Mike Trout Signs Largest Contract In Sports History

Anybody who has followed baseball over the past seven years would agree that Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels is the best all-around player in the sport. The superstar outfielder has every skill that you would want an outfielder to possess. He hits for a very high batting average. He has great power and is capable of hitting a large number of home runs. He is a terrific base runner with outstanding speed and instincts that few other players have. He is also a superb defensive outfielder who has made his share of highlight reel catches.

It is no surprise that the Angels wanted to lock up Trout for a long time to come. They have successfully accomplished their goal. It was just announced that the Angels and Mike Trout have agreed to a $426.5 million contract. It will keep Trout with the Angels for the next 12 years. The amount of the contract shattered the record for the largest one for a professional athlete in the history of North American sports. The previous record was the $330 million contract signed by Bryce Harper to play with the Philadelphia Phillies just a couple of weeks ago.

The massive extensions signed by Trout and Nolan Arenado with the Colorado Rockies have shown a change in the way that Major League Baseball teams are doing business. In the past, teams would often let their star players become free agents. This would allow other teams to make them offers. More times than not, the star player would end up signing with a new team. It was very rare for a star player to return to his original team after becoming a free agent. However, teams are becoming smarter. They realize that their only hope of holding onto a player is to prevent the player from ever becoming a free agent in the first place. Therefore, Trout and Arenado were offered extensions too big to pass up.

These contract extensions will most certainly not be the last of their kind. On the contrary, there will be more teams that will try to lock up their best players for the best years of their careers. There are already rumors swirling that the New York Yankees could be working an a huge extension for star outfielder Aaron Judge. However, this is just a rumor at this point. It remains to be seen if this will become a reality.