With an offense that is again struggling to score runs in Seattle and a logjam of corner outfield types in Arizona, the Diamondbacks and Mariners have agreed to a rare, significant early-June trade that will send Mark Trumbo from Arizona to Seattle, the teams announced. Left-hander Vidal Nuno is also heading to the Mariners, who will send catcher Welington Castillo, right-hander Dominic Leone and prospects Gabby Guerrero and Jack Reinheimer to the D-Backs.
From the Mariners’ perspective, Trumbo will add significant power to a lineup that has struggled to score runs, as they rank 28th in the Majors with 191 runs. However, Seattle has thrived as a collective unit against left-handed pitching, which is where Trumbo does most of his damage. The 29-year-old is a lifetime .263/.311/.528 hitter against southpaws but owns a more pedestrian .242/.293/.444 line against same-handed pitching. Despite questionable OBP skills and his so-so numbers against right-handed pitching, Trumbo does figure to make the Mariners’ offense more formidable, though it may come at the cost of some defensive value. The acquisition of Trumbo also forces the team to either displace Logan Morrison at first base or utilize one of Trumbo or Nelson Cruz in the corner outfield, where both are regarded as defensive liabilities. Trumbo, who is earning $6.9MM in 2015 and is under team control through 2016 via the arbitration process.
Looking at the trade from Arizona’s perspective, it’s not difficult to see why the team felt the need to move Trumbo. The signing of Yasmany Tomas this offseason gave them a pair of slow-footed corner outfielders whose most appealing asset was right-handed pop. The D-Backs have been playing Tomas at third base while highly regarded prospect Jake Lamb is on the disabled list, but Lamb is nearing a return, and Tomas’ defensive work in the infield has not been particularly strong. With this move, Tomas can shift to right field in Trumbo’s place, joining A.J. Pollock and a combination of Ender Inciarte and David Peralta in the outfield. The move also saves the D-Backs some significant money; Trumbo is owed $4.68MM for the remainder of the 2015 season, compared to Castillo’s $1.43MM, making for a total savings of about $3.25MM.
Nuno has been told that he will be joining the Mariners’ rotation, the lefty himself told reporters, including MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert (Twitter link). The 27-year-old has struggled throughout his brief MLB career as a starter, but he’s pitched quite well in a long relief capacity for Arizona this season, posting a 1.88 ERA with a 19-to-5 K/BB ratio in 14 1/3 innings. Of course, that small sample consists of just three appearances, and Nuno’s larger body of work is relatively suspect. He’s tallied 196 innings at the Major League level between the Yankees and Diamondbacks, posting a 4.13 ERA with 7.2 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 38.1 percent ground-ball rate.
As a fly-ball pitcher, his first stint in an expansive, pitcher-friendly environment figures to benefit Nuno, but his peripheral profile doesn’t exactly indicate that he’s been the recipient of much poor luck. Metrics such as FIP (4.36), xFIP (4.15) and SIERA (3.97) all feel that Nuno’s ERA are more or less reflective of his talent level. The Mariners will hope that he can produce improved results in a more favorable setting, however, and if not, he seems like he could at least be a useful bullpen piece. Nuno has stifled opposing lefties to this point in his career, yielding just .191/.271/.317 batting line in 190 plate appearances. The Mariners will be able to control him through the 2019 season.
Castillo is the most established player headed back to Arizona in the trade, and he will pair with Jarrod Saltalamacchia behind the dish to form the D-Backs’ new catching tandem. That’s a far more established duo than Tuffy Gosewisch and Jordan Pacheco, who have handled the bulk of Arizona’s catching duties this season. Arizona GM Dave Stewart stated on multiple occasions this offseason that he had no intent of adding a catcher, and he held to his word through Opening Day, but he’s since seen Gosewisch go down for the year due to a torn ACL, while a back injury has ended veteran Gerald Laird’s season. Rule 5 pickup Oscar Hernandez is on the shelf as well, creating an even larger dearth of catching options for the Diamondbacks.
