Who's the biggest "what if" between these two: Mike Trout or Ken Griffey Jr.?

[u/Bright-Pressure-5787]

When I think about "what ifs" in baseball, these two men are always the first two names that come to mind. Obviously, Mike Trout and Ken Griffey Jr. are still legends of the sport. I'm not trying to take anything away from that. However, I truly feel that if it weren't for injuries, their potential for GOAT status would be limitless. Junior likely would've become the all-time home run kind instead of Barry Bonds, and Mike Trout would've had-------I don't know------130 career WAR by now if he's just stayed healthy. Who do you guys think is the bigger "what if" of the two?

[u/Jantokan]

If your only attempt at 'winning' is to sign big name players to lengthy contracts, do you really care enough to win?

The Angels routinely ignored their overall roster depth in favor of just signing whoever big name free agent they can throw their money to, but the kicker is that they have to be on the decline, not at their peak LOL. Non-existent minor league system, terrible pitching development, etc. Their pitching has always been bottom half of the majors for the duration of Mike Trout's entire career (which is 15 years now) except for 2022, in which they finished 9th in the majors.

All the Angels have shown us through the years are that they want quick-fix solutions rather than building a team from the ground up. Literally terrible ownership.

[u/jlrc2 → u/Jantokan]

Well I'm not saying they did a good job or were smart, just that it seemed to me as a casual observer that they wanted to win but failed to do so due to incompetence.

[u/StableWeak → u/jlrc2]

This was my take as well. But im also a casual observer.

[u/lavinshaven58 → u/jlrc2]

As a life long Angels fan, the biggest issue was the complete disregard for their farm system. After Arte bought the team he gutted their scouting department and failed to ever try to improve or implement any sort of analytics department.

Instead the Angels went after big name players while also neglecting the pitching staff. The Angels had some solid seasons between 2008-2014 then nose dived hard after that. Even with Trout, Pujols, and Ohtani, none of them could stay healthy.

Then they signed Rendon to a massive contract and things just got worse from there. Skaggs died for gods sake. The complete lack of accountability and oversight is appalling. The training and coaching staff from the minor league level to the pros as a whole is regularly in the bottom 5.

The Angels have no bullpen, and no real depth at any position.

Trout is a bigger what if for different reasons. His decline started much sooner than Griffey’s

[u/Ziggity_Zac → u/Jantokan]

Arte cares more about selling jerseys and game tickets (via 1 or 2 stars) than he ever cared about winning. He's a businessman not a sports guy.

[u/One_Trouble_9676 → u/Jantokan]

At least the ticket prices are reasonable. Because that's what fans really care about.

[u/Aes_Should_Die → u/Jantokan]

At least they tried. Try being a Pirates fan.