Mike Trout declined to say whether he would ask for a trade if the Los Angeles Angels cannot turn the 2026 season around, telling reporters, "I haven't even thought about that yet," and, "I'm not even gonna talk about the trade stuff."
The comments came as the Angels tumbled from an 11-10 start into a sustained collapse: the club went 6-23 since April 18 and has fallen to the bottom of the American League. OptaSTATS, cited in reporting, said the Angels were 6-24 over their last 30 games — the worst 30-game stretch in MLB history by a team that had a multi-time former MVP play in all 30.
Trout also acknowledged the unrest in the stands during the team's recent series against the Oakland Athletics, saying, "I hear the chants, for sure," after fans called for owner Arte Moreno to sell the team following a blowout loss and an extra-inning defeat in that series.
Individually, Trout has continued to produce at an elite level even as the roster around him falters. Through 49 games he was slashing.231/.398/.480; over 176 at-bats he was hitting.233 with 12 home runs, 36 runs scored and an.877 OPS. In 50 games he was reaching base at a.400 clip and slugging.477. Those figures include his best walk rate since 2018, his highest OPS since 2022 and his best hard-hit rate since his last All-Star season in 2023.
Context sharpens the stakes. Trout has spent his entire 16-year major league career with the Angels. The franchise has reached the postseason once in that span — the 2014 ALDS, which ended in a three-game sweep by the Kansas City Royals. Ahead of the 2019 campaign Trout signed a 12-year, $426 million contract and is now in the eighth season of that deal; he carries a full no-trade clause.
The tension is immediate: Trout's personal excellence stands in stark contrast to team performance that, by some measures, has etched itself into the record books for the wrong reasons. Heavy.com cited OptaSTATS on the depth of the slump, and fans' chants for ownership to sell have hardened the outside pressure on a franchise that has not found sustained postseason traction in more than a decade.
Trout pushed back on the notion that trade talk is a live plan. Asked if he would consider asking for a trade if the organization cannot right itself, he repeated, "I haven't even thought about that. I'm not gonna talk about the trade stuff." He also shrugged off long-running rumors about his future: "Oh, sure. I've been hearing that the last 10, 12 years."
Given Trout's contract protections and his refusal to engage publicly with trade scenarios, the immediate conclusion is clear: for now, he is not forcing the issue. That leaves the Angels' front office and owner Arte Moreno with the consequential choice — respond to the slide with roster and managerial changes that might salvage the season, or risk letting a generational player continue to carry a team that, by current results, is historically bad.
