ANAHEIM, Calif. — For the third time in the last four seasons, Mike Trout’s year has ended prematurely because of injury.

The three-time MVP will miss the rest of 2024 with a second meniscus tear of his left knee, the team announced, and he later confirmed.

“After months of hard work, I was devastated (Wednesday) when an MRI showed a tear in my meniscus that will require surgery again,” Trout posted on X. “Playing and competing is a huge part of my life. This is equally as heartbreaking and frustrating for me as it is for you, the fans.”

The circumstances of how Trout tore his meniscus again are unclear. He initially had surgery for a tear May 3, and after a longer-than-usual recovery, he began a rehab assignment last week at Triple A.

His rehab assignment lasted just two innings, and he returned to Anaheim for further evaluation after some discomfort. An MRI came back clean, and Trout said he expected an imminent restart of his rehab process.

However, he started to feel significant pain Monday, Los Angeles Angels general manager Perry Minasian said. Follow-up imaging revealed the tear. It is unclear whether there was a specific incident that caused him to become reinjured.

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— Mike Trout (@MikeTrout) August 1, 2024

“I’m not the emotional type, but being in the room with him and hearing the news was tough,” Minasian said. “Nobody wants to play more, nobody cares about this building, this fan base, this team, more than he does. He’s going to come back … he’s going to win the MVP, and he’s going to hit 70 home runs. Book it.”

The tear of the meniscus was in a different spot, Minasian said. So it was not necessarily a retear of his initial injury.

“There’s no event,” he said. “This is not somebody that is out playing one-on-one basketball. You know how committed this guy is to getting back. I know everybody’s like, ‘What happened? Why?’ I get it. I have the same questions. With that being said, sometimes things happen. And sometimes, that’s the answer.”

Minasian added that the Angels haven’t discussed moving Trout out of center field, or how they’re going to have to manage his body. At this point, however, Trout’s durability is of legitimate concern. He will have played an average of 66.5 games per season over the last four years.

Trout missed the last four-plus months of 2021 with a calf strain. He missed a month in 2022 with a back injury. He missed the second half of last season with a hamate fracture. And now, in 2024, the knee issues have persisted.

“The injuries are real. I get it,” Minasian said. “Those are facts. I also know this is someone who will do everything he possibly can to get back on the field. We need to make contingency plans for everybody on the roster.”

The reality, though, is that Trout is not just anybody. He is an all-time superstar under contract for the next six seasons, and owed more than $210 million. Notable changes might need to be made to how the Angels deal with his workload, and how often he plays the field.

“No, there’s a lot of people that have had meniscus operations,” manager Ron Washington said when asked whether they’ll need to manage Trout differently next year. “It’s just unfortunate that his popped again. He’s going to get strong, he’s going to get into spring training, he’s going to prepare for a season, and we’re looking forward to when he returns.”

Minasian said the team had already been discussing possible swing changes with Trout in recent weeks. The GM said Trout was “really, really excited” about implementing them upon his return.

On top of Trout’s injuries, his on-field performance when healthy was not the same as it had been during his best years. He hit just .220 with an .867 OPS this season, well below career averages.

It is a difficult time for Trout, who will turn 33 on Aug. 7. After nine years with almost no health issues — nine years when he was unequivocally the game’s best offensive player — the last four seasons have marked a drastic shift.

The Angels still believe Trout can be an MVP in the future. The present, however, offers a far more bleak outlook.

“It makes us all speechless,” said Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe, who has stepped up as a team leader over the last year. “I feel for him more than anyone. I feel for his family too. Beckham (Trout) loves coming and watching his dad ball out, as do we. So, yes, it’s frustrating news.”

(Photo of Mike Trout: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)

After Italian boxer Angela Carini expressed regret and wanted to “apologize” to Imane Khelif, former ESPN writer Jemele Hill and South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley followed suit.

Carini said the controversy surrounding Khelif “makes me sad,” and she “respect[ed]” the IOC’s decision to let Khelif fight.

Khelif is considered to have male XY chromosomes and was barred from competing in the women’s world championships last year.

After Carini apologized, Hill said many others need to follow suit, and she wants Khelif to take further action.

