Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels have agreed to a 12-year, $430 million contract extension, the largest contract in North American professional sports.
Mike Trout has the record-setting deal he was looking for.
The 27-year-old center fielder has agreed to sign a 12-year, $430 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Angels, according to a report by ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The deal will be worth $100 million more than what Bryce Harper got from the Philadelphia Phillies on March 2, which had been the largest contract in North American professional sports. Trout will earn an average of $35.8 million per season under the new deal, surpassing the annual salary of Nolan Arenado with the Colorado Rockies.
The deal adds 10 seasons to the two years left on the six-year, $144.5 million contract Trout signed with the Angels before the 2014 season. He was due to become a free agent after the 2020 season, but will now remain with the Angels until he’s 39.
The two-time American League MVP is coming off a season where he hit .312 with 39 home runs and 79 RBI, finishing second in MVP balloting to Boston’s Mookie Betts. He’s led the AL in on-base percentage three straight years and OPS+ four years in a row. He also leads all active players in career slugging percentage, OPS and is second in OBP.
For the Angels, the move to resign Trout comes amid speculation he was prepared to walk away from the team that drafted him in the first round in 2009 after 2020. Harper even admitted he was planning to recruit Trout to join him with the Phillies in two years. Trout, though, told reporters earlier this month he wasn’t concerned about his looming contract status.
“I haven’t even thought about it,” he said on March 1. “Obviously, you guys bring it up a lot and I appreciate you asking me all these questions, but right now is not the time to think about it. I still have a couple more years.”
Owner Arte Moreno, however, made resigning the best player in baseball a priority. Now he has to work on surrounding Trout with the talent to compete. Despite Trout’s MVP-caliber production over his eight-year career, the Angels have only made the postseason once in that time.