What it would have taken for the Blue Jays to pry Mike Trout away from the Angels

The Toronto Blue Jays pulled off arguably the biggest deal at the 2026 trade deadline by acquiring starting pitcher José Soriano from the Los Angeles Angels. 

Soriano is set to make his team debut on Friday night (Aug. 7) amidst a career season. He’s under control through the end of 2028, which is why it cost the Blue Jays top prospect Arjun Nimmala to get him on their team—but could they have aimed even higher? 

The Angels are going nowhere anytime soon yet still have a three-time MVP on their roster in Mike Trout. Teams have been asking about him for years to no avail, but you never know when things can change. Here’s what it would have taken. 

Could the Blue Jays have actually traded for Mike Trout?

Trout, 35, is enjoying a resurgent season after several injury-plagued campaigns. He entered Friday with 18 home runs and a fantastic .384 on-base percentage. 

Most importantly, however, is that Trout is on pace to play at least 130 games for the second straight year after dealing with a litany of injuries from 2021 through 2024. He finally seems to be getting some better injury luck. 

With that in mind, he would be a slam-dunk fit on the Blue Jays in 2027 as they look to overhaul their punchless lineup. He’s a right-handed power bat who gets on base—exactly what they are likely to be shopping for in free agency. 

The biggest barrier in a potential Trout trade likely wouldn’t be the cost of acquiring him in terms of prospect capital, but rather the money still owed on his contract. 

Trout is owed $35.45 million each of the next four seasons, which is a staggering amount of money to pay any player into their late 30s. The Angels would unquestionably have to eat some of that salary to facilitate any trade.

The Blue Jays’ financial might, would have put them in an interesting position to absorb more of Trout’s remaining money than another team. This would have, in turn, likely lessened the package going the other way. It’s quite possible that a return headlined by Nimmala still would have been enough to get Soriano and Trout if they took on most of the money. 

But would Trout have approved that? He has full no-trade protection as a 10-and-5 player and has continuously reiterated his desire to remain an Angel despite being perpetually entrenched in a rebuild. He’s earned the right to stay in Los Angeles if he so chooses.

However, there is no doubt that the Blue Jays had the prospect capital and financial means to facilitate such a deal at the deadline if Trout approved it. They still do if both parties want to do more business this offseason. It would be a massive risk for Toronto, but ultimately one that could give their lineup exactly what it needs. 

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