Mark Trumbo has moved from the Seattle Mariners to the Baltimore Orioles.  Back when Texas was desperately seeking a full-time 1B, before the Kinsler/Fielder trade; I was a big advocate of trading L.A.A. for Trumbo.  Instead, he went to Arizona, then Seattle and now Baltimore.  If I'm counting right, 2016 will be his last year of team control before free agency.

Trumbo is a right-handed power bat, and that's it.  His defense at 1B is below average but not horrible, but he gets used as a COF a lot.  On those days his defense is bad.  As a 1B he generated approximately 2 fWAR per year from 2011 - 2013, sucked in Arizona in 2014, but returned to positive value splitting the season between Arizona and Seattle.

This move by Baltimore probably indicates that they don't expect to bring Chris Davis back next year.  Baltimore has a moderate but strict budget that largely prohibits nine-figure salaries, and even most higher eight-figure salaries.  Baltimore had attempted repeatedly to sign Davis to an extension the last few years.  His agent is Scott Boras, so that wasn't going to happen unless Baltimore handed him at least $100 million, which the Orioles were trying to avoid.

Interestingly, if you work down the list of big-big spending teams who could afford Davis' payday, you don't hit a vacant 1B position until you reach...Seattle.  Second choice would be New York trying to find a way to add Davis...Teixeria is blocking him for one year...I'm not sure New York can afford to miss the opportunity to add Chris Davis to take Teixeria's place.

Posted by: Ben at 10:15 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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