BALTIMORE – Mike Trout has seen false hope.
He has seen his Los Angeles Angels loiter in the middle – or much worse – of Major League Baseball’s pecking order yet comport themselves as if a turnaround was just around the corner. And he still has not seen a postseason game since 2014, a drought that will continue through this season.
Yet Trout saw something much different at the Aug. 3 trading deadline, when new general manager John Mozeliak acted appropriately for the steward of a team that’s headed for its third consecutive last-place finish.
Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout is in his 16th season but has only played in the postseason one time, losing in three games to the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 ALDS.
He saw No. 2 starter Jose Soriano traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for a three-player package that includes a top 100 shortstop prospect, Arjun Nimmala. And outfielder Jo Adell dealt to Cleveland. Reliever Ryan Zeferjahn sent to the Chicago Cubs for a package including promising slugger Moises Ballesteros.
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And for good measure, another bullpen piece, veteran Kirby Yates, shipped to Pittsburgh.
Staying put: left-hander Reid Detmers and shortstop Zach Neto, leaving a reputable baseball product roughly in place while practicing dark pragmatism.
And Trout can dig it.
“Obviously, what was happening the last few years wasn’t working,” Trout, the four-time MVP, told USA Today Sports. “Just change it up a bit.
“If you look where the team is, I think it’s the right move.”
The moves came as little shock to Trout: As a show of good faith to the franchise player, Mozeliak invited Trout into the team’s trade deadline war room on a recent day. A veteran of 16 big league seasons, Trout, 34, has steadfastly refused to waive his no-trade clause to get out of the Anaheim sinkhole.
In past administrations, most notably GM Perry Minasian, who was fired June 27, that wasn’t even a consideration. Minasian specialized in drafting close-to-the-majors, lower-ceiling players in a constant attempt to plug the many holes at the big league level.
It was an approach that kept the big league product from totally bottoming out, yet never produced anything close to a contender, let alone a sustainable one.
Mozeliak already changed that part up, drafting two-way high school player Jared Grindlinger out of nearby Huntington Beach High. Dealing Adell, Zeferjahn and Soriano was the next step.
“I had a feeling what was going to happen,” says Trout. “Me and Mo, we’ve been talking. But it was good.
“I built some friendships with those guys over the years. To see them go, it’s tough.”
But not all of them. Detmers, 27, has a 1.09 WHIP this season and had an excellent seven-start run – the Angels won six of them – heading into July that put his name on te trade frontburners.
At one point, a false report Monday had him traded to the Chicago Cubs. Detmers’ phone subsequently blew up, foiling his plan of staying away from it as much as possible as he chilled with his teammates on an off day in Baltimore.
A call to his agent quickly quelled the scare.
“If it did happen,” says Detmers, “I figured I’d get a phone call. But I never got a phone call.”
The phony info only served another helping of angst on his Monday.
“A pretty stressful day yesterday,” he says. “But I’m happy to be here. It is what it is. I knew my name was going to be all over the place yesterday, but at the end of the day, nothing happened.
“It’s all a blur, to be honest.”
Detmers will have two more years of club control after this year and the shortstop Neto three. It seems unlikely the Angels can turn the entire ship around in that window, but at least, perhaps, the horizon is visible.
“We feel really good about the deadline and believe in what we’re doing here,” says manager Kurt Suzuki, who is working on a one-year contract. “Everyone believes in what we’re doing and where we’re going. I feel like Mo and the front office did a tremendous job yesterday doing what they did. We feel confident moving forward with this approach.
“It’s kind of an exciting time moving forward and where we’re heading.”
Trout would like to think so. After battling injuries throughout his 30s, Trout returned to the All-Star Game this season after a two-year absence, has 18 home runs and an .845 OPS and is on pace to play in at least 130 games for the second consecutive season.
Perhaps the organization will feel a little more spry, too, after a necessary first step.
“This is what we have,” says Suzuki. “And we’re excited about this opportunity going forward. I thought Mo and the front office did a great job moving forward.”
