Mark Trumbo never really seemed like a great fit on the Arizona Diamondbacks roster. Now, the Seattle Mariners will try to figure out if the slugging outfielder works in their lineup.
As first reported by Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, the Mariners acquired Trumbo and pitcher Vidal Nuno Wednesday evening from the D-Backs in exchange for catcher Wellington Castillo, reliever Dominic Leone, Double-A infielder Jack Reinheimer and outfielder Gabby Guerrero.
Sources: Deal is Trumbo, Nuno from #DBacks to #Mariners for Castillo, Leone and two prospects.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 3, 2015
Seattle gets a much-needed right-handed power bat to mix in with its heavily left-handed lineup. So far this season, Trumbo is batting. .259/.299/.506 with 10 doubles, three triples, nine home runs and 23 RBI in 184 plate appearances. His home run total and slugging percentage are now the second-best among Mariners everyday players.
The question is which position Trumbo will fill. According to GM Jack Zduriencik, he’ll play outfield, first base and designated hitter. Trumbo is probably best suited for DH, which gives him plenty of company on the Mariners’ roster with Nelson Cruz, Logan Morrison and Seth Smith. But other than Cruz, the Mariners don’t really have a right-handed threat in the batting order. Mike Zunino has seven home runs, but is batting .183 with a .613 OPS.
Zduriencik had to make some sort of impact move to boost his roster. The Mariners went into Wednesday’s play nine games behind the Astros in the AL West with a 24-29 record. Of even greater concern should be the 192 runs the team has scored this season, the second-lowest total in the league along with a -27 run differential that ranks third-worst.
Meanwhile, Arizona scores an impressive haul of talent in return for a player that seemingly had to be traded. With Jake Lamb returning soon from injury, Yasmany Tomas was likely to get bumped from third base to the outfield. And neither first base nor DH were options for Trumbo on the D-Backs’ roster. So dealing him away obviously now clears a spot for Tomas in right field. That also trims some money from Arizona’s payroll. Trumbo was making $6.9 million this season and would likely have earned close to $10 million through arbitration next year.
Castillo gives the D-Backs catching depth alongside Jarrod Saltalamacchia and is under club control through 2017. Leone will likely take over Nuno’s long relief role in the bullpen, bringing more strikeouts and upside. More importantly, the team adds two promising prospects to the Arizona farm system. Reinheimer, 22, was batting .277 with a .684 OPS with Double-A Jackson (Tenn.), while Guerrero, 21, was listed among Seattle’s top 10 prospects by Baseball America. He had a .215 average and .567 OPS in Jackson, but has shown power, speed and a good eye in the strike zone during his previous four seasons in the minors.
Not bad work at all by Tony La Russa and Dave Stewart in the Arizona front office.
