The answer is Harper’s, and it’s not even close.
Trout has played in three postseason games in his career, and the fourth doesn’t appear to be happening anytime soon.
With eight straight losing seasons, the Angels are a mess. This past offseason, Shohei Ohtani left as a free agent for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Angels play in the American League West Division against the Houston Astros, maybe baseball’s best organization, as well as the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers and the rising Seattle Mariners.
Some people around baseball find it peculiar that Trout hasn’t demanded a trade to a contender. He still has seven years left on a $426.5 million contract that pays him slightly more than $37 million a season.
On Monday at the spring training in Arizona, Trout told reporters that asking for a trade would be the “easy way out.”
“When I signed that contract, I’m loyal,” Trout said. “The overall picture of winning a championship or getting to the playoffs here is bigger satisfaction than bailing out and just taking the easy way out. … Maybe down the road, if some things change. But that’s been my mindset ever since the trade speculation came up.”
Trout says he’s urging Angels owner Arte Moreno to sign free agents who remain available.
“I’m going to keep pushing as long as I can,” Trout said. “Until the season starts or until those guys sign. It’s just in my nature. I’m doing everything I can possible. It’s obviously Arte’s decision. I’m going to put my two cents in there.”
Meanwhile, Harper has become a Phillies postseason hero and one of baseball’s biggest names. He was the MVP of the 2022 National League Championship Series. He’s hit 11 postseason home runs for the Phillies, including the “Bedlam at the Bank” blast to give them the series win in Game 5 of the 2022 NLCS.
The Phillies have no issues attracting free agents.
Whit Merrifield, an All-Star with the Toronto Blue Jays last season, signed a one-year deal with the Phillies this week for what now appears to be a part-time role.
“I want to win now,” he told reporters in Clearwater, Florida. “And so I’m here to do whatever I need to do to win and to help this team win.”
Contrast that with what Trout’s teammate and arguably the Angels’ second-best player, Anthony Rendon, said Monday in Arizona.
“It’s never been a top priority for me,” Rendon said of baseball. “This is a job. I do this to make a living. My faith, my family come first before this job.”
What Rendon said isn’t wrong, but could you show a little enthusiasm for a job that will pay you slightly more than $38 million this season?
There’s no doubt that Trout is a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
But there’s also no doubt the Angels’ ineptitude is detracting from Trout’s legacy just as the Phillies’ success is enhancing Harper’s.
Loyalty is an admirable quality, but the Angels are in flames, and the first pitch of spring training hasn’t even been thrown yet.
Trout needs to run out the front door, jump out a window or scramble out the back.
He needs to ask for a trade to get the career he deserves.
