TRUMBO HEADS HOME
Mark Trumbo looked around for a few months, but ultimately, he chose to return to the Orioles on a 3-year, $37.5 million deal. In search of a deal worth roughly $80 million, Trumbo met an extremely cold market for limited power hitters (Jose Bautista just agreed to his deal, while Mike Napoli, Chris Carter and Brandon Moss are still in search of their golden goose. Certainly, the first round pick it would have taken to sign Trumbo also played a part in the slow roll). Here’s an interesting article on bad contracts by the way. Just one, cause I have to. Jason Heyward was given a contract for $184 million last offseason. Not saying he isn’t a better all-around player than Trumbo, but is he five times better? I’ll leave the obvious answer to you.
Trumbo played right field last season when a righty was on the bump so Pedro Alvarez could get in the lineup as the designated hitter. When a lefty was out there he served as the designated hitter. It’s likely things will reverse themselves this season. Seth Smith and Hyun Soo Kim will likely never see a lefty, but when a righty is on the bump they will play the corner spots in the outfield pushing Trumbo to the DH role. Joey Rickard, who hit .313 last season against lefties, could see some time in that scenario, while Trumbo will likely see some time in the outfield when a lefty is being faced by the Orioles. Bottom line. (1) Trumbo will play daily. (2) Joey Rickard’s role has shrunk. (3) Trey Mancini went from an everyday role to having a spot in the lineup only against lefties. For more on Mancini read this one.
Trumbo led baseball last season with a career best 47 homers. A limited offensive performer, Trumbo has four steals the last three seasons and has a .251 career batting average. He also never reaches the league average in OBP, the mark is .313 the past two years, so there is that. Still, the power is legit. In 4-of-5 seasons in which he’s had 500 at-bats, Trumbo has hit at least 29 homers with 87 RBI. He won’t replicate last season’s 24.6 HR/FB ratio, and with that fact the homers will fall, but a season of 30+ homers, if he’s healthy, seems like a realistic target for the slugger.
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THIS AND THAT
Jurickson Profar is still a thing? Folks seem to have a love for Profar without really looking at the production. The 23 year old, whose career almost ended after consecutive seasons with shoulder woes, hit .239 with a .660 OPS last season. He was versatile with a capitol “V” playing 17 games at first, 19 at second, 25 at third, 11 at short, 14 in the outfield and six at the designated hitters spot, I’ll give him that, but the offense just wasn’t there after a hot start. He flashed little speed attempting just three steals and produced nothing in terms of power (five homers, a .338 SLG). Guess the Dodgers have been in contact with the Rangers about Profar, though his acquisition would be a terribly disappointing end to the search for second base help in L.A. given that they have been linked to Ian Kinsler and Brian Dozier all offseason.
Tyson Ross hopes to be able to return to game action in late May or June this season. The Rangers took a shot on Ross as he works his way back from thoracic outlet surgery, a year after he made one start. Before you take a shot on Ross though, read that first sentence again. A best-case scenario likely means that he will miss two months. Hard to do anything other than take him in the last round in mixed leagues, and only if you have disabled list spots in your league, so you could replace him on the active roster during your first waiver-wire period.
Why are the Blue Jays and Marcus Stroman going to arbitration? They really couldn’t work out their differences of $300,000 (Stroman submitted $3.4 million as a contract offer while the Jays submitted $3.1 million in the arbitration process?). They could still reach an agreement before having the meeting to decide the direction on the contract dollars.
Sounds like Luis Valbuena will be heading to the Angels this season. A decent player who can do some things, he bares little attention in anything other than AL-only leagues. Even then, not very exciting.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday, 8 PM EDT, Wednesday 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 9 PM EDT PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).