Arizona values prospect Peter O’Brien’s bat quite a bit, but scouts have long questioned whether or not he can handle catching from a defensive standpoint. Late in Spring Training, those questions became even more pronounced when O’Brien developed an issue throwing the ball back to the mound. He’s seen more time in the corner outfield this season at Triple-A than he has behind the plate.
Therefore, Castillo and Saltalamacchia give the Diamondbacks a more experienced tandem without forcing them to try O’Brien at catcher before he is ready (if he ever is). Castillo is a career .250/.316/.392 hitter that posted a combined 105 OPS+ from 2012-13 before taking a step back in 2014. All told, his bat has been about five percent below the league average over the course of his career, which is solid offensive output from a catcher. Castillo has also caught an above-average 30 percent of attempted base stealers in his career, though like Saltalamacchia, he does not grade out well in terms of pitch-framing metrics. Castillo is under team control through the 2017 season.
In Leone, the Diamondbacks will acquire a 23-year-old reliever who was dominant in his 2014 rookie campaign but has struggled to repeat that success. Leone emerged from out of nowhere in 2014 to post a 2.17 ERA with 9.5 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a 54.7 percent ground-ball rate in 66 1/3 innings for the Mariners. Both FIP and xFIP pegged him at 3.07, while SIERA was more bullish at 2.81. Entering the 2015 season, Leone looked like a potential long-term bullpen cog. However, he’s seen his control erode dramatically, issuing nine walks in 11 1/3 innings against just seven strikeouts. The 94.6 mph he averaged on his heater in 2014 has dropped to 93.3 mph, leading to further cause for concern. His ERA to this point is a sky-high 6.35, while ERA estimators peg him for a mark in the 5.40 to 5.80 range. Put simply, Leone is a reclamation project for the Diamondbacks, but if he can return to anything close to his 2014 output, he’d be one of the most effective pieces in Arizona’s relief corps, if not the most effective piece.
Guerrero, 21, is the best prospect in the deal, despite a rough year at Double-A so far (.215/.262/.305). The nephew of famed slugger Vladimir Guerrero, Gabby has ranked among the Mariners’ Top 15 prospects in each of the past three offseasons, topping out at seventh this past winter. In their most recent scouting report, BA noted that Guerrero has plus-plus raw power, a plus-plus arm in right field (sound familiar?) and plus range as well, but he’s overly aggressive at the plate and swings too hard too often. Guerrero has baseball in his genes and is a high-risk, high-reward type of prospect; BA and other outlets such as MLB.com (where he ranks fifth among Mariners prospects) and Fangraphs (eighth) all feel that he could ultimately be an everyday right fielder, but the likelihood isn’t great without adjustments to his approach.
The 22-year-old Reinheimer reached Double-A for the first time this season and has slashed .277/.323/.351 thus far. Ranked as Seattle’s No. 17 prospect by BA, he also ranks 19th per Fangraphs and 14th per MLB.com. Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis at MLB.com call Reinheimer a singles hitter at the moment, noting that he has above-average speed and the range/arm to handle shortstop defensively. Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs agrees for the most part and comps him to Mariners shortstop Chris Taylor, noting that there’s very little power and a utility player might be the ultimate outcome.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported that Trumbo and Nuno had been traded to Seattle in exchange for Castillo, Leone and two prospects (Twitter links).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
AZ must of been blown away with the M’s offer. Didn’t the GM just say they weren’t looking to trade him? Possibly Walker to AZ?
Walker would be criminal overpay. I’ll take it!
Never know. Doubtful, but I can’t think of who else they’d get back.
If it is anyone from the organization top-15, I would be somewhat surprised, though Hultzen fits exactly the risk/reward profile Stewart has been targeting. I still think Hultzen is probably considered too much though.
Dude…
If the Dbacks got Walker for Trumbo, someone needs to call the police cause the Mariners got robbed.
Where does it say that?
Read said comment that my comment was aimed at.
From MLBTR, June 1: For his latest notes column, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports spoke with Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart about the possibility of trading Mark Trumbo this summer — a notion which Stewart seems to strongly oppose. “We know there’s interest in Trumbo,” said Stewart. “…With all of our players, if you overwhelm me with something, I’ve got to listen. I guess most people would say the trade deadline is where we’ll find the best value. But at this moment, Mark Trumbo is my guy. He gives us something in our lineup that none of our other guys do other than Goldschmidt – a guy who can hit the ball out of the ballpark.”