“A lot of people need to apologize,” Hill, a writer for “The Atlantic,” wrote on X. “I hope Khelif sues some people over their reckless remarks. All this story did was expose ugliness, hatred, and transphobia. As Carini admitted here, she quit because she was upset she was gonna get her a– whooped and other folks turned it into something else.”

Staley caught wind of Hill’s post and added another comment.

“They also need to pray and be prayed for because…..the way their lives are set up pure hatred,” Staley wrote.

Algeria’s Imane Khelif (in red) gestures to Italy’s Angela Carini in the women’s 66-kilogram preliminaries round of 16 boxing match during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the North Paris Arena in Villepinte Aug. 1, 2024. (Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images)

RILEY GAINES CALLS FEMALE BOXER A ‘HERO’ FOR FORFEITING MATCH AGAINST FIGHTER WITH XY CHROMOSOMES, SLAMS IOC

Hill replied that she “agree[d].”

Carini appeared to give Khelif the cold shoulder after the right. She said it was one of the things she regretted about the match.

“It wasn’t something I intended to do,” Carini said. “Actually, I want to apologize to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke.”

Khelif will fight in the next round Saturday against Hungarian Luca Hamori.

The International Olympic Committee defended Khelif’s eligibility Thursday as the gender controversy heated up.

“These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA,” the IOC said of Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting. “Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.”

Algeria’s Imane Khelif, right, defeated Italy’s Angela Carini in their women’s 66-kilogram preliminary boxing match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Paris.  (AP Photo/John Locher)

According to IBA minutes available on its website, the decision was initially made by the IBA secretary general and CEO. The IBA Board only ratified it afterward and only subsequently requested that a procedure to follow in similar cases in the future be established and be reflected in the IBA Regulations. The minutes also say the IBA should “establish a clear procedure on gender testing.”

Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.

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Before calling for your general manager’s head, bemoaning the players your favorite team didn’t land, consider the bigger picture.

The three top left-handed starters discussed in trades – Tarik Skubal, Garrett Crochet and Blake Snell – did not move.

Hitters who might have shaken up the market – Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Luis Robert Jr., even Brent Rooker – also did not move.

It wouldn’t be fair to call it a “Dudline,” not when 60 trades were made in the final six days, including 32 on Tuesday before the 6 p.m. ET cutoff.

But think about it:

Who was the best starting pitcher traded? Jack Flaherty, who was not as big a prize as David Price was in 2014 and ‘15, Zack Greinke was in 2019 or Max Scherzer was in 2021.

The best relievers traded? Tanner Scott and Carlos Estévez, both of whom are enjoying fine seasons, but to many fans are relative unknowns.

The best hitters traded? Take your pick between Jazz Chisholm Jr., Randy Arozarena and Isaac Paredes, none of whom will be confused with Juan Soto, the prize of the 2022 deadline.

Some of this is luck of the draw. For whatever reasons, the crop of available players this season was just not all that stellar. But some of it also relates to the shift in trade dynamics that occurred when Major League Baseball adopted expanded playoffs in 2022. With 12 postseason spots available, more teams are in contention. And fewer teams are apt to be pure sellers.

MLB.com’s Mike Petriello put it well, saying on X, “I think we have to stop saying it’s a seller’s market, because with the expanded playoffs, there’s only a handful of teams really selling now, and it’s going to be like this every year.”

Call it an unintended consequence of the league’s decision to invite more teams to the October party. Some might argue the league should adjust by pushing the deadline to mid-August. The additional two weeks would allow more separation to occur in the standings and perhaps create clearer lines between buyers and sellers. But such a move would diminish the drama. Acquisitions would be less impactful. And for six weeks of a rental, teams would be even less reluctant to give up better prospects.

This deadline, for all of its oddity, did not lack intrigue. The Tampa Bay Rays made 10 trades, most of the sell variety, and still believe they might contend for a wild card. The Miami Marlins detonated their roster, also making 10 trades, starting with the Luis Arraez deal in early May. Their flurry resulted in 11 additions to their list of their top 30 prospects, according to MLB.com.

