A Snake’s Uncertain Path: Will Trumbo Be Moved?
The Arizona Diamondbacks emerge from the 2014 MLB Winter Meetings having conducted a few trades in an intense effort to re-shape the club into a hopeful winner next summer.
GM Dave Stewart and Chief Baseball Officer Tony LaRussa have mentioned in passing that OF Mark Trumbo is still a trade possibility, for the right offer, but on other occasions Stewart has indicated that he is not willing to move Trumbo.
With such a strategy in place, nearly everyone in baseball are still wondering what path the Diamondbacks are on.
The idea of trading away Trumbo, is a tantalizing one with the club still fielding calls on the right-handed power hitter.
Jon Heyman of CBS Sports offered this nugget of speculation in a tweet on December 11th:
Marlins 1B possibilities: Morneau, trumbo, alvarez, morse, others
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 11, 2014
In addition to the Marlins as a possible trade destination, the Cubs and Padres are also shopping for a right-handed bat with considerable power to bolster their respective batting orders.
The Padres are an interesting possibility because despite adding Matt Kemp, they would like to acquire another power bat, and San Diego has the young pitchers that the Snakes desire: Andrew Cashner, and Tyson Ross.
It remains to be seen, of course, just how interested Arizona is in moving the slugger. “Rival executives feel they are receiving mixed signals on that point”, tweets Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.
Trumbo’s numbers for 2014 might look a bit on the bad side, but when considering he only played in 88 games due to a foot injury during Spring Training, things come into focus.
The six foot four inch, 235 pound slugger took 328 at-bats in 2014 while hitting .235/.415/.707 with 61 RBI’s including 14 Home Runs against 89 strike outs.
Fielding in Left for 28 games while also serving as a utility-outfielder for another 28 games he recorded 65 put-outs with no fielding or throwing errors for the games he was playing in the field.
Not bad for missing half a season with a bad wheel!
If Stewart is interested in trading Trumbo, I would hope they get something in return for a player who still has plenty of life left in his bat and arm, and still represents a big threat hitting behind NL All-Star First Baseman Paul Goldschmidt.
The upcoming weeks leading into Spring Training will certainly be interesting, eventually revealing if the Diamondbacks will make a trade or not.