It has been reported that the LA Angels are willing to trade ‘baseball genius’ Mike Trout if he wants to.

USA Today reported on the 11th (hereinafter Korean time), “The Angels are willing to trade All-Star outfielder Mike Trout if he requests it.”스포츠토토

In early September, Trout said in an interview with the Orange County Register, a local media outlet, that he plans to discuss the future direction of the organization with team management during the offseason.

Trout said at the time: “If this comes up in the offseason, we’ll definitely have to talk about it and think about it. I haven’t thought about it yet. There will definitely be some conversations in the winter. We’ll have to see where everything goes and what the plan is.” .

Trout’s comments at the time were known as the free agency of his teammate Shohei Ohtani and the direction of the team, and it appears that Trout’s own trade was also included.

Trout signed a 12-year, $430 million long-term contract with the Angels in 2019, and there are still seven years and $248 million left on the contract.

Trout, who won the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 2012, won MVP three times (2014, 2016, and 2019) and finished second or higher in MVP voting seven times.

However, injuries have slowed his performance in recent years. He has played in more than 82 games only once in the last four seasons. Trout said he plans to return for the remainder of the season after playing in just 82 games this year, but that decision may be up to the team.

Trout has advanced to the postseason just once in 2014, and has been a spectator in fall baseball for 9 years since 2015. The Angels retained Trout and recruited big-ticket free agents (Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and Anthony Rendon) one after another, but failed. Even after recruiting Ohtani, who also doubles as a pitcher, they have not been able to advance to the postseason every year.

Trout, who joined the Angels as a first-round pick in 2009, has been playing for the Angels for 13 years of his major league career. He has the right to refuse trade as a player who has played for at least 10 years and for the same team for at least 5 years.

Ahead of this season, Trout said, “I’m going to do everything I can to keep Ohtani with the Angels,” although he could leave the Angels at the same time as Ohtani, who becomes a free agent.