‘Tis the season to sign superstars to massive contract extensions, apparently. Yesterday it was Miguel Cabrera. Today, it is Mike Trout’s turn.
Confirmed #Angels are close to a 6-year deal with Mike Trout for about $140M.
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) March 29, 2014
The exact figure is actually $144.5 million. The deal starts in 2015, so it buys out his arbitration years and three years of free agency. He’ll be a free agent after the 2020 season when he will be just 29 years old.
That is the real story of this deal. Trout is now in prime position to reap a financial windfall unlike anything the game has ever seen. He just has to wait seven years to get it. Many thought he could’ve gotten now if he wanted, but with this deal, he can be set for life and then control his own destiny while he is still in his prime should things in Anaheim not improve.
The Angels made no secret that they wanted to sign him for much longer, but Trout and his agent never budged from the six-year contract length that was first rumored nearly a month ago. In fact, this is almost the exact same deal that was first mentioned back then, so they obviously held quite firm.
But don’t weep for Trout, while some have suggested that a new CBA could reduce the size of his second big payday, he is going to be making plenty of money over the life of his new extension.
Source: Mike Trout will be the highest compensated player per service time each year of the deal. #Angels
— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) March 29, 2014
We don’t know the exact structure of the deal, but it appears that he will be making more than $32 million per year during his free agency years, given that it is the current high watermark. That’s a pretty nice deal for a contract in which one usually expects the player to be taking some kind of discount. So while he may not have bested the overall value of recent extensions like that of Miguel Cabrera or Clayton Kershaw, Trout will still have plenty of financial bragging rights, if he is into that sort of thing.
As for the Angels, they now have seven years to get their house in order. They have an old roster and a thin farm system, both of which they need to overhaul if they want to keep Trout happy enough to re-up with them again before he gets that chance to hit the open market after 2020.
