“Bad for Everyone”: Mike Trout’s Ken Griffy Jr. Fate Increases Angels’ Pain Amid Mounting Salary Cost

Tuesday was yet another dark day for the Angels. Their superstar, Mike Trout, announced that he would miss the rest of the season. Indeed, it is yet again another injury—a torn meniscus that would require surgery. This is not the first but the second time he has had the same surgery.

He doesn’t seem to catch a break. And it’s not just him suffering the brunt of his injury; His team is affected, his owners are struggling, and not to mention, his fans are disappointed and saddened by the downward trajectory.

Mike Trout and his saga of injuries!

Mike Trout is in his sixth year of his whopping $426.5 million 12-year contract. While this would have been all well and good if he played, he, in fact, hasn’t been able to play more than 119 games in the last four seasons!

MLB analyst Jon Heyman sympathized with the team and highlighted the brunt of this injury on the team. He said, “It is bad for everyone. ... It is difficult. He is a competitor, he wants to be out there. Tough on the fans, tough on Mike Trout. Maybe I am the only one who feels sorry for the owner. But six years and $212 million to go on this contract, it is a tough situation for everybody involved.”

Now Mike Trout was lit when he was in his form, hence that contract! From 2012 to 2019, his career trajectory was what had everyone say—“the next big thing.” He won the AL Rookie of the Year, won three AL MVP awards, and even finished in the top four in MVP voting each year. But after this point, specifically the pandemic, his injuries caught on to him. 

A calf strain in 2021, and then the next year a rare spinal condition affected him, leading him to play only 119 games. Then last year he had a hamate bone fracture and then he returned to just one game, after which he was shut down again. Mike Trout was further sidelined after an injury in late April against the Red Sox. After two months of training and a short rehab in Triple-A, more MRIs showed another torn meniscus, so now he’s done for the season. Right now he reminds everyone of Ken Griffey Jr.

The eerie story of Ken Griffey Jr and Trout

Mike Trout’s career trajectory was off to the greatest heights and everyone expected nothing but the best from him. However, so did every one when it came to Ken Griffey Jr, and if there is one thing they share, it is — a common story of ‘what could have been.’ 

They both imploded to the scene when no one expected them to. Trout had a 10.5 WAR, and he broke the record of having the highest WAR as a rookie. As far as key moments, Griffey’s mad dash in ALDS Game 5 in 1995 can be compared to the impressive catches of Trout’s. At the age of 30, Trout’s WAR stood at 82.3 and Griffey’s 76.2. 

But then, at 31, Griffey’s story took a different turn, and injuries piled up. From the year of 2001 and 2009, Griffey Jr averaged only 106 games for the Cincinnati Reds, White Sox, and Mariners. In the case of Trout, he didn’t have to wait till 31 for those injuries because, at 29, that struggle for him began already. He hasn’t even played over 135 games from 2018 and his average number of games from 2021 to 2023 was just 79. After knee surgery, the numbers have gone down and now he isn’t going to play this season anymore! It is crazy how eerie the situation is. 

This is less than an ideal situation for the team, Trout, and, of course, his fans. It looks like the window of opportunity is kind of closing in on him. Don’t you think?