5 teams that ‘could’ trade for Trout

It’s no secret that the Angels have run into a buzzsaw of bad injury luck. Ace Garrett Richards is headed for Tommy John surgery that could keep him out through next season, Andrelton Simmons needs left thumb surgery and is out for two months, and promising young lefty Andrew Heaney is out for the foreseeable future with a left flexor mass strain.

This puts the organization in a tough spot. The Angels have been in “win-now” mode for years, which has meant a lot of trading away of prospects and forfeiting Draft picks to sign free agents. That course of action leaves them with a shallow farm system that is not currently equipped to make up for those pitching injuries, so it would not be surprising if they decide to trade several pieces and hit the “reset” button for 2017. During those conversations with other teams, it’s more than likely that general manager Billy Eppler will be asked about the organization’s appetite to trade superstar Mike Trout.

Yes, it seems crazy to even think about trading a 24-year-old superstar who has finished in the top two in American League MVP Award voting in each of his four full seasons and is signed through 2020 at an average of a little less than $27 million per year. But it’s obviously not that crazy, because Eppler has already been asked about it and told Fox Sports over the weekend that he has no “intent or desire to consider moving” Trout.

But let’s be real. Every player has a price. And if guys like Ken Griffey Jr., Miguel Cabrera, Mike Piazza and Alex Rodriguez could be traded in the midst of their Hall of Fame primes, any player can be dealt if the price is right. So let’s have some fun with that idea. Here are five clubs that “could” swing a trade for Trout, and all of them fit a similar criteria: They are win-now teams that have cost-controlled depth that would allow them to improve their own club while jump-starting an Angels rebuild.

There are some other teams, such as the Braves and Phillies, who probably have the assets to do so as well, but they’d probably be stifling their own rebuilding efforts in the process by trading away the young depth they’ll need to contend in the next couple of years. The five clubs below are all poised to contend for a World Series for the next few seasons.

Cubs

They’ve already built a super team, so why not a super-duper team? The Cubs have more than enough young talent to turn the Angels organization around quickly in a deal for Trout, without completely abandoning their own plan of sustained success through player development. And because they are in the National League, the Angels won’t have to compete with them for playoff positioning down the road, which definitely …

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