Mike Trout, center fielder for the Los Angeles Angels, is sealing the deal for the heftiest contract in the history of professional sportsâa 12-year deal worth more than $430 million that will obliterate any prior records and could keep Trout, the best player of his generation, with the Angels until the end of his career.
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Trout has scored two American League MVP awards and finished second a total of four times. He will be receiving an average of $36 million per year, capping the previous record average of Zack Greinke’s $34.4 million with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The $430 million is more than 30% larger than the $330 million deal Bryce Harper signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.
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Trout, 27, would have been a free agent after the 2020 season. Harper had already begun lobbying for his return to the east coast to be part of the Phillies alongside him.