Read and React: Their future is secure, but Angels work is just beginning
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Hello! Mike Trout just agreed to a monster 10-year, $360-million extension in the most Mike Trout way possible: On a random Tuesday morning in March, two years before his current deal was up and without letting the free market make a fuss over him.
As our own Tim Brown writes, it’s that kind of under-the-radar, just-let-me-play-baseball approach that allowed Trout to become good enough to sign the richest contract in sports history.
And while there’s no doubt he’s worth it, there are still plenty of questions here. Many of them centering around whether the Angels and MLB can finally capitalize on a player whose name should look synonmous with Mays, Ruth and Aaron when all is said and done.
The Angels need to finally capitalize on Trout
As more than a few people have been pointing out, the Halos haven’t done much with Trout his first seven full seasons. They made the playoffs in 2014, were promptly swept by the Royals and haven’t been back since. Not exactly ideal, especially when you’ve got a guy who’s already passed Hall of Famer (and fellow Angels legend) Vlad Guerrero in career WAR by age 27.
With Trout presumably in uniform for the rest of his career, the Angels will always have a leg up when it comes to the lineup. Two-way star Shohei Ohtani and minor league prospect Jo Adell also gives the Angels as good a core as anyone once the former gets healthy and the latter gets promoted. Throw in an improved farm system and a payroll that should give the Angels some flexibility and there’s room to hope we’ll be see Trout in October again.
But then again, this is baseball … easier said than done.
So does Major League Baseball
This one is a little harder because Trout has done everything he can on the field and yet he hasn’t captured a small fraction of the public’s imagination in the way Joe DiMaggio, Pete Rose or Ken Griffey did in the generations before him.
Some of that is under Trout’s control. He has a pretty non-descript personality and he’s not interested in many of the off-the-field opportunities that come with being a player of his caliber. Hey, moore power to him.
Some of it is cultural. The bigs’ best player simply doesn’t rate as high in the fame game as the best NBA star, NFL quarterback or even international soccer stars.
But no matter the roadblocks, the Angels and MLB marketing machines have to overcome them to make sure they capitalize on a once-in-a-lifetime player. Now that they know where he’s going to be for the rest of his career (playing West Coast games after most people go to bed, yeah, not that ideal), they can really hammer home a plan.
The thought here: Solve the first problem (Trout’s absence in most Octobers) and a solution to the second will soon follow.
NFL: Clay Matthews is a Ram, Randall Cobb is a Cowboy
Most NFL players, even the best ones, wear a few different jerseys during their career. Even still, it’s gonna be WEIRD to see Clay Matthews and Randall Cobb in anything but green and gold. Matthews signed a two-year deal with the Rams on Tuesday while Cobb signed a one-year deal with Dallas.
NFL: Robert Kraft reportedly offered a sweet deal in case
According to the Wall Street Journal, Kraft and a few other men have been offered the chance to have their charges effectively dropped if they admit they’d be proven guilty at a trial. It’s unclear whether Kraft will accept the deal since admitting guilt would still presumably leave him exposed to punishment from the NFL.
MLB: Giants CEO won’t face charges after incident with wife
The San Francisco DA’s office declined to issue charges after investigating the very public March 1 incident. LarryBaer is still on indefinite leave from the team and could still face punishment from Major League Baseball.
CHRIS HAYNES: Why Trae Young believes he’s the NBA’s best rookie
KEVIN KADUK: Did this mailman from Louisville invent the bracket pool contest?
KEVIN IOLE: How UFC’S new PPV deal with ESPN will affect fight fans
Earl Thomas explained that middle finger he flipped to the Seahawks bench
Conor McGregor has one more demand before returning to the UFC
Remember the “Northwestern crying kid?” He’s going to be the centerpiece of a March Madness ad
Go big or go home
This kid made a mosaic of Tom Brady using nothing but 999 strategically-placed Rubik’s cubes. Watch him put it together.
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