability to hit for power and his ability to get on base. In SIX of seven seasons, Harper has hit 20 or more home runs. His career high, 42 HR came in 2014, the same season he took home the NL MVP award.

Harper’s greatest weakness, however, is his defense. Last season, he featured a career-low -26 DRS, the 2nd worse of all MLB outfielders. His defensive rating (Def) was a pathetic -16.7, the worst of any outfielder in MLB.

Still, on February 28, 2019, the Philadelphia Phillies rewarded Harper with a record-breaking 13-year, $330M contract. The richest contract in the history of professional sports.

While the AAV ($25.38M) is significantly less than Machado and Arenado, overall, no player at that point had ever received a contract larger than Harper’s.

Lucky for Bryce, he got to enjoy his for approximately three weeks, then…

Mike Trout is a juggernaut best compared to players like Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, heck, even Babe Ruth. He hits for average, for power, he can run, and he can field better than anybody. It’s almost not fair how good he is.

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Mike Trout is so good, he’s finished in the top 5 in the AL MVP voting in each of his last SEVEN big league seasons. He’s finished in the top 2, SIX out of those seven times. His career slash line of .307 BA, .416 OBP, and .573 OBP compare with some of the greatest players to ever live.

In 2012, Trout won the Rookie of the Year award. That same season, It took a triple-crown by Miguel Cabrera to beat Mike Trout in the MVP voting. Still and all, Trout (10.5 bWAR) was worth more wins than Cabrera (7.1 bWAR) was, according to Baseball Reference.

At just 27 years of age, it makes sense that the Los Angeles Angels would want to lock up Mike Trout for the remainder of his career. I mean, who wouldn’t want the best baseball player in the world in their possession for as long as humanly possible?

It is because of this that on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, Mike Trout agreed to a record-breaking 12-year, $430M deal with the Angels, making him the richest player ($35.83M AAV) in MLB.

This caps off an offseason in which four players accounted for $1.32 BILLION (with a “B”) in contracts, sending glimmers of hope to the next batch of great players, Mookie Betts and Aaron Judge.

Will they eclipse Mike Trout? I highly doubted. I also didn’t think there was chance four teams would combine to spend over a billion dollars on four players.