Could The St. Louis Cardinals Target Mark Trumbo For A Trade?
As we march past the quarter mark of the 2015 Major League Baseball season, we are getting a clearer picture of who will, and will not be contending teams, in other words, it’s almost time for the trade rumors to start flying.
Mark Trumbo’s name was thrown around during this most recent offseason as a possible trade target, but the Diamondbacks front office publicly stated that they would not move him.
Diamondbacks General Manager, Dave Stewart, told Jon Heyman,
"“We are not moving Trumbo. Trumbo is a proven bat.”"
They stuck true to that in the offseason, but things can change during the course of a season. For two teams, things have changed and a possible scenario has presented itself that involves Trumbo.
Fittingly enough, the Diamondbacks were actually there to witness what could be the reason for shipping Trumbo off. I’m referring to the injury to Matt Adams of the St. Louis Cardinals.
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During the recent series between the Cardinals and Diamondbacks, Adams was rounding first base when he tore his quad muscle. He underwent surgery on Friday and will miss at least four months for recovery.
So, the Cardinals will be without their first baseman for the rest of the season and rumors are already starting fly about who the Cardinals will target to replace him. Ryan Howard’s name has been tossed around pretty frequently, but I’d like to toss Mark Trumbo’s name into the mix as well.
Now, to me, this makes sense for both teams. For the Cardinals, they are missing out on Adams’ power. He hasn’t lit the scoreboard up by any means before his injury, but he does have the potential to be a big impact player for the Cardinals. Before he went down, he was only hitting .243/.281/.656.
Ryan Howard is a possibility, but he comes with a hefty price tag. He’s 35 years old and coming into 2015, he was owed $60 million. That’s $25 million for 2015, $25 million for 2016 and a $10 million buyout for 2017.
Philadelphia would most likely retain a good portion of that, but be that as it may, Howard is aging and his production hasn’t been what it used to be, despite a better start to 2015 for him. St. Louis is his home town, but there has been some off field legal issues involving him and his family which may or may not be a distraction for him playing at home.
Enter Mark Trumbo.
The Diamondbacks may have said that they want to hold onto Trumbo, but with Jake Lamb returning from injury very soon and Yasmany Tomas off to a great start to his MLB career, Arizona must find a way to get both of those bats in the lineup.
They are both at third base, but despite Tomas playing better than expected defensively at the hot corner, he cannot take over full time for Lamb. The obvious path to take would be putting Tomas in the outfield and keeping Lamb at third.
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So, if Tomas is (likely) headed to the outfield, who losses out on playing time? David Peralta? Ender Inciarte? AJ Pollock? All three of them have produced well in an ever rotating cycle. So, what about the former first baseman turned outfielder (sorta), Mark Trumbo?
It’s been well documented that Trumbo’s defense has been less than stellar in the outfield. Diamondbacks fans hold their breath when they see a ball hit to right. He hasn’t been terrible, but it hasn’t been easy either. He is just clearly better suited over at first than in the outfield.
Offensively, Trumbo is currently carrying a slash line of .274/.317/.840. He’s making $6.9 million in 2015 and will be eligible for arbitration in 2016. He is also 29, six years younger than Howard.
So, what do we have? A team in need of a first baseman and a team with an extra first baseman playing in a soon to be crowded outfield. Cardinals would get a big bat to fill the Matt Adams sized hole at first and Arizona would clear space for Tomas while putting Lamb back at third. Seems to benefit both sides.
I would assume Arizona would ask for pitching in return. That’s really been the biggest area in need of improvement this season. Their offense is fine on most days, it’s their pitching that has failed them this year.
Of course, there are no talks (that I know of) going on and it is still early in the season. It’s just something to think about as we near the midway point of the season.