–Oh, that foxy Dave Stewart. The guy could throw smoke, but now throws smokescreens.
This trade has been waiting to happen for six months now. The match-up of needs to personnel, both ways, just makes so much sense that I assumed that the baseball gods would just prevent this.
Good timing sell high. Make room for Lamb and Tomas. Hopefully get something decent in return. Can’t wait to find out about the transaction.
6 months? Seattle didn’t have a C to trade until they got Castillo.
Trumbo to Seattle made sense going all the way back to the winter meetings. Back then, the Diamondbacks weren’t looking for a catcher, they were looking for lottery tickets. Seattle has plenty of those. The only reason they went catcher now is because of the Gosewisch injury.
A poor defensive OF with no OBA, going to one of the more spacious ballparks, on a team that struggled to get on base, before they acquired him, “made sense going all the way back to the winter meetings.” You, sir, have a different way of solving problems than I do.
Leave it to Jack Z to always go for the
1st Base / DH Types. When will he learn?
At least Trumbo plays slightly above average at 1B and is a better bat than what the Mariners have there right now.
Since the start of the 2014 season Mark Trumbo has an OPS+ of 101 while current Seattle first baseman Logan Morrison has an OPS+ of 109 over the same period.
That’s why I believe this trade is designed to fix LF. Ackley and Weeks are the ones who will lose AB’s. And our pitching staff will lose outs Ackley would have made in the outfield.
No surprise to Dback fans. With O’Brien’s bat ready in Reno & Tomas needing time in LF when Lamb gets back in the next week or so, this needed to happen.
I hope it is a good return.
Nice move by the M’s. Getting Cruz was big, but adding another RHed hitting power bat will balance the lineup even more. Only problem is, does Ackley or Morrison lose playing time?
Ackley obviously
A bad month and a half, what an awful 10 year contract!
Stewart doesn’t bluff very well.. Just about everyone saw Trumbo getting traded soon.. Plus, he wasn’t in the lineup today..
Him not being in the lineup meant nothing. They had a 4 man weave going on in the OF with Trumbo sitting out 1-2 games per week.
Hopefully some catching talent comes back as part of the return.
the Mariners did just acquire Wellington, plus they had Zunino.
Maybe something like Castillo and Edwin Diaz for Trumbo?
Seattle is short on that. Besides, the Diamondbacks have catching coming up here shortly.
I don’t know why but I’ve always liked Trumbo. He’s got an awesome swing. For some reason it’s one of my favorite swings to watch in MLB.
Certainly one of the hardest … it’s a man’s swing for sure.
Definitely. But not even that. It’s just a swing thats fun to watch.
Remember the Bedard trade….
And how this trade is not even remotely similar?
Cano’s bat will heat up sooner or later.. That contract won’t be regrettable for another 4 years or so..
Apparently it’s Trumbo and Nuno for Castillo,Leone, and “2 prospects”.
When I die. I want Vidal Nuno to lower my casket so he can let me down one final time.
thats a cleveland browns joke.
This still doesn’t have the number of upvotes it deserves.
Rosenthal: Castillo, Leone, 2 prospects for Trumbo and Nuno
They get vidal nuno from them too and I dont know who the mariners traded to get trumbo and nuno maybe walker and and prospect
Leone, Castillo and “2 prospects”. Don’t know who they are at this point.
Even though we know who is going at this point, how could anyone have reasonably expected Taijuan Walker to be in this deal?
Cruz and Trumbo both playing OF in Safeco, yikes.
Why can’t Cruz and Trumbo split OF/DH?
they could. Seth Smith is also in the mix. not like Seattle has a Papi or V-Mart that actually warrants permanently filling the DH spot.
I would hope they play Trumbo at 1st. Otherwise, super yikes
I think it’ll either be him at 1st, or him and Cruz splitting OF/DH duties.
Dbacks acquire C Wellington Castillo, P Dominic Leone, INF Jack Reinheimer, OF Gabby Guerrero from Sea for Trumbo & Nuño.
