New developments for Trout, Ohtani

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Los Angeles Angels will not trade three-time AL MVP Mike Trout, general manager Perry Minasian confirmed at MLB’s winter meetings on Tuesday.

Minasian responded to the annual questions about Trout’s future with the underachieving Angels by providing the same answer he has given in past years — and the same answer given by owner Arte Moreno’s previous general managers.

“Mike Trout will not be getting traded, 100%,” Minasian told MLB.com and other outlets.

Trout is under contract through 2030, and he makes $35.45 million annually with a full no-trade clause. But even after he missed significant portions of the past three seasons due to injuries, his future in Anaheim remains an annual topic of debate due to his formidable talent and the Angels’ annual failures to achieve any team success.

The 32-year-old Trout has participated in one playoff series and has never won a postseason game in a 13-year career spent entirely with the Halos. Los Angeles is currently mired in streaks of eight consecutive losing seasons and nine consecutive non-playoff seasons, both the longest in the majors.

Trout is owed $248.15 million over the next seven seasons as part of his record $426.5 million, 12-year contract with the Angels.

He is coming off the least impressive season of his career, during which he was limited to 82 games — just one after July 3 — due to a broken bone in his left hand. He batted .263 with 18 homers and 44 RBIs while playing in just 82 games, although he was still named an AL All-Star for the 11th time.

“Let me put it this way: I would have bet my house he would have had a better second half than his first half,” Minasian said. “But he just didn’t get that opportunity. I think it was just a freak injury that took a long time to heal.”

Trout has played in just 237 of the Angels’ 486 games over the past three seasons, thanks to several injury setbacks.

But Minasian also confirmed the Angels haven’t proposed moving Trout out of center field, where he must be more active and burn more energy than in a corner outfield slot.

Minasian reiterated that the Angels are not mounting a wholesale rebuild, and they intend to win with Trout leading the way while fortifying their lineup and pitching staff during the offseason.

The club is also waiting to find out whether Shohei Ohtani will surprise the baseball world and return to the Angels despite their lack of success during his six years with fellow superstar Trout.

Ohtani met with the Dodgers in the past few days, their general manager, Dave Roberts, said Tuesday.

The Angels will play next year under new manager Ron Washington, who said last month that Trout and Anthony Rendon are key leaders and players for the club.

Rendon has been a massive disappointment for Los Angeles, batting .249 with a .758 OPS while playing in just 200 of the Angels’ 546 games in his injury-plagued tenure.

But the third baseman is under contract for three more seasons, making more than $38.5 million each year.

Ohtani rumors

Shohei Ohtani met with the Los Angeles Dodgers a few days ago at Dodger Stadium, manager Dave Roberts revealed Tuesday at the winter meetings.

Ohtani, a unique two-way star, is expected to command a record contract of $500 million-plus on the free agent market coming off his second AL MVP award in three seasons.

“He has a very good poker face,” Roberts said.

The meeting lasted two-to-three hours.

“We want to respect Shohei’s wishes as far as being private,” Roberts said, “but obviously people talk. I don’t think I need to share what we talked about.”

Roberts at first hesitated before giving a few details.

“It’s a good possibility,” he said. “Yeah, we met with him. I don’t want to — I’d like to be honest and so we met with Shohei and we talked and I think it went well. I think it went well. But at the end of the day, he’s his own man and he’s going to do what’s best for himself, where he feels most comfortable.”

Ohtani led the AL with 44 homers and hit .304 with 96 RBIs, eight triples and 20 stolen bases for the Los Angeles Angels at the plate in a season that ended Sept. 3 because of an oblique injury.

He was 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA in 23 starts on the mound, striking out 167 and walking 55 in 132 innings before tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow on Aug. 23.

He had surgery on Sept. 19 that will keep him off the mound until 2025.

Ohtani has not spoken with reporters since Aug. 9, failing to get on a conference call after his MVP award.