At least 45 people dead in bus crash in South Africa, officials say
Your inbox approves Men's coaches poll Women's coaches poll Play to win 25K!
MLB
National League

Is Mark Trumbo worth it for the Diamondbacks?

Nick Piecoro
USA TODAY Sports
Mark Trumbo hit 34 home runs and drove in 100 RBI last season.
  • The Diamondbacks lost their bid for free agent Carlos Beltran to the Yankees
  • The Diamondbacks reached and agreement for Trumbo as part of a three-team trade

A lot of things did not go right offensively for the Arizona Diamondbacks this past season. They received surprising down years from some of their veterans, they had trouble staying healthy and they ran into far too many outs on the bases, particularly when it came to stolen base attempts.

And yet they finished the season averaging 4.23 runs scored per game, the fifth-best mark in the National League. Even when factoring in Chase Field's friendly offensive environment, it was a solid year offensively for the Diamondbacks, all things considered.

Still, one of their focuses this off-season has been to find a corner, power bat, and after losing out in their bid for free agent outfielder Carlos Beltran, one of the names that swirled through the rumor mill in connection to them on Monday was Los Angeles Angels slugger Mark Trumbo.

On Tuesday, the Diamondbacks reached and agreement for Trumbo as part of a three-team trade. In exchange, the Diamondbacks would send outfielder Adam Eaton to the Chicago White Sox and the Los Angeles Angels would receive pitchers Hector Santiago and Tyler Skaggs.

Certainly, the Diamondbacks could stand to improve their production in the outfield. No regular or semi-regular outfielder posted an OPS north of .750. Their total outfield OPS of .717 was 10th in the National League, and three of the five teams they ranked ahead of were the Padres, Marlins and Mets, all of whom play in pitcher's parks.

But is Trumbo the answer? He certainly would give them power. At a time when home run hitters are getting harder to find, Trumbo has emerged as one of the game's top long-ball threats. Since 2011, he has slammed 95 home runs, tying him for the fifth-most in the majors in that span. Only Miguel Cabrera (118), Jose Bautista (98), Adrian Beltre (98) and Jay Bruce (96) have more. Put him in Chase Field and you could reasonably imagine him hitting 40 or more per year.

But in 1,853 career plate appearances, Trumbo has a .299 on-base percentage. His walk rate increased last season – going from 6.1 percent in 2012 to 8 percent in 2013 – but his batting average fell from .268 to .234. Defensively, he is better suited for first base than an outfield corner. His career outfield UZR is a minus 7.0, and the only year he played significant innings in left field, where the Diamondbacks presumably would play him, he was a minus 0.6.

Trumbo is a basically a one-dimensional player. He's definitely not a bad player to have around, but the thing about the Diamondbacks is, they have other options.

As it currently stands, the Diamondbacks outfield consists of Adam Eaton, A.J. Pollock and Gerardo Parra. A year ago this time, Eaton was sort of the darling of the organization. But an elbow injury derailed his season and he wound up hitting just .254 with a .674 OPS in 277 plate appearances.

Pollock posted a solid .730 OPS, Parra a .726 OPS, and both were standout defensive players, providing tons of value for the ground they covered in spacious NL West outfields.

Pollock this year was a 3.5 win player, per the wins above replacement metric available on Baseball-Reference. He might have room to improve. Eaton, who abused pitchers throughout his minor league career, certainly would figure to have room to improve.

Parra probably is what he is, but that's a 3.6 win player, on average, over the past three years.

As for Trumbo? He's yet to post a season worth more than 2.8 wins above replacement.

And this is before even considering what it would take to land him in a trade. The Angels want starting pitching. The Diamondbacks would probably have to part with either Trevor Cahill or Tyler Skaggs, plus more, since the Angels likely won't deal Trumbo straight up for either pitcher.

Again, the Diamondbacks put together a solid offensive season despite having a lot of things go wrong this year, and it doesn't seem irrational to expect those same things to improve. Miguel Montero could rebound. Martin Prado could avoid his first-half slump. Aaron Hill could stay healthy. And instead of getting 267 subpar plate appearances from Jason Kubel, they could get better production out of a healthy Eaton.

When you factor in the defensive value that the Diamondbacks' current outfield provides – and what an alignment that includes Trumbo would lose – it's hard to see his acquisition making the most sense.

Piecoro writes for the Arizona Republic, a Gannett affiliate

Featured Weekly Ad