The Los Angeles Angels don't have to wait until Opening Day to sign Mike Trout to a long-term contract extension.

The club doesn't want the annual value of Trout's potential new contract to affect their Collective Balance Tax payroll until the 2015 season, so they won't go past the luxury-tax threshold in 2014.

They recently found out that they can sign him before Opening Day and still avoid penalties in 2014.

The rule changed shortly after Adrian Gonzalez signed a seven-year, $154 million extension with the Red Sox — a deal that was being talked about in December 2010 and wasn’t signed until the following April for CBT purposes — but it’s unclear when it was adopted.