Article: What Could The Twins Trade For Trout?

[Cody Christie]

The craziest rumor has been swirling around the baseball world... What if the Angels considered trading Mike Trout?

 

By many accounts, Trout has been the best player in the baseball world since his rookie campaign. His first full season was 2012 and during that time he has the highest fWAR. It's not really all that close as Andrew McCutchen's 28.4 WAR is 11.5 point lower than Trout. He's used his five-tools to lead the league in a variety of categories and win multiple MVP awards but does it even make sense for the Angels to part ways with a once-in-a-generation player.To understand why this could be necessary, it's important to understand the current state of affairs in Los Angeles. The Angels are hurting with mounting injuries and they have a historically bad minor league system. Having the best player in the world doesn't help if a team isn't able to provide supporting pieces to make a postseason run. Los Angeles hasn't been in the playoffs since 2014 and they haven't won a playoff series since 2009.

 

Minnesota's poor start to the season isn't exactly screaming that this club is ready to take a big step forward and make a playoff push. However, the Twins have one of the best farm systems in the game and this means they could put together quite the package to try to lure Los Angeles into at least considering a deal.

 

Any deal for Trout would likely need to include many of the Twins best prospects. Coming into the 2016 season, Minnesota's top position player prospects included Byron Buxton, Nick Gordon, Max Kepler, and Jorge Polanco. The team's best pitching prospects were Jose Berrios, Tyler Jay, Stephen Gonsalves, and Kohl Stewart.

 

For the Twins to make this kind of move, it would likely take five, six, or even seven of these players. The club has a lot already invested in each of these men as they get closer to becoming big league regulars. This core of young talent is supposed to change a losing culture back into this organization's winning ways.

 

Trout is a superstar player and he can make a huge difference on the field but he can't play all nine positions at once. He is under contract through 2020 when he will be 28-years old. The scary thing could be that he might still be getting better as he gets closer to his prime and this would only add more value to his current contract.

 

The Twins don't look like they are in a position to win this season. Trading away the organization's top prospects would be bargaining away the future with no guarantee that Trout would bring winning baseball back to Minnesota. In fact, Trout coming to Minnesota might be a worse situation for him than his current club unless the Twins were to overhaul their roster. That would be tough to do with a chunk of the farm system dealt for Trout.

 

At this point, a deal for Trout might be a pipe dream as the Angels' GM came out and said that Trout isn't going anywhere. "We have not intent or desire to consider moving Mike Trout -- he's not moving," said Billy Eppler told Fox Sports. "He's an impact player, a huge piece in a championship core."

 

If you are sitting in Terry Ryan's chair, what kind of offer would you put on the table? Would it be worth betting the future for the best player in the game? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

 

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[jud6312]

Don't get me wrong, I love the guy - great player, great ambassador for the game, marketable, etc. You name it, he's got it.

 

However, given that it would take probably 5 of top-10 prospects in the system, plus probably 2 more in the top-20, I'm not sure it'd be worth it.

 

If I were the Angels and Terry Ryan came calling, I'd ask for Buxton, Kepler, Polanco, Berrios, Gonsalves, Burdi and Thorpe and I wouldn't back off much from that.

[tobi0040]

The biggest complication is we would have to do a three team trade, including whatever independent team Brian Duensing is pitching for.  I am not sure we can do cross league trades.

 

Sure fun to think about but will never happen.They aren't moving Mike Trout.  He is basically making $2.5m per WAR.

 

If any team had the assets to do it, assuming they wanted prospects the Twins would be up there.   

 

On a complete side note, the Phillies pulled a prank on Kyle Kendrick a few years ago. He was convinced he was being traded to Japan. It is pretty funny.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nKKqPOiJxI

 

 

[Deduno Abides]

  On 5/13/2016 at 2:09 AM, jud6312 said:

Don't get me wrong, I love the guy - great player, great ambassador for the game, marketable, etc. You name it, he's got it.

 

However, given that it would take probably 5 of top-10 prospects in the system, plus probably 2 more in the top-20, I'm not sure it'd be worth it.

 

If I were the Angels and Terry Ryan came calling, I'd ask for Buxton, Kepler, Polanco, Berrios, Gonsalves, Burdi and Thorpe and I wouldn't back off much from that.

 

You forgot Trevor Plouffe. Got to include Trevor Plouffe!

 

Actually, right now, I don't think the Angels would take any 8 players on the 25-man in exchange for Trout.

