Too Loyal?

By Mike Rifkin

Spring Training is upon us, meaning Baseball is back. Every team has high expectations to compete for a World Series Championship. One team that people are going to have doubts about is the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who saw the best player in the world (Shohei Ohtani) go across the I-5 highway to the Dodgers. Now losing the best player in the world would send most teams into a rebuild situation, but not the Angels because they’ve had another generational talent on their roster. 

Mike Trout told reporters that he has been pushing ownership to make big-time additions to the roster so the team can compete for a championship, and he also went on to say that if things don’t improve he might ask for a trade. Trout said “You know, there might be a time. I really haven’t thought about this, but you know when I signed that contract, I’m loyal.” Trout has seven years remaining on his contract. Loyalty in sports is not something you see today, with free agency and players demanding trades. 

I don’t believe people would be mad at Mike Trout if he does eventually request out of Anaheim. Despite the phenomenal weather and being able to go to Disneyland what have the Angels shown him? They signed Albert Pujols just so he could hit milestone home runs in their uniform and then they let him go, they signed Shohei Ohtani and that couldn’t even land them a playoff spot. Mike Trout in his career has been to the playoffs once and the Angels were swept in that series. Mike Trout is one of the best players of his generation and he has been on the grand stage of October once. That’s a shame for baseball and its fanbase.

 So what do the Angels do to keep their star in-house? Well, there are two really good starting pitchers still on the free agency market Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, the Angels should sign one of them. Now people are going to ask how you replace Shohei Ohtani. Think of the scene in Moneyball where Brad Pitt tells his scouts one player wouldn’t replace Jason Giambi, the Angels need multiple guys to step up in the absence of Ohtani. 

But the most important thing the Angels need to do might be to cut bait with Anthony Rendon. Rendon has played in 200 games since signing a seven-year 245 million-dollar contract in 2020. Rendon has 22 homers and 111 RBI since joining the Angels. Rendon has been hurt and has made headlines off the field whether it’s interacting with a fan, not talking to reporters about his recovery, on-field brawl, etc… But recently Rendon has said baseball has never been a top priority for him. Well, he’s not paying back the money he made from baseball, but if the Angels want to be successful they need Rendon to play or he needs to go. 

The baseball world deserves to see Mike Trout on the biggest stage. If the Angels continue to hold him down, he might have no choice but to request a trade, but his loyalty does matter. The Angels need to reciprocate the fact that he’s loyal maybe a little too loyal.