LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — It wouldn’t be the Winter Meetings without trade rumors. For the past few days, the trade winds have been swirling around the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Angels. The Diamondbacks need power and the Angels need pitching (what’s new?) so we’ve been hearing of a potential deal involving slugger Mark Trumbo to the desert in exchange for pitcher Tyler Skaggs.
ESPN Insider Keith Law tweeted on Tuesday morning that the deal could end up being a three-team ménage involving the White Sox:
Hearing Skaggs-Trumbo discussion now includes White Sox possibly getting Adam Eaton, sending Hector Santiago to Angels
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) December 10, 2013
An MLB source confirmed to The Outside Corner that the Diamondbacks are not only interested in acquiring Mark Trumbo but shared some insight into the thinking behind the team’s potential acquisition of the Angels’ slugger.
“Trumbo’s power numbers actually compare favorably with Justin Upton,” the source said. “From 2011-13 Trumbo has .469 slugging with 95 HR and 282 RBI. Upton is .473 career slugging with 65 HR and 225 RBI.”
To clarify, the team does not think Trumbo is Upton. There are obviously differences. But the source provided some additional insight into why this deal makes sense for Arizona.
“If [the team] gets [Martin] Prado, [Randall] Delgado, [Nick] Ahmed and [Brandon] Drury for Upton/[Chris] Johnson and can now replace some of that power with Trumbo and keep Prado, etc. the team thinks it is improved. And Skaggs is obviously good depth but [RHP Archie] Bradley is the team’s best prospect and the team has a lot of good arms similar to Skaggs. The team also has depth in the OF and by adding Trumbo, the team would be able to move one.
“Of course this all assumes a deal gets done which is far from a given,” the source said.
Amanda Rykoff will be covering the Winter Meetings this week for The Outside Corner. Follow @amandarykoff for Twitter updates.