Guerrero was my guess.
I kinda like the deal for the Mariners. Nothing of real value going back to the D’Backs.
Castillo is a good catcher. This is an immediate upgrade to the Dbacks team, not that it really matters for this season.
Yeah, but hes not THAT valuable. The Mariners got him for a reliever with control issues.
Neither is Trumbo, especially to a team in the NL with a great 1B and better OF options available.
Fun fact: Welington Castillo has a higher career fWAR (6.3) than Trumbo (5.5) in 1,000 fewer PA. You are either greatly over valuing Trumbo or under valuing Castillo.
I think a lot of people are down on Castillo because of his pitch framing. He’s an above-average bat and at least an average defender in terms of blocking pitches and throwing out runners. He’s a nice piece.
He has a cannon
People aren’t over valuing Trumbo. It’s just that he’s a first baseman playing mostly out of position which diminishes his value.
Seems fair then. Nothing of real value going to the Mariners either.
Power is value.
See Evan Gattis
So is catching.
not when you’re a below average defensive catcher.
Hes not. Just framing. Good blocker, great arm quick release
Good thing Castillo is not a below average defensive catcher. Only area in question is a subjective one, pitch framing.
This is just great, keep being you Zdurencik
I like this deal for the D’backs. They got rid of a guy they didn’t really need and in return, got a capable catcher, a nice young reliever in Leone, and 2 “prospects”. Nuno isn’t that valuable IMO.
Nuno is value-less. AAAA type. M’s will eventually move him on.
He’s absolutely murdering lefties as a reliever. I think the mistake is converting him to starter where he’s been average at best.
The Oliver Perez syndrome, and the Ms put him in the bullpen to mostly good results there for a couple of years. Nuno also gets to go to a ballpark that is more forgiving to flyball pitchers.
the dumbest part of this trade was trading Adam Eaton and Tyler Skaggs for Trumbo in the first place
Thanks Kevin Towers!
While Im not gonna defend Towers, Eaton is hitting like .230 and Skaggs has a career ERA of 4.72 and just had TJ, while Trumbo is still a pretty good hitter.
Angel fan here, no it wasnt.
I do not miss that grit loving fool
This is an old, and by now pretty close to false, assessment. Eaton isn’t doing much and Skaggs is hurt, while Trumbo is still trumboing. It continues to be a weird trade, but it turned out not particularly unbalanced.
A NL team with a great 1B trading for Trumbo is a bad decision.
Agree !
2 months of a bad eaton and u think hes done? Hes still young and cheap for years
Wow, Castillo is taking quite a tour of the majors.. I guess Stewart finally realized that O’Brien will never be their catcher of the future but he will be a nice OF bat..
Did this trade just come completely out of the blue, or is this my East Coast Bias showing?
The Mariners almost never leak info on pending deals, so it’s never a surprise to us when one shows up out of the blue. I mean, the trade is a surprise, but we’re not surprised that we were surprised.
Really bad deal for AZ – the prospects are nothing special and Trumbo could have brought back a lot more.
Leone can be very good, and Castillo is a starting caliber C. That seems pretty close to fair for a DH type. What’s odder is that Trumbo is basically a poor man’s Cruz. Not sure what the M’s are thinking here.
It will indeed be funny if they play him in LF and Cruz in RF and wonder why suddenly their pitchers ERAs skyrocket.
Nice, Mark. You took nearly an entire tweet from Dave Cameron @ FanGraphs and repeated it here as your own. Did you not think anyone would notice?
I thought I wrote it as if we all saw it by stating “It will indeed be funny…” – sorry
Poor man Cruz is not a bad thing for their offense. Defense however…
Hell they would of heard something from the astros at some point if Carter started struggling again.
We were having Salty as our starting catcher…. Castillo is an upgrade
Wait til you see him try to hit.
Good in terms of exchanging of needs
Wow Castillo 3 teams in 3 months lol and trumbo’s power numbers might go down.
I suppose this was a mutually beneficial deal, though I don’t love the Trumbo to Seattle fit as an answer for lacking offense. D-Backs make a clear spot for Tomas and add another catcher while taking in a few prospects,and the Mariners add a pitcher and try to get some offense. I like it a little more for Arizona, but when it comes down to it they’re both having their needs met.
