If the Giants are looking to make a splash this offseason, perhaps they should look no further than a Los Angeles Angels superstar.
Yes, the Giants are expected to heavily pursue two-way phenom and AL MVP frontrunner Shohei Ohtani, but there could be another star leaving Anaheim.
USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported early in September that the Angels were open to trading outfielder and three-time AL MVP Mike Trout this offseason if the superstar wanted out of Anaheim.
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Trout was asked before the end of the 2023 MLB season about potentially requesting a trade this offseason and said he hadn't thought about it but wanted to have conversations with the front office about the organization's future before making a decision.
While it appears increasingly likely that Ohtani could leave in free agency, there's a very real possibility that Trout requests a trade out of Anaheim. That begs the question: What would it take for the Giants to land the perennial superstar?
Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter proposed five "wild" MLB trade ideas in his latest column and had San Francisco landing Trout in a blockbuster deal with Los Angeles.
Reuter's proposed trade:
Giants receive: OF Mike Trout, $95 million
Angels receive: OF Mitch Haniger, LHP Kyle Harrison, RHP Carson Seymour
San Francisco Giants
While the Angels almost certainly would not make this trade, this proposed deal does offer a framework for what Los Angeles could seek in return.
If the Angels lose Ohtani and opt to trade Trout, the organization likely will look to clear as much payroll as they can. Trout signed a 12-year, $426 million contract extension with the Angels in March 2019, three months after the team signed third baseman Anthony Rendon to a now-disastrous seven-year, $245 million contract in free agency.
Rendon's average annual value of $38 million through the 2026 season is a massive financial headache for the Angels, which is why sending $95 million to the Giants along with Trout does not seem likely.
Trout still is owed a combined $248 million through the 2030 season ($35.4 million annually) and the more you think about it, the more this trade could resemble the New York Yankees' trade with the Miami Marlins for slugger Giancarlo Stanton five years ago.
Stanton, just like Trout, had a full no-trade clause and also had well over $200 million left on his deal. The Yankees took on the majority of Stanton's contract and the Marlins received a modest haul of prospects in return.
While Trout (32 years old) is older than Stanton was at the time of the trade (28), the Angels superstar has an immensely better pedigree and should command more in return than what the Yankees gave up to land Stanton.
While Reuter was accurate in suggesting the Angels might seek pitching prospects in return, they likely would want nothing to do with Mitch Haniger and instead could seek young corner infield depth instead.
While it's impossible to know exactly what the Angels are looking for in a trade for Trout, here is a more realistic package.
Giants receive: Mike Trout, $30 million
Angels receive: LHP Kyle Harrison, RHP Mason Black, 3B Casey Schmitt
This trade gives the Angels potentially two MLB-ready starting pitchers in Harrison and Black, an everyday third baseman in Schmitt and financial relief from a contract that could age very poorly in a few years.
Trout was the greatest player in baseball for over a decade and when healthy still is a potential MVP candidate. The future Hall of Famer without a doubt would provide the Giants with the star power they've long searched for. However, Trout's recent injury history and a contract that is set to pay him $35-plus million per season into his late 30s should ultimately lower the price tag for interested teams.