Athletes respond to Mike Trout's mega deal with few words, lots of emojis

Liz Roscher
·Staff writer
Updated

When news broke of Mike Trout’s enormous contract extension with the Los Angeles Angels, it provoked a lot of reactions. Fans had fan reactions (elation, joy, anger, bitterness), but athletes responded a little differently. Many were absolutely agog at the length and size of Trout’s deal. So agog that many could only express themselves through emojis and just a few words. It’s hard to blame them — $430 million is a LOT of money.

J.J. Watt tried to trade on his questionable resemblance to Trout to secure a mega-deal of his own.

Sorry, J.J. I don’t think it’s going to work.

Others decided that it was the right time to try and get into baseball, or get their kids into baseball, or lament that they’re playing the wrong sport. It’s never too late to try something new, right?

Emmanuel Sanders of the Denver Broncos had so much fun with the Trout news. He decided he wanted to become the closer for the Colorado Rockies.

And the Rockies social team hooked him up.

It was hard to avoid all the Kyler Murray takes, of course. Murray was drafted by the Oakland Athletics, but decided to forgo baseball in favor of football, a sport in which he’ll get paid sooner, and a lot more, than he would over his first several years of baseball.

It’s true that all of Trout’s money is guaranteed, but Trout is a once-in-a-generation player — giant contracts like his are far from the norm. Kyle Long of the Chicago Bears had the perfect response to a fan suggesting that maybe baseball is the better choice.

Russell Okung, left tackle for the San Diego Chargers and member of the NFL Players Association executive committee, congratulated Trout, but pointed out that Major League Baseball doesn’t have a hard salary cap like the NFL.

If the hashtag #KnowOurWorth2021 is any indication, Okung is already getting prepared for the fight over the NFL’s next collective bargaining agreement with the NFLPA. Something tells me he’ll be bringing up Trout’s record-breaking contract during the negotiations.

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