Called this last week
Only prospect Seattle gave up that might be worth something is Gabby but from what I heard he is bouncing around from A and AA. Still young though.
Well there goes Goldrumbo, I liked trumbo but just sooo many outfield options, and we can put lamb back at third for a nice lefty in the lineup. Not a great package in my opinion but im assuming Sea is taking the rest of trumbos money?
@Dbacks: #Dbacks acquire C Wellington Castillo, RHP Dominic Leone, INF Jack Reinheimer & OF Gabby Guerrero from Mariners for Mark Trumbo & Vidal Nuño
if gabby guerrero is involved in the deal then the dbacks win this trade. imo.
*and it appears so.
Gabby Guerrero is a 21-year-old outfielder who has posted a .215/.262/.305/.567 line in 191 plate appearances this year at Double A Jackson. Vlad’s nephew had posted strong numbers last year in the extremely hitter-friendly California League.
Gabby has only really hit in a extreme hitting environment in A+ and even then his numbers weren’t that great, seems like he has a lot of raw power that doesn’t play in games
Seems like a good trade for both teams. Trumbo can get some time at DH/1B, the Dbacks clear up a logjam and get a nice upgrade behind the plate.
Guess their patience ran out with LoMo.
Ackley
LoMo has been playing rather well after a rough luck start, and he looks especially strong on defense. Ackley has been pretty awful with an occasional blip of ability. I’ve seen softball girls with better arms.
Trumbo’s defense in the OF is horrid. At first, it is slightly above average. He should play well there if LoMo struggles.
Gabby will be tough to lose. Leone was pitching horrible this year. Needs help with his control and he’ll return to forum. Gave up Medina for a one month rental in Castillo, just to trade him.
If you get something when you trade a guy he wasn’t a rental. I may not agree that Trumbo is the guy we needed, but he has value and he’s a Mariner because we traded Medina.
.298 lifetime onbase
I hate this era of baseball because of the type of players we overvalue for a slugging percentage
Trumbo didn’t exactly bring in anything of value though.
Don’t worry because before too long we will start overvaluing players for a completely different reason and sluggers will be undervalued.
A homer produces a run in itself. Anything else requires a sequence oc multiple events. And they have players with that obp and slugging in their lineup. Hes a legit 800 ops guy for a couple years.
This circus show just keeps getting better and better. M’s have a .298 OBP…Don’t they realize they need to fix this? How can you not bench Ackley who has a .227 OBP? Insanity….
They might just bench him. It’s not like the M’s have no outfielders.
It’s clearly Jack Z’s ego. Jesus, Jack, DFA him already. We forgive you for blowing the number 2 pick, everyone would have made that pick. Move on, let’s start winning again…
The Mariners, are reportedly only one of three teams to have Mike Trout #2 on their draft board behind the consensus #1 Strasburg. Jack Z tossed out his own scouting dept to take Ackley. But I’ll say at the time Ackley was legit. He’s having a Mark Teahen career arc now. The other teams have Trout #2 were the Angels and Yankees
everybody looks good until they get to Seattle..then they fall apart !
I mean Trumbo’s going to do worse by OPS, going from chase to Safeco is a huge difference
Trumbo made a career of hitting gigantic homers in a place where both Pujols and Hamilton saw massive declines in power. I think Trumbo will be fine homer wise. He just needs to stay healthy.
spells the end for Ackley in the OF..Amen!! he becomes the super utility guy now since we can also play 1st and 2nd…yeah!!!
How many super utility types do the M’s need…. Ackley likely gets non tendered in the off season
He might well be released tomorrow!
Well, glad our OF depth is being shortened however the fact still stands. We dealt Skaggs and Eaton for Trumbo which then in turn, we got back Castillo, a reliever, and two prospects, whom I’m guessing aren’t near a Skaggs or Eaton level of production at the ML level. If anyone has info on them and would spare me the time of searching, that would be appreciated.
Still can’t wrap my mind around dealing a pretty darn good CF and 2/3 slot lefty for a somewhat platoon catcher, a reliever and two prospects. Glad KT is gone from that front office to say the least.
