Mike Trout is a believer in the Angels’ long-term plan

ANAHEIM — When Mike Trout and GM Billy Eppler would exchange texts over the winter, it typically began with “smack talk,” Eppler said, about the Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles, their respective favorite teams.
Then there might be some small talk about their families, and then exchanging ideas about the future of the Angels.
Those conversations provided a snapshot of a relationship that would eventually lead to Trout becoming an Angel for life.
On the day that the Angels cele