'Should have gotten a billion': Baseball fans react to Mike Trout's record-breaking 12yr Angels deal

Star center fielder Mike Trout is set to agree the largest contract in sports history and is reportedly on the verge of signing a 12-year, €379mn ($430mn) extension deal with the Los Angeles Angels.

The deal dwarfs previous contract records in baseball and highlights the ongoing conversation about player valuation, in a league in which members have never been shy about opening their checkbooks. 

The terms of the contract mean that Trout, considered by many to be the sport's standout star, will be tied to the Angels for the best years of his career - a commitment which will delight fans of the ball club but opens a wider discussion as to the escalating contract costs of the game's best players.

Bryce Harper and Manny Machado signed big money deals in free agency last month placing them near the summit of the baseball's most handsomely rewarded players. Trout's extension, though, has broken any perceived glass ceiling that baseball's payment structure had up to now.

Trout, who has won two American League MVP awards, is set to receive around €32mn per-year, reports ESPN, over a million more than the Arizona Diamondbacks' Zack Greinke and 30 percent greater than Harper's recent move to Philadelphia's Phillies.

He was expected to hit free agency in 2020, which would have triggered a frenzied bidding war across Major League Baseball for his services, with Harper even publicly lobbying for Trout to join him in Philadelphia. However, it appears the Angels moved quickly to secure the long-term services of the generational talent - even if that forced their hand in smashing contractual standards in the process.

Trout has been a sensation since entering the league in 2011 at the age of 19, with 240 home runs, 648 RBIs, 793 runs and 189 stolen bases.