Eaton is not doing so well & Skaggs was mediocre & now on the shelf with TJ. With Pollock being the better player, Eaton had to be moved.
Hilarious.
Adam Eaton for 2014:
wrc+ 115
.300 average
.362 OBP which is above league average.
.340 wOBA which is once again, above league average.
K% of 15.4 Which is oh, again, above average.
BB% of 8%, league average.
Totaling a WAR of 2.9.
Tyler Skaggs for 2014:
4.30 ERA in which FIP and xFIP projected he was due for some positive movement as they sat at 3.55 and 3.65.
K/9 of 6.85 Which is just below league average.
BB/9 of 2.39 Which any walk rate between 2.3 and 2.8 is considered ‘Great’.
A .72 HR per nine speak for itself as well as a BABIP of .293.
Skaggs totaled a WAR of 1.7.
While they both are not superstars, I’d rather have Eaton in LF and not waste 68 something Mil on Tomas who will most likely be worse than that of the mentioned Eaton. Skaggs, would most likely, lead that staff and save us from paying for Jeremy f****** Hellickson.
Just because Eaton is pressing and or hiding an injury doesn’t mean that trade wasn’t a disaster. In turn, we dealt away two young would be core pieces for a man we moved for spare parts and two high risk high reward prospects who could very well be absolutely nothing more than depth.
Eaton & Skaggs are both overrated. Neither was going to lead this team. Eaton has returned down to earth & Skaggs may never be more than a mid to back of the rotation arm.
So we trade two USEFUL MLB pieces for a backup catcher, reliever and two unknowns. Genius. Why aren’t you a GM, dude? Oh wait, we already had a KT era.
So smart. Oh boy, where oh where do I start. A PLAYER DOESN’T NEED TO BE A SUPERSTAR TO BE A PART OF A WINNING CLUB. Eaton + a free 68 million is far greater than Tomas. Skaggs, would be the ace of a horrid rotation and supply an upside mid-rotation arm we so dearly need.
Fact still stands, trading for Trumbo in the first place was the stupidest decision by KT. Well, perhaps that and trading Upton for a bunch of nothing.
D’Backs had a terrible GM that made that trade.
I think he realizes that as he mentions it in the last sentence.
Lol, I missed the last sentence.
Not particularly fond of the current regime either, but at least he understands that talent and youth are needed and not just guys who enjoy being covered in dirt. The dark ages are over, but the light is still years off.
I don’t know much about the new regime there, but it must be a relief compared to last year. I think KT would have literally traded all of the D’Backs young talent if he stayed much longer. Trumbo trade was terrible to begin with and was made worse with having Goldschmidt already at 1st.
O’Brien didn’t have a problem throwing back to the Pitcher from what I heard, he had problems throwing out runners. He decided recently he wants to go OF full time.
No, he seriously couldn’t throw the ball back to the pitcher in spring training. It came out of no where & made the Dbacks put him in RF to start the season in Reno.
Now that he has gotten used to & played well in RF while continuing to rake, he decided to he wanted to stay there permanently.
but Stewart has said that report was false, and the org has not decided a perm position
I watched multiple games in the spring in which he was having issues. I saw it with my own eyes.
Mariners’ recent philosophy, collect EVERY DH.
Cornering the market.
Since last year the Mariners have jettisoned Kendrys Morales, Justin Smoak and Corey Hart while harboring Jesus Montero in the minors.
They pick up RBI men, Jack Z’s philosophy in action.
And that works maybe unless you keep batting Ackley in a prime top of the order slot. For awhile Cruz was on pace to hit 70 HR and not even drive in 100
Why not? The Red Sox are collecting corner outfielders and the Dodgers are collecting relievers. Some team needed to collect DHs.
I wonder if the Cubs could have gotten a better deal if they dealt directly with Arizona. The Dbacks obviously wanted Castillo for a while, but never offered anything the Cubs wanted.
Arizona’s C wasn’t injured until after the Cubs had traded Castillo, so probably not.
Yup, everyone needs a starting catcher with a .540OPS. If Arizona wasn’t looking for upgrades until after he got hurt, they have problems.
