Mike Trout has won as many MVP awards as games he’s played in the post season. In 2014 he played in three division series games against Kansas City. That’s it. The best player of his time made the playoffs at age 22. Fourteen seasons, one playoff.
For the record, The 98 win Angels were swept by the 89 win Royals, dropping a pair of eleven inning games at home before getting blown out on the road. Trout managed one hit, a home run.
The ninety-eight wins topped the American League and with Trout winning his first of three MVPs, he also finished second four times, you would have thought it was a starting point. They fell to eighty-two wins in 2015 and haven’t broken the .500 mark since.
Arte Moreno’s failed free agents
It’s not like owner Arte Moreno hasn’t tried to buy himself a winner during this long playoff drought. There was Albert Pujols in 2012. Shohei Ohtani fell into his lap for the 2018 season and Anthony Rendon in 2020.
Pujols the future hall of famer received a monstrous 10 year $254 million deal in 2012 and helped the Angels to that 2014 playoff year. Pujols signed at 32 and after five good seasons and halfway through that lengthy deal his skills took a hit.
There were plenty of other bad Angels free agent signings. Josh Hamilton, Zack Cozart, Matt Harvey, Justin Upton, C.J. Wilson and more but we only have so much space.
By the time Ohtani arrived in 2018, more than half the Angels line up was below average as Trout continuued to thrive with little help, finishing second for the MVP. He won his 3rd and final MVP the next season.
The 2018 season saw world series winning manager Mike Scioscia get fired after winning 80 games for the second season in a row. Brad Ausmus won just 72 as manager the next season and was also let go.
In came former world series winning manager Joe Maddon along with the signing of Rendon but by then Trout couldn’t stay healthy, averaging less than half a season’s worth of games the next four years. Rendon was a bust and Ohtani departed for the Dodgers.
How much longer an Angel?
And here we are. Trout is once again recovering from knee surgery and while he’s still a force when healthy, the talent surrounding him is thin. He’ll be 35 next June, he’s been a good soldier, has never asked for a trade, but time is running down.
So far this off season they’ve traded for slugger Jorge Soler. They’ve signed free agents catcher Travis d’Arnaud and pitcher Kyle Hendricks, who’s best years are behind him.
The hope is for continued improvements in youngsters like 24 year old catcher Logan O’Hoppe and 22 year old first baseman Nolan Schanuel. That 23 year old shortstop Zach Neto isn’t gone too long after shoulder surgery and that outfielder Jo Adell now 25 fulfills his promise.
And that doesn’t even take into account a pitching staff that had a collective 4.56 ERA in a horrible 63-99 season. Will Trout stay true to the Angels as he watches the last of a career without even a sniff of a championship series?. When does he finally ask out?