[tobi0040]

 

  On 5/13/2016 at 3:14 AM, Deduno Abides said:

You forgot Trevor Plouffe. Got to include Trevor Plouffe! Actually, right now, I don't think the Angels would take any 8 players on the 25-man in exchange for Trout.

 

Speculating who the 8 would be.  Sano, Berrios, May, Duffey, Rosario, Polanco, and Park.  Because it is LA they want a face to throw on the trade and hopefully have immediate results so maybe they take Mauer.

 

Honestly, the Angels and Twins would be a terrible match.  We don't have a good roster and would blow our entire farm assets for Trout.  We would be in their shoes, Trout and nothing else.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

I worry that a trade that would land Trout would put the Twins in the same situation as the Angels are in currently. The Twins need to improve in a lot of ways including outfield, but more importantly they need to improve their pitching. If I were GM any big trades that I would target would center around pitching.

[Vanimal46]

It would be absolutely mind.boggling. what the Twins would have to offer to get Trout. I'd love for this team to be in a position to acquire the best player in the game. Unfortunately that's not the case.

[Shane Wahl]

This is an article here? Really?

[Purple Reign CKJAX]

   As many have alluded -- The cost to reel in Trout is probably too much for Terry's taste. So, maybe he could put together a smaller package of prospects to swap for Ryan Braun!? The Brewers are in the same type of rebuilding mode as the Twins -- but Milwaukee has the worst farm system in baseball. Doug Melvin depleted it until the day he got 'demoted'. 

   So, what would it take to trade for Braun ... the "poor man's Trout"?

[CampQ]

Trout is one of the two or three best players in baseball--on a team that is seven games under five hundred. We need the whole farm to be winners, not Mike Trout

[Darius]

I don't think the Twins could put together a package that could land Trout, even if it were a real possibility.

 

There isn't a guy on the major league club that's worth anything, other than Berrios, Sano and maybe Park. That's it. Nobody is paying anything to touch anyone else. That wouldn't get it done. You could offer them the entire Roch., Chatt., and FM rosters and they wouldn't take it.

 

For as good as things were looking a few years ago it's kind of weird to be saying this (or expected, depending on your outlook), but there just isn't a whole lot there. Definitely not as much as anticipated.

[TheLeviathan]

I hear a cow will get you magic beans, but that's as serious as I can entertain with this.

[Boom Boom]

The Twins are several Mike Trouts away from being relevant.

 

The sad thing is that, no matter what position the Twins and their minor league system is in, Trout is too good. The Twins under Ryan would never trade for that kind of proven talent. Ever.

[Major League Ready]

 

  On 5/13/2016 at 11:01 AM, Boom Boom said:

The Twins are several Mike Trouts away from being relevant.

The sad thing is that, no matter what position the Twins and their minor league system is in, Trout is too good. The Twins under Ryan would never trade for that kind of proven talent. Ever.

The Twins or any other team with a lot of young talent with any GM with an IQ above room temperature is not going to trade away their chance to be relevant for one superstar, even Trout.  It is a good way to assure mediocrity or worse for a long period of time.   

 

To complain that our GM would not do it is to complain that we don't have a GM that would make this incredibly bad decision.

[ashbury]

  On 5/13/2016 at 3:14 AM, Deduno Abides said:

I don't think the Angels would take any 8 players on the 25-man in exchange for Trout.

Bingo. The more I think about the GM's job, the more I believe that the constraint of having 25 players at a time on the roster is the biggest limiting factor in constructing a championship team.

 

WAR is a nice simplification of the issue: to construct a 100-win team, you need about 50 WAR in that one season. Voila, you need to achieve 2 WAR on average from every slot on your roster. Utility players and relievers by nature of their jobs can rarely give you 2. And some guys will disappoint or be injured and not give you any WAR at all that year. So 4+ WAR players are gold. You can't win a pennant with 100 0.5-WAR players; you can't rely on players who amass 10 WAR but require 10 years to do it. To have a guy like Trout, who you can pencil in for pretty much 8 WAR every year, gives you quite a head start toward your 50. And if you're not aiming for 50, at least at some near-future point, why bother?

 

You could offer 100 players for Trout. Still no deal.

 

 

[Boom Boom]

  On 5/13/2016 at 12:12 PM, Major Leauge Ready said:

The Twins or any other team with a lot of young talent with any GM with an IQ above room temperature is not going to trade away their chance to be relevant for one superstar, even Trout. It is a good way to assure mediocrity or worse for a long period of time.

 

To complain that our GM would not do it is to complain that we don't have a GM that would make this incredibly bad decision.

I'm not saying trading for Trout would necessarily be a good thing.

