MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez is reporting that the Angels and outfielder Mike Trout are close to finalizing a contract extension worth $144.5 million over six years. [Update: The Angels official Twitter confirms the deal. The team will make an announcement on Saturday.]
Trout is currently eligible for arbitration for the first time after the season, so the extension would cover all three arbitration years and the first three years of free agency.
Trout was the runner-up in AL MVP balloting in each of the last two seasons, losing both times to Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers. Cabrera made headlines yesterday when he agreed to a ten-year deal worth $292 million, with eight years and $248 million of it being new.
The average annual value of Trout’s reported extension, in excess of $24 million, doesn’t touch Cabrera’s AAV of $31 million.
