The Los Angeles Angels are bad again. That’s not breaking news. They’re 42-65, dead last in the American League, and staring down yet another October from the couch. Mike Trout is putting together a solid bounce-back year — on pace for a 4 fWAR season, which would be his second best since 2020 — but the team around him is a tire fire.
It’s been nearly 12 years since the Angels made the playoffs. Trout has zero postseason wins in his career. His prime is behind him now at 34, and the injuries have piled up. So it’s fair to ask: does he even care anymore? Has he gotten too comfortable cashing those checks in Anaheim?
Mark Trumbo, who played alongside Trout from 2013 through 2016, doesn’t think so. He recently went on the Halo Territory podcast and pushed back on the idea that Trout has just accepted his fate.
“He likes playing for the Angels,” Trumbo said. “There’s a point that could be made that he wants to win playing for the Angels. There could be a big part of it that he says, you know what, ‘I’ve been here this long. It sure would be nice to get it done for this ballclub.’”
Stubborn loyalty or misplaced hope?
That quote says a lot. Trumbo is basically arguing that Trout’s loyalty isn’t laziness, it’s stubbornness. He wants to be the guy who turned it around in Anaheim, not the superstar who bailed for a ring somewhere else.
And look, there’s something admirable about that. But there’s also something sad about it. Trout signed that 12-year, $426.5 million extension in 2019 knowing full well the franchise had issues. He bet on himself and on the Angels front office. That bet has not paid off.
The organization has mismanaged nearly everything around him — the pitching staff, the bullpen, player development, you name it. They had Shohei Ohtani for six years and couldn’t make a single playoff run work. Now Ohtani is gone and the rebuild is basically starting over.
Trout’s contract runs through 2030. He’s not going anywhere unless he asks for a trade, and there’s no indication he’s even considering it. That feels like a choice.
What’s left for Trout?
Trout is still good when he’s healthy. The 4 fWAR pace matters. But he hasn’t played more than 119 games since 2019. He’s had knee problems, calf problems, back problems, hand problems. The body is breaking down.
At this point, the question isn’t really whether Trout is too comfortable. It’s whether the Angels can ever get their act together fast enough for it to matter. Because Trout’s clock is ticking, and Anaheim’s front office has given him almost no reason to believe.
Maybe he just doesn’t want to admit that yet.
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