 

If the Angels made Trout available, some GM would trade for him, cost be damned. That is to say, there are GMs out there who would think the cost would be worth it, and I can't be certain that they would be wrong.

 

I just can't envision TR even making that phone call, even if the Twins had a full-to-bursting minor league system and were a CF away from being a world series contender.

[HitInAPinch]

Well, from a Fox Sports article:  "Word got back to Trout and the Angels and they just laughed off the rumors."

 

...which probably pales by my laughter at the thought of the Angels contacting the Twins about a trade for Trout.  California Dreaming  

Edited May 13, 2016 by HitInAPinch

[Otto von Ballpark]

The Royals would probably have the inside track, if they are willing to include this key piece:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/duensbr01.shtml

[jimmer]

From Dave Cameron's chat on Wednesday:

 

'Q: Isn’t a trade for Trout impossible to be a reality? A team would have to sacrifice so much to get Mike Trout, it would just leave them in a similar situation the Angels are currently in right?

 

A: Nope, that’s a myth. There are a good number of teams that could trade for Trout without destroying their MLB talent pool.'

Edited May 13, 2016 by jimmer

[Thrylos]

a. By the title of this article I thought that this was about fish.  More realistic. I think that they might get a couple cases of trout for Milone for sure.

 

b. The Twins need Trout  (and his 40% of the team's salary) like a poke in the eye that Mauer's contract did not poke. 

 

c. Can he pitch in a pinch?

Edited May 13, 2016 by Thrylos

[bluechipper]

 

  On 5/13/2016 at 5:21 AM, Purple Reign CKJAX said:

   As many have alluded -- The cost to reel in Trout is probably too much for Terry's taste. So, maybe he could put together a smaller package of prospects to swap for Ryan Braun!? The Brewers are in the same type of rebuilding mode as the Twins -- but Milwaukee has the worst farm system in baseball. Doug Melvin depleted it until the day he got 'demoted'. 

   So, what would it take to trade for Braun ... the "poor man's Trout"?

For the record, BA rated the Brewers system 9th and the Twins 10th.

[Rosterman]

You would have the second coming of Joe Mauer and not have any of the players who will be the mainstay of your organization in 2018 and 2019. Yes, he is younger, but better just to wait to see if you can unload the bank vault if he becomes a free agent and would want to play in Minnesota.

 

That's going to be the new rub. What free agent wants to come here now unless they are overpaid, looking for a job, or a minor league guy looking for a job.

[tobi0040]

 

  On 5/13/2016 at 4:20 PM, bluechipper said:

For the record, BA rated the Brewers system 9th and the Twins 10th.

 

Assuming Sano is off the list.  What about Buxton and Berrios? Meyer?

[Jerr]

So this shows how BAD Twins season is going...off to some kinda fantasy world here, gonna be a looooooong season.

[bluechipper]

 

  On 5/13/2016 at 5:08 PM, tobi0040 said:

Assuming Sano is off the list.  What about Buxton and Berrios? Meyer?

Yeah I didn't agree with their ranking. I'll for sure take Buxton and Berrios over Orlando Arcia and Brett Phillips. I would assume the Twins' depth is at least on par with the Brewers too.

[alarp33]

 

  On 5/13/2016 at 5:15 PM, bluechipper said:

Yeah I didn't agree with their ranking. I'll for sure take Buxton and Berrios over Orlando Arcia and Brett Phillips. I would assume the Twins' depth is at least on par with the Brewers too.

 

Keith Law had the Brewers 5

 

Still behind the Twins (3)

[bluechipper]

 

  On 5/13/2016 at 5:22 PM, alarp33 said:

Keith Law had the Brewers 5

 

Still behind the Twins (3)

I'm not sure why BA had them so much lower. Either way, both teams have pretty good minor league systems right now.

[Badsmerf]

This is fun.

[Hrbowski]

Um, Mike Trout is the best player baseball has seen this century, and if the Twins want him they could have had him instead of Kyle Gibson.

[Brandon Warne]

 

  On 5/13/2016 at 2:09 AM, jud6312 said:

Don't get me wrong, I love the guy - great player, great ambassador for the game, marketable, etc. You name it, he's got it.

 

However, given that it would take probably 5 of top-10 prospects in the system, plus probably 2 more in the top-20, I'm not sure it'd be worth it.

 

If I were the Angels and Terry Ryan came calling, I'd ask for Buxton, Kepler, Polanco, Berrios, Gonsalves, Burdi and Thorpe and I wouldn't back off much from that.

 

There's Sano way Miguel isn't in a deal.