Mike Trout is about to cash in.
Big time.
Trout and the Los Angeles Angels are close to finalizing a $432 million, 12-year contract that would shatter the record for the largest deal in North American sports history, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.
The deal was disclosed Tuesday by a person familiar with the negotiations who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been finalized. The contract was likely to be announced by the end of this week, the person said.
Hours later, news broke that Alex Bregman and the Houston Astros have agreed on a $100 million, six-year deal that keeps the All-Star third baseman under contract with the team through 2024, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.
Trout would set a baseball record for career earnings at about $513 million, surpassing the roughly $448 million Alex Rodriguez took in with Seattle, Texas and the New York Yankees from 1994-2017.
Trout’s latest deal would top the new $330 million, 12-year contract between Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies, and Trout’s $36 million average annual value would surpass pitcher Zack Greinke’s $34.4 million in a six-year deal with Arizona that started in 2016. The contract also would best Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez’s $356 million deal with sports-streaming service DAZN.
Progress toward an agreement was first reported by ESPN.
Whether Trout’s contract is the largest in the world for a team athlete is difficult to determine. Forbes estimated Lionel Messi earned $84 million from Barcelona in 2017-18 and Cristiano Ronaldo $61 million from Real Madrid, but precise details of their contracts are not known.
A 27-year-old entering what should be his prime years, Trout is considered baseball’s top player and would have been coveted as a free agent after the 2020 season. He lives in southern New Jersey, and Harper said he was excited about trying to recruit Trout to join him in Philadelphia.
Although Trout recently built a home in his native New Jersey, he is staying on the West Coast with the Angels, who are coming off three straight losing seasons and haven’t won a playoff game during his career.
Trout and wife Jessica have made no secret of how much they enjoy living in laid-back Southern California, and the low-key outfielder apparently decided to skip the pressure of free agency entirely.
Trout has been an All-Star in each of his seven full big league seasons and hit .312 with 39 homers, 79 RBIs, 24 steals and 122 walks last year. He has led the major leagues in OPS in each of the last two seasons.
Bregman’s agreement includes this season, buys out three years of arbitration eligibility (2020-22) and pushes back his opportunity to become a free agent by two years.
The person who spoke about that deal did so on condition of anonymity because details had not been released by the team. The agreement was first reported by KRIV-FOX 26.
The 24-year-old Bregman made his first All-Star team last season and was selected MVP of the game after hitting a home run to help the American League win. He set career highs with a .286 batting average, 31 homers, 103 RBIs and a major league-leading 51 doubles, finishing fifth in AL MVP balloting.
The second overall pick in the 2015 amateur draft out of LSU, Bregman has hit .282 with 58 homers and 208 RBIs in 2½ seasons with the Astros, helping them win consecutive AL West titles and the 2017 World Series. He was limited early this spring after having arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow in January.
