On a Tuesday night when the signing of David Price was the spotlight of the baseball world, the Orioles made a small, but symbolic trade with the Mariners. A deal that sent OF/1B Mark Trumbo to Baltimore, as well as a lefty reliever, in exchange for catcher Steve Clevenger. The Mariners decided to trade away the big righty because he was going to be non tendered on Wednesday, but the O’s of course decided to tender Trumbo’s contract. In case Baltimore doesn’t re-sign Chris Davis, Trumbo will be the first baseman in 2016, but if Davis is brought back, then Trumbo will most likely be the full-time DH. With the slugging right hander coming at a cheap price, he could very well be the 2014 Nelson Cruz of 2016.
Trumbo may strike out a lot more than he walks, and he may have an extremely low OBP, but he sure has some pop, which brings excitement to any team he is a part of. In his three full seasons with the Angels, he managed to get named to one all-star team and finish 2nd in the AL ROTY Award voting. Before being traded to Arizona for the 2014 season, he was averaging over 30 homers a year, along with 26 doubles, helping him to reach a slugging percentage of .473. Since, he hasn’t exactly put up the same numbers, but it hasn’t been a total drop-off either. In 2014, he only played in 88 games, but this past year, he managed to appear in 142, splitting time between the M’s and D-backs. After a injury-full season in 2014, Trumbo drove 22 balls over the fence, while producing a SLG% of .449. According to the numbers, Mark was somewhat valuable when putting on the uniform, as his OWn% (team’s winning % if there were 9 of that player in the lineup) was above .500 compared, to it being below .500 in 2013-2014.
However, the return of Chris Davis could mean hit or miss for a successful season of Mark Trumbo. The newly acquired slugger would fit well behind Davis in the lineup, as Mark would most likely see a good share of pitches to hit, considering that Trumbo is a huge strike out victim and although Davis is also one (lead the league in K’s), pitchers would rather throw to a downgraded player than the defending AL home run leader. Overall though, this was a great move for the O’s, as Trumbo came at a very cheap cost for basically nothing in return, as there is nothing, but tremendous upside.
