With Mike Trout Out, Angels Face Rougher Road To Playoffs, Keeping Shohei Ohtani

With Mike Trout out, Shohei Ohtani could soon follow.

Trout’s broken left hand, suffered in a game against San Diego Sunday, also hurts the Angels, who have been absent from the playoffs since 2014 and have not even won a postseason game since 2009.

The club entered play July 4 with a 45-42 record, three games behind the New York Yankees in the race for the American League’s final wild-card spot. Los Angeles is third in the AL West, three games behind the second-place Astros, but trails the Orioles, Astros, Yankees, and Blue Jays in the wild-card race. Three teams will qualify from each league.

Losing Trout, who could be out until Labor Day, will make things difficult not only for the team but also for its efforts to retain fellow superstar Shohei Ohtani, whose $30 million contract expires after the season.

Ohtani has said repeatedly that he wants to play for a winning team but the Angels have not had a winning record since 2015.

Both Trout and Ohtani were elected to start in the July 11 All-Star Game but the broken hand takes Trout out of the equation. Between them, they have four MVP awards – three by Trout – with Ohtani the front-runner for the 2023 trophy.

Trout, currently hitting .301, has averaged 40 home runs a year for his 13-year career. The 31-year-old outfielder has led the American League in runs scored and on-base percentage four times each, slugging three times, and stolen bases once.

The Vineland, NJ native is not only a 10-time All-Star but a two-time winner of the All-Star Game MVP award. He is in the fifth year of a 12-year, $426,500,000 contract that includes a $20,000,000 signing bonus, $426,500,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $35,541,667.

In 2023, Trout will earn a base salary of $35,450,000 and have a total salary of $37,116,666. Trout’s deal, the largest in baseball history when signed during 2019 spring training, is virtually certain to take second place after Ohtani signs his next contract.

Able to provide powerful performances as both a pitcher and hitter, Ohtani is coveted by virtually all clubs but only a handful can afford him. Angels owner Arte Moreno has said for the record that he wants to keep him, though Ohtani may consider lucrative offers from clubs he considers more likely to win.

If he wants to stay in Southern California, the deep-pocketed Los Angeles Dodgers are virtually certain to bid for his services. Ohtani, who bats left-handed but throws right-handed, leads the majors with 31 home runs, a .664 slugging average, 1.054 OPS, and 217 total bases as a hitter. He also ranks first with averages of 12 strikeouts and 5.7 hits allowed per nine innings — stats that make him a contender for his first Cy Young Award.

Entering games Tuesday, his pitching record was 7-3 with a 3.02 earned run average.

Like Mike Trout, the 28-year-old native of Oshu, Japan won Rookie of the Year honors after signing with the Angels and has been a major star since. He’ll play in his third All-Star Game next week.

Trout’s injury is virtually certain to impact the Angels’ strategy in trade talks, which must be concluded by the Aug. 1 deadline. They can opt to pursue a veteran slugger who plays the outfield or even to consider offers for Ohtani, whom they could then try to re-sign after the season.

If traded now, Ohtani would bring a huge package from any club that acquires him.