He said they were targettjng navarro but hes hurt as well. Think they liked tuffys d and catcher is a tough spot to really upgrade.
He’s back now.
Its Arizona. Yeah. They do have problems. They really were satisfied until he got hurt. Whether they should have been satisfied is another question.
I like Trumbo a lot, but where is he going to play?
If he can do it, 1st base would be a good spot.
Cruz is a bit rough defensively, but he is hitting. So…
Why can’t Mark Trumbo serve as a designated hitter in his return to the American League?
Nelson Cruz won’t win a Gold Glove, but his alarming -.36.0 UZR/150 so far this year should regress toward his career UZR/150 of +1.4 (or his 2014 UZR/150 of +3.8).
Nelson Cruz’s 2014 UZR is a pretty small sample size. He also didn’t have much ground to cover in those small A.L East ballparks. His career UZR over the past 3-4 years is more indicative of how Cruz is probably going to play going forward and it isn’t very pretty when adding on age.
Trumbo should be the 1B against LHP. I’d want him to be the everyday 1B but Logan Morrison is probably going to split time with him at 1B on some days vs RHP.
Uzr also takes a ridiculously long time to stabalize. Drs is better
Trumbo is slightly above average at first. He could also play LF in a pinch if the Mariners really wanted LoMo, Smith, Cruz, and Trumbo all in the lineup.
Great news, Trumbo was a poor fit as an outfielder for an NL team. Now we can play Lamb and Tomas together too!
Not exactly sure what M’s are doing. They need another starter…Castillo also helped rest Zunino. I guess it’s not a bad deal
According to AZ Sports Radio, catching was a top priority, plus D’Backs outfield was way to crowded, and Trumbo contract. With the trade it now fixes the outfield, Tomas is a better fit in the outfield and with Jake Lamb coming off the DL to play everyday at 3rd. Trumbo was the odd man out. I was surprise it happen this quick, kinda expected the Trumbo trade at the deadline.
Kinda figured Castillo would end up in Arizona anyway. I was surprised when they traded him to Seattle, and I did like the return. Now it seems that the Mariners are cashing in on him.
So the mariner lineup looks like this
Austin Jackson
Dustin Ackely
Robinson Cano
Nelson Cruz
Kyle Seagar
Mark Trumbo
Mike Zunino
Logan Morrison
Brad Miller
Thats still alot of left handers in that lineup. Five of them to be exact
I really think Ackley loses playing time, not Smith. He and Zunino are the two dead spots in the lineup, and the bench offers no help. Hopefully this might also lead to the end of the Rickie Weeks experiment.
i see it more like
jackson cf
cano 2b
cruz dh
seager 3b
trumbo lf
lomo 1b
smith rf
zunino c
miller ss
Ackley shouldn’t be getting many ABs. Jackson will likely leadoff vs lefties and Smith should be leading off vs righties, or LoMo? LoMo does have the best OBP vs RHP at this point so I could see him staying there. I do like the idea of moving Cano to the 2 hole and everyone up a spot.
Smith/Jackson
Cano
Cruz
Seager
Trumbo
LoMo
Jackson/Ruggiano
Zunino
Miller
Smith/Ruggs get the LF platoon. Ackley can get the occasional start in CF vs tough righties.
Agree….I want Cano presumably batting near norms in that 2 hole
Your best overall hitter should usually bat 3rd. That way he can drive in the two guys ahead of him and get on base for the guys behind him. I can understand it though if Seattle just doesn’t have any other good OBP guys to bat 2nd.
I’ll get all stat wonk for a second and say optimal lineup efficiency places most importance on the 1,2,4 hitters. But all in all the difference between setting a lineup and just drawing it at random is only a few runs a season.
It’s also an incredibly good slow pitch softball team! Its mystifying if the Mariners bat Ackley #2. Thats possibly the most important slot in the order. I’d bury him 8 or 9 and move everyone up
I remember when Dave Stewart said there was no chance he’d trade Trumbo. Aaaahhh, those were the days….
It’s a good way to set up trades: create value and pretend to not be all that interested in trading a player. The best way to maximize their value.
