I don't think anyone would refute that Trout is still a great player when he's on the field, but unfortunately that's becoming less and less common. Trout has only averaged 79 games the last three seasons. In the last 3 seasons Trout has missed time due to soft tissue injuries to his calf, groin and back and on top of that he has a chronic back condition. Although his expected stats were solid he produced the worst season of his career since he was a rookie, and he's going to be paid $35.5 million for another 7 seasons. Acquiring him for free would essentially be like handing him a $248 million contract in free agency. Is this something you would actually want to do?