Chicago White Sox: Could Mike Trout ever end up on South Side?
The Chicago White Sox didn’t draft Mike Trout when he was on the board but could he ever make his way to the South Side of Chicago anyway?
The Chicago White Sox have some great players on their roster. With the likes of Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, and Tim Anderson amongst others, it is clear to see why the future of this team is so bright. A few years back, however, the White Sox passed on an all-time great in the draft. Mike Trout went to the Los Angeles Angels with the 25th overall pick of the 2009 MLB Draft.
The White Sox picked Jared Mitchell two picks before that at number 23 overall. It clearly is a bad draft for the White Sox as Trout would be the first overall pick in any re-draft ever done. He is not only the best player in the game today, but he might be the greatest player who ever lived. Amongst active players, the gap between Trout and second place in career WAR is the same gap between second place and 100th place. He is by far the best baseball player on earth.
They say that a 69 WAR is a good baseline for determining a player’s chances at the Hall of Fame. Well, Mike Trout is already at a 72.8 career WAR and he is only 28 and won’t be 29 until August. The sky is the limit for this guy. He is going to finish with crazier numbers than he already has now which is incredible for him. He will be a first-ballot Hall of Fame, number retired, statue player.
He does, however, make north of 400 million dollars on his big deal that he signed with the Angels. Could they ever want to trade him? It is possible but it is unlikely that they do without taking a couple of cracks at a title. If they aren’t good over the next 3-4 years, then they might open the door to moving on from their franchises all-time greatest player if he agreed to it.
Could the White Sox ever be interested in him? Well, of course, they would be. With that said, where the White Sox are right now, it wouldn’t be worth it to trade 3-4 elite players to get him in Chicago. They have Luis Robert to come in and play center and he should be able to provide exactly what the White Sox need from him in order to be a championship contender. It isn’t worth it to create three holes on the team and only replace one with Trout.
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Trout is the game’s greatest player but baseball is a team game. If the Angels only wanted minor league players that would be one thing but moving some of the team’s great roster players in bunches wouldn’t be worth it. Trout can only hit in his spot in the lineup and he can only field balls that are hit to him. It is unlikely that he ever ends up on the last team that passed on him.