The Chicago Cubs’ trade for Isaac Paredes and the three-team deal between the Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago White Sox qualified as stunners, if not blockbusters. And San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller was his usual frenzied self, trading 12 prospects from the Top 20 list The Athletic’s Keith Law released in February , including nine of the top 11. (Shortstop Leodalis De Vries, 17, did not make Law’s list, having only signed in January; Law ranked him the game’s 39th best overall prospect in his latest Top 60).

Yet, for all the bodies flying, many teams were left wanting more.

The Baltimore Orioles determined none of the players available merited the sacrifice of their top prospects, one of whom, second baseman Jackson Holliday, hit a grand slam Wednesday in his first game back from Triple A.

Even two players below Baltimore’s top tier, infielder Connor Norby and outfielder Kyle Stowers, were possibly too high a price for lefty Trevor Rogers. And the Orioles’ biggest addition, right-hander Zach Eflin, through his career mostly has been a league-average starter.

The Cleveland Guardians and Milwaukee Brewers are practically mirror images in the game’s respective Central divisions, first-place teams with new managers and frighteningly thin starting pitching. Both had reason to be aggressive. Neither quite was, and not simply because of payroll considerations.

With a limited supply of starters available, the Guardians took chances on two pitchers coming off injuries who have yet to appear in a major-league game this season, lefty Matthew Boyd and righty Alex Cobb. The two starters the Brewers added, righties Aaron Civale and Frankie Montas, each had ERAs over 5.00 at the time they were acquired.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, too, did Pirates things, making a series of modest upgrades – infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa, outfielder Bryan De La Cruz, lefty relievers Jalen Beeks and Josh Walker.

Ideally, they would have done more to capitalize on the ascent of rookie righty Paul Skenes, who gives them an excellent chance to win every five days. But again, the pool of available talent was not exactly teeming with difference makers.

Even certain high-revenue teams struggled to fill their needs.

The New York Yankees were left without a starting pitcher after failing to come to an agreement with the Tigers on Flaherty. The Boston Red Sox addressed their bullpen by adding Lucas Sims and Luis Garcia, but failed to acquire a right-handed hitting middle infielder and a starting pitcher in addition to James Paxton. The Dodgers settled for complementary offensive parts (Tommy Edman, Amed Rosario, Kevin Kiermaier) rather than land the impact hitter they desired.

On it went. The Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros and Yankees were shut out in their quests to land one more hitter. The San Francisco Giants added only Mark Canha while subtracting Jorge Soler. Most contenders filled their bullpen needs, but it’s not as if the 2016 versions of Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller were available. Some of the relievers, notably Estévez and Scott, should prove good additions. But the New York Mets, who kept their top prospects while adding four relievers as well as righty Paul Blackburn and outfielder Jesse Winker, were among the clubs that essentially just subbed out bodies in their bullpen.

This is not to make excuses for the teams that failed to do more. Preller, with his acquisitions of right-hander Dylan Cease in spring training, then Arráez in May, then relievers Jason Adam and Scott at the deadline, proved big moves are possible, if the head of baseball operations is daring enough.

Some teams, to be sure, warrant scrutiny. The White Sox, for failing to make a bigger score while parting with three major leaguers (Erick Fedde, Michael Kopech and Tommy Pham) in their deal with the Cardinals and Dodgers. The Oakland A’s, who could have exploited the hot relief market by trading Mason Miller, even after his pinky injury. The Minnesota Twins, for acquiring only Trevor Richards, a mediocre setup type. The Los Angeles Angels and Colorado Rockies, both of which limited their activity mostly to trading relievers.

The Angels, under owner Arte Moreno, operate in their own insular universe, with their long-term plan extending only to the next day’s lineup. The Rockies are just as bizarre, seeming to take pride in being conscientious objectors at the deadline.

The acts of those teams are tired. But for most other clubs, the deadline offered limited opportunity, one way or the other. Time will tell if the Astros overpaid for lefty Yusei Kikuchi, if Preller did the same for relievers Scott, Adam and Bryan Hoenig, if other teams, in trying to fix their bullpens, also went too far. But the high prices simply reflected supply and demand.

Just this once, cut your GM some slack. There was only so much quality to be had.

(Top photo: Rich Storry/Getty Images)