As opposed to the previous GM Towers who would say the player had to go and usually when their value was lowest. Putting himself in the position of lowering their value and forcing a trade (Justin Upton is a prime example).
I like how Stewart works, but I suspect LaRussa is guiding the trades.
The Diamondbacks saved over $3m, landed their starting catcher, a possible plus bullpen arm and Vlad Guerro 2 (maybe, very much worth a gamble) for an expensive slugger who had no place to play. Somehow Trumbo won his arbitration hearing despite not playing that much last year and underperforming when he did. Goes to show, chicks and arbitrators dig the long ball.
This trade the Diamondbacks did very well!
Landed their starting catcher? If they wanted Castillo they would have got him in the Montero deal. Tuffy has not lost his job to any of Laird, Castillo, or Salty. Oscar Hernandez when ready but until then Tuffy has the lead unless another move is made before Tuffy is ready or Oscar…
The beat way to maximize value, according to Sandy Alderson, is to not talk at all. Almost any talk is a tell.
Do the Diamondbacks have ANY idea what they’re doing? There doesn’t appear to be a plan and everything is done impulsively. Last year, Trumbo was the big acquisition and worth a top young pitcher. This year, it’s spend big on Tomas and trade Trumbo for a backup catcher.
They also have 4 utility players on the roster. Flexibility really hasn’t been the issue. They have Ackley, Taylor, Miller, and Weeks
Taylor is back in Triple-A
I was more referring to their roster capabilities…but true..and he’s also covering for an injury.
What DH are they carrying other than Cruz? Morrison plays 1B
Well trumbo now. One of cruz or trumbo has to play the field. Although morrison will most likely sit vs lefties
I see Trumbo playing some first. Morrison is nothing special. What this might signal to me though… And it’s ominous…That Jack Z is bolstering the offense because they might not feel they can acquire a decent starting pitcher…which is where the teams overall long range season flaw might be. Felix is Felix, but Paxton is out…Roenis might not keep it up and Walker is all over the place. Imamura has been injured. Its really a big ? After Hernandez
Who out there has a back end #4-#5 starter that’s dependable and expendable for either Trumbo or Morrison? My thinking is that the M’s need is stability in the rotation. It certainly wasn’t adding Trumbo exactly. I’m thinking maybe this was yo add pieces or make them available to add that arm over the next couple of months.
They would trade prospects before a hitter with how bad there offense is
Prospects seem to be way down the pipe. The offense has been down below norms…they were without Austin Jackson, and Cano was drastically down. Just a normal bounce back would reset the top of the order. Its not like the lineup was projected to be weak.
Jackson is basically what his statline is. He is a bad fit for their ballpark.
Jack Z is just good enough as a GM to be extremely frustrating. I get the big swing approach… But he’s built a solo homer profile because no one gets on base…
Dont the D’Backs know the Angels traded Trumbo to Arizona so they wouldn’t have to see him anymore. Atleast its not as back as the Mike Napoli catastrophe.
Hopefully Trumbo essentially replaces Ackley/Weeks. He and Cruz split DH/OF and the other corner is played by Smith/Ruggiano who’ve both performed as expected in their roles (Ruggiano has had to face a lot of righties so his overall line is poor…but he’s been good against lefties).
Now they need to add a left handed option for CF. They moved Leon Landry up to Tacoma and he’s been hitting well there. I wonder if we won’t see him before long.
Damn – was hoping Trumbo could come to the Cards.
Agree
So let me see if I understand… The team gets rid of another veteran player to rely on a young but unproven core of players??? What do Inciarte, Peralta, Lamb, Tomas, Ahmed and Owings have in common?? None of them have more than two years in the majors and they are now suddenly the solution to ARI problems. Even I understand what happened with Trumbo and why he was sent to Seattle, I don’t get how quick Arizona changes philosophies. Miley was sent to another team, Montero, Trumbo etc. I understand this is a business but sometimes you have to spend money, not ridiculously, to have some better talent. The team is not going to find Paul Goldschmidt deals every year. We lack a front line starter now but a few years ago we sent Kennedy to Padres, Hudson is not an SP anymore and we (Arizona fan) seem to be doing just non-sense things over and over again.