Guys, you gotta remember that Trout isn't comparable to any of the current players in MLB. He's a once-in-a-generation talent. Not so much skills comparable, but talent comparable, to players like Ted Williams.
And I recall that, in the late 1980's, someone interviewing Ted Williams asked him how he thought he'd hit against the then-current crop of pitchers. He said he'd probably hit .280 or .290 against them. The interviewer sputtered and said that Williams had a career average of .344, were the new pitchers that good. Williams said no, but he was in his mid-60s and figured he wouldn't be able to hit quite as well as he did in his prime...
In other words, when you are watching a once-in-a-generation talent, the rulebook gets tossed out the window and you just take every decision as it comes and hope for the best. And some of the prior great players got traded or released by their teams, with the public reasoning that the player was getting too old to expect decent production from him going forward, and then had their best years with the teams that took a chance on them maintaining their production into their mid- to late 30s. Look at Nolan Ryan, or Frank Robinson.
Good on the Angels for nipping in the bud the whole question of where Trout would play during his best years. Now we know.
-Doug
