Comments on: Angels renew Mike Trout for $510,000

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 18:48:27 +0000

drewaducks, comparing salaries as you did originally of the 2 players one of them who started his career in the mid 1990′s and one from the early 2010′s is ridiculous. WAR is NOT the be all end all. I point out the Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera’s WAR 6.9. To compare someones salary who has been in the league 1 year to someone who has been in the league 16 years defies logic. As other posters have said Trout will get his assuming he continues to perform at a very high level, just not in the first few years of his MLB career. He will get his just as A-Rod, Cabrera, Cliff Lee, Greinke and a host of other established more experienced players with a much longer resume to hang their FA on hat got theirs.

By: echech88

echech88 — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 15:34:22 +0000

LOL. You are exactly the type of mark his agent was trying to reach by releasing this statement.

He will be extended years before the Angels have to and nobody will ever remember this.

His agent is just pissy because it reflects poorly on him as a negotiator.

By: mashoaf

mashoaf — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 08:00:03 +0000

Worse…. Bobby Bonilla still makes more money from the Mets this year than Trout does from the Angles…

By: drewzducks

drewzducks — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 06:15:39 +0000

How can it be apples to apples when you’re trying to compare 1996 dollars for 2012 dollars, unless you adjusted your numbers for inflation. A better comparison would be that in 1996 A Rod’s salary was 37.6% of the MLB average salary, whereas Trout’s 2013 salary is projected to be approximately 15% of the MLB average. As great as a year that A Rod had, it was clearly surpassed by Trout when one compares WAR, 10.7 to 9.2. Also of note is that Trout’s rookie year WAR of 10.7 surpassed any WAR that Rodriguez achieved during his *-riddled career.

By: wlschneider09

wlschneider09 — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 03:36:15 +0000

Thank you Kevin, this is what I meant. And I’m not wrong.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 02:26:34 +0000

I think wischneider09 meant that adding up a team’s WAR won’t tell you exactly how many wins better that team was than a replacement-level team in the way that WPA does say exactly how many games above or below .500 you were. That said, it generally does provide a fairly decent estimate.

By: mrfloydpink

mrfloydpink — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 02:13:17 +0000

FYI, you’re wrong. But thanks for playing!

By: wlschneider09

wlschneider09 — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 00:40:52 +0000

FYI, WAR doesn’t actually translate to wins. It’s effectively a unitless number.

By: mrfloydpink

mrfloydpink — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 00:19:44 +0000

It’s even worse if you think of it in terms of dollars per win, and you compare him to Vernon Wells. If Trout and Wells perform exactly as they did last year, then:

Trout will be earning $47,763 per win above replacement (b-ref WAR)

Wells will be earning $42,000,000 per win above replacement (also b-ref WAR)

Thus, as a function of their actual value, Wells will be earning 879 times more per win produced than Trout.

By: mrfloydpink

mrfloydpink — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 00:10:53 +0000

Right, absolutely. Because the Angels surely don’t have any money to spend on players. They only get $200 million a year from their TV rights, which is why they NEVER give out big contracts to players like Albert Pujols or Josh Hamilton. And they CERTAINLY won’t be able to do so once Vernon Wells and his $30 million are off the books.

By: kiwicricket

kiwicricket — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 23:57:18 +0000

No. $13K in 1976 in today’s money is approx 55K per year. Not the coin ballplayers are making today, but hardly a nickle over the ‘poverty line’.
I am guessing it was slightly cheaper to live in O.C in 76′ than it is now…so it’s all relative.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 23:56:52 +0000

I hate to be negative, Matthew, but “he had his contract renewed” sounds like he picked the price — and he did not. The Angels management set it. That’s some terrible grammar construction. The sentence makes no sense.

By: American of African Descent

American of African Descent — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 23:32:22 +0000

For all of those who complain that there is no player loyalty in sports, this is one reason why. Trout’s got the right attitude — he says he’s going to keep busting his ass with an eye towards putting the Angels in the world series.

But when free agency rolls around, the Angels have no moral high ground to ask for a home town discount.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 23:27:41 +0000

I like the way fans compare Trout’s salary to what Alex is making now. How about comparing it to Alex’s first full season with Seattle 1996. He made $442,334
BTW, here are his numbers in 1996: .358 BA / .414 OBP / .631 SLG% / 1.045 OPS with 36 HR’s and 124 RBI’s. Not bad for a 20 year old kid. I just think it’s nice to compare apples to apples so to speak.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 23:24:42 +0000

Hey, now, the century’s still young yet.

By: misterchainbluelightning

misterchainbluelightning — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 23:20:51 +0000

or*

By: misterchainbluelightning

misterchainbluelightning — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 23:20:35 +0000

Ryan Howard is still a Phillie, Unlike Trout who will be in Dodger blue and Yankee Pinestrips in 5 years.

By: vanmorrissey

vanmorrissey — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 23:04:52 +0000

Not to mention Chris what he can likely make in endorsement deals. Just has to keep putting up numbers and he’ll rake it in especially when in LA, and when they finally get rid of Wells’ contract.

By: jdillydawg

jdillydawg — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 22:50:10 +0000

“That pre-arbitration players are paid so little…”

That’s awesome.

It’s hard for me to argue against PEDs when the minimum wage for these guys is 10 times the national average for the regular joe punching a clock. That kind of money has to put unreal pressure on these guys to perform. As a fan, I demand it. And I’m not the only one that demands greatness, all fans do.

By: atlrod

atlrod — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 22:49:44 +0000

Surely the front office is kicking around some attempt to pull a Longoria-type move with Trout. Will they wait until after this season? If Trout performs at the same level, they’ll lose negotiating power because the perception of the club’s risk will be diminished. I don’t see why they wouldn’t offer him a 7 year, $70million contract or whatever like the Rays did. Now’s the time to get value in a long-term Trout contract. But I guess they have a few years to play it out.

By: stercuilus65

stercuilus65 — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:56:12 +0000

“Servitude” If what Trout is making and going to make is “servitude” well hell slap the chains on me!

By: jiminthebay

jiminthebay — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:54:56 +0000

back in my day (says with old man type) 1976 ,the major league minimum was $13,000 , which today may be a nickle over the national poverty line. rookies pulling down half a million in their first season dont bitch…or shouldnt …despite trout’s ungodly season i think even his agent understands modern baseball economics….yeah , its slavery.

By: stercuilus65

stercuilus65 — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:54:44 +0000

Yeah really Trout hasn’t said a word you d-bag.

By: timpaz

timpaz — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:35:09 +0000

Smart move, you never know what can happen, I’m old enough to remember Tony Conigliaro.

By: greg2geez

greg2geez — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:32:11 +0000

Don’t feel too bad for Trout and his base salary. Commercial endorsement deals aren’t subject to MLB arbitration and will get him into any country club he wants!

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:28:00 +0000

My only point was that Philly basically threw away a couple hundred thousand. Ryan Howard didn’t (and shouldn’t have) give them any discount during his arbitration or free agency contracts.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:23:40 +0000

Arbitration isn’t servitude, but it’s still well under free market value. If Circle K offers me 50 cents more an hour, I can quit 7-11 tonight.

By: drewzducks

drewzducks — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:18:19 +0000

It gets worse… 1/58 th of ARod.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:18:16 +0000

Did anybody say Trout was whining? Sounds like you are.

By: Chris Fiorentino

Chris Fiorentino — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:12:39 +0000

5 more years of servitude? Are you nuts. If he does the same thing he did last year, he will make $10 million in arbitration…just like Ryan Howard did. And if he does it again the following year, he will likely make around $55-60 million over the next 3 years if he chooses.