Mike Trout - Be the GM
 

In this exercise, you are the Angels GM and you get a phone call at 6 in the morning. It's the new owner of the team from "Pick a foreign country" He says he has complete faith in you and believes you have the talent to take his team to the next level. There is just one thing: He hates fish. Hates them with a passion. Thinks they are horrible luck and he cannot accept that one of his players is named Trout. After talking to him and trying to talk him off the ledge, you realize it's a fruitless exercise. You have to trade Mike Trout.

Who do you call, what do you ask for, what do you think you can get for him? The clock is ticking. The owner will not make an announcement to the press, but it will get out anyway. You have two weeks. and he has to be gone.

Jeff Samardzija and Javier Baez or Kris Bryant.

I call the Atlanta Braves and have them throw me some prospects with Robert Fish as the centerpiece just to troll Vincent Tan for having the temerity to buy a baseball team.

Gerrit Cole, Gregory Polanco, Alen Hanson and another arm.

Stanton, Yelich, Jfer (post TJ).

Dice K.

Then the city just takes the Mets from the Wilpons and gives them to me as a thank you.

I trade him to the Phillies for a bag of balls while agreeing to terms to replace the pos amaro. Then tell the new owner to shove it as I resign and wait out taking the Phillies job.

At least the jerseys are already his lucky color!

I cannot lie, he was part of the inspiration. The other part was me playing OOTP and deciding I wanted Trout as a Rockie. With trading on HARD/Neutral it took 3 five star prospects (2 who were top five picks) and Carlos Gonzales for them to say yes. It got me thinking. . . If I was the Angels, would I really do that deal? If I was the Rockies, would I really do that deal?

I passed. Going to simply poach him from the Angels and start a career for the hell of it. I liked the future of that Rockies group too much.

I was along the same lines or perhaps even a McCutchen, Cole and Hanson package (figure there's no way to get Polanco and McCutchen in the same package).

I love this post so much. :D

Mets for Matt Harvey, Juan Lagares, and Travis d'Arnaud

After the trade, the owner would fire you for not having any balls and giving away someone who people pay to see.

I send him to the Cardinals for Jon Jay and Daniel Descalso.. :)

Then I resign and go back to watching my team.

Chan Ho Park has to be part of any deal.

Send Bourjos back to the Angels also so Oscar Taveras can finally come up.

I resign, because I wouldn't want my legacy as a GM to be "the guy who traded Mike Trout". It might go down in history like "Harry Frazee, the owner who sold Babe Ruth".

You are never going to get fair value for Trout - you would need a great farm system's top 10 to even be close. Getting a young cornerstone player plus most of the good prospects a team has is the only thing that would make any sense so I would look to the Cardinals, Red Sox, Pirates, Nationals.

Trade for Mccutcheon and Gerrit Cole. But if I was the Pirates, I wouldn't make that trade.

I'd send him to the Dodgers for Puig, Chad Billingsley, and Zack Lee. Although if I was the Angels I wouldn't mind getting Corey Seager as well...

Send Craig to the bench.. bring up Taveras.

I think the Mets would have to go Synderguard, Harvey, Nimmo, and one more piece along the lines of Montero to get the Angels to even listen.

The Cubs would be interesting but it would likely take Samardzija, Bryant, Baez, and someone like Alcantara.