Jimmy Rollins dreams about Phillies 2024 lineup including Mike Trout
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Philadelphia Phillies icon Jimmy Rollins took to Twitter Sunday night with a simple thought: what if the 2024 iteration of the team included three-time AL MVP Mike Trout.
— JIMMY ROLLINS (@JimmyRollins11) September 11, 2023
what if………. pic.twitter.com/bgSPYsBH5L
Rollins’ tweet is seemingly in response to a report Sunday from Bob Nightengale of USA Today that the Angels would be willing to trade Trout this offseason if the 11-time All-Star asks to be dealt.
It’s unclear if Trout will do that, but the Angels are now 67-77, set to miss the postseason for the ninth consecutive season. Likely AL MVP Shohei Ohtani is expected by most to depart in free agency this offseason, and even in the event that the Angels do re-sign the two-way superstar, a tear to the UCL in his pitching elbow may very well prevent him from taking the mound at all in 2024.
Whether the Phillies would be interested in Trout at this stage or not is unclear.
When Bryce Harper was introduced after signing a 13-year/$330 million deal with the Phillies in March of 2019, he suggested that the Phillies could pursue Trout if he reached free agency following the 2020 season.
“I’m making $26 [million] a year, something like that, so I think that’s gonna be able to bring some other guys in as well that will help this organization win,” Harper said. “I know there’s another guy in about two years who comes up off the books. We’ll see what happens with him.”
Trout, of course, never became a free agent after the 2020 season. He instead agreed to a 10-year extension less than a month after Harper’s comments, tying him to the Angels through the 2030 season.
The Phillies have since spent elsewhere, signing the likes of Zack Wheeler, J.T. Realmuto and Trea Turner to megadeals. There isn’t a hard salary cap in baseball, and the Phillies have exceeded the luxury tax threshold for the second consecutive season in 2023. It’s hard to question the commitment that managing partner John Middleton and the organization have to winning.
At the same time, it’s unclear if at this stage the Phillies would take on another monster contract if Trout does become available. Now 32, Trout is owed $248.15 million over the next seven seasons. Trout was limited to 36 games in 2021, 119 in 2022 and currently is on the injured list with a left hamate fracture that’s limited him to 82 games this season. Moving forward, Trout probably should be viewed more like the Cincinnati Reds version of Ken Griffey Jr. than the Seattle Mariners version.
That’s fine, Griffey still hit 210 home runs in parts of nine seasons with the Reds. Any team would love to have that type of player, especially if the Angels agree to pay down some of the remaining money owed to Trout to increase the return they would get. But with top pitching prospect Andrew Painter likely to miss all of 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery this offseason, the Phillies might not have the prospect ammo to get a deal done. On the Major League roster, Alec Bohm, Johan Rojas and Ranger Suárez are controllable young players, but would any of them be able to headline a trade for Trout, even if he’s not at the height of his powers anymore? Probably not.
There’s no doubt, the Phillies lineup would look incredible on Opening Day 2024 if it included Trout. But the big move coming this offseason from president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski will likely be for a starting pitcher, whether that’s Aaron Nola or someone else. And despite Rollins having the title of special advisor to the president of baseball operations, this speculation almost certainly didn’t come from the key decision-makers in the front office.
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