11:20am: Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun reports that Trumbo will earn $11MM per season on the deal, and he’ll also receive annual payments of $1.5MM from 2020-22 in the three years immediately following the completion of his contract.
10:05am: Mark Trumbo had a fairly lengthy saga in free agency, but he won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. The Orioles announced on Friday that they’ve re-signed the 2016 MLB home run leader to a new three-year contract that will reportedly guarantee him $37.5MM (with some deferred money). Trumbo, a Wasserman client, also reportedly picks up a partial no-trade clause that will allow him to block deals to seven clubs.
By signing Trumbo, the O’s will lose a chance to recoup a draft pick, as he had declined a qualifying offer from the team at the outset of the offseason. It’s hardly a surprise to see the sides link up for a return, as Baltimore has long been seen as the most aggressive suitor for Trumbo, who just turned 31. Though earlier talks did not progress, Trumbo never seemingly gained much traction with other organizations, likely due to a market filled with power bats and to the rejected qualifying offer.
Baltimore acquired Trumbo last offseason from the Mariners in a deal that worked out excellently for the O’s. He ultimately provided the club with 667 plate appearances of .256/.316/.533 hitting and an MLB-best 47 home runs.
Though that represented a notable step forward in terms of the number of long balls that Trumbo launched — he was a 30-homer threat earlier in his career but had hit just 36 over the past two seasons — his overall output mostly fit within his career norms. Trumbo has long delivered well-above-average pop combined with anemic on-base numbers (.303 lifetime). In 2016, he struck out in 25.5 of his plate appearances while walking 7.6% of the time, right at his career norms.
In the aggregate, Trumbo is more an above-average offensive producer than a true force in the lineup. But there’s no doubt he’s a quality major league hitter, at least so long as he is able to continue squaring up enough balls to post .200+ isolated slugging marks.
The question, though, is just where Trumbo can play in the field. He has consistently rated as one of the game’s worst corner outfielders, no longer plays third, and is blocked at first in Baltimore by fellow slugger Chris Davis. With Hyun Soo Kim and Seth Smith providing left-handed-hitting options for the O’s, though, perhaps Trumbo will only be exposed to the outfield when southpaws take the hill for the opposition. If that’s the team’s approach, then Trumbo will presumably take most of his plate appearances in the DH slot.
Trumbo’s defensive limitations no doubt played a role in the relatively underwhelming interest he seemingly received on the open market. It also surely mattered that several other major power bats were (and are) floating around. Jose Bautista only just signed, receiving less than most expected. Chris Carter was non-tendered by the Brewers despite popping 41 homers in 2016, and is a rather comparable hitter to Trumbo. He has yet to sign; neither have Brandon Moss, Pedro Alvarez, Adam Lind, and Ryan Howard, all of whom hit at least twenty long balls in their most recent seasons.
Though he’ll ultimately fall a fair sight shy of the four-year, $60MM deal that MLBTR predicted, we did note that his limitations as a player and the presence of the qualifying offer could drive his market downward. That’s just what happened here. While Trumbo reportedly turned down more money earlier in the winter from the O’s — reports have variously suggested that the team made a three or four-year offer of around $14MM per season — it’s not clear that he ever had a chance to make substantially more than he’ll end up with.
Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports was the first to report that the two sides had resumed negotiations and were nearing a deal. He also tweeted that a deal was “all but done,” and Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun tweeted that an agreement had been reached, pending a physical. Yahoo’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link) and Heyman (Twitter link) reported the terms of the agreement. Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM reported that Trumbo received a partial no-trade clause (via Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Shocker
What a STEAL! 3 for $37mil!!
That’s not really a steal lol. It’s not as crippling as people thought it would’ve been but it’s still too much for him
How? That’s a little more than 12 million per year. That’s not very much for someone who can hit 40 home runs
So can Chris Carter and you could sign him for 2 years for 8 million right now….
That’s the only thing he can do though. Those 40 homers, with the bad obp, defense, and base running makes him almost replacement level. 12 million isn’t terrible I guess, but 3 years is, for a guy who isn’t very good
His Defense is pretty much on par with almost every power hitting 1st basemen
Paul Goldschmidt and Anthony Rizzo beg to differ with you.
As does chris davis three amazing defensive first basemen who hit for power
You must be smoking some crack, because you don’t know what you talking about.. he hit 47 homers and 100 plus Rbi’s and he only got 37 mil??? He should have hired Scott boras. Simple as that and end of story!!
Wow! Shocker
geez three years did the orioles have any competition?
It feels like Chris Davis all over again. They outbid themselves. Though I’d rather have Mark Trumbo at a 3yr deal than Kendrys Morales.
They didn’t outbid themselves. Their original offer was 3/41 and they got him for 3/37.5. That’s good business if you ask me.
Not when there really wasn’t another offer on the table that was even close to that…
Although you can’t be sure there wasn’t another one
It does in regard to buying a one-dimensional player, though the money is far more palatable in this instance.
They did not have Scott boras!
Shucks.
Shocker
Can you imagine Davis and trumbo having a good year together. I’m calling it the jumbo crush duo. I’m just being positive.
they needed to resign him because I don’t think they were going to keep weiters
They replaced wieters with Wellington Castillo which is an upgrade imp
What in the world does Trumbo have to do with Weiters?
If they paid trumbo they weren’t going to pay weiters.
Yes, the heart of the order — Machado, Davis,Trumbull, Jones, in whatever order–should be tough.
*Trumbo
So many strikeouts!
37MM? Wow, Kendrys Morales really won this year’s free agent market.
Except Trumbo isn’t better than morales.
It depends on how you define the players. Kendrys hasn’t had the Trumbo kind of power, can’t play the field, and is, as I am quoting from a fellow MLBTR reader, “slower than a frozen turtle.” I think it’s close, but also that Trumbo is definitively better.
This is why Shapiro gets poor grade. Couldn’t make it happen with Encarnacion, so instead of waiting and letting the market play out, signs Kendrys for too much money. And then Encarnacion’s demand drops and he looks silly. Cecil signs with Cardinals. Saunders and Benoit to Philly. Bautista resigned in a desperation move? But don’t fear. Soon to be 34-year old Pearce will save the season. Shapiro gets an F.
It is disappointing how the Blue Jays haven’t been able to supplement a pretty good group of core players
By waiting, Shapiro was able to re-sign Bautista for less money over a shorter period ( you must have forgotten how much he was asking for). He signed Kendry for $11MM/year, only $1MM more than what Billy Butler got. EE had his strike outs go up 40% and is older than Steve Pearce. He wanted a long and more expensive contract that would have had you complaining within 2 years. I don’t think Shapiro’s done all that bad.
Put what ever pretty shade of putrid you want in regards to Bautista, but nobody wanted him. He’s old, can not play D and is declining rapidly.
And when you even mention the fact that EE is older than Pearce… Just not smart. That’s like saying my 16 Chevy Malibu is three years newer than my 13 Mercedes and therefore better.
The butler signing was terrible and he ended up getting released, why are you using that as any sort of comparable to justify the morales signing as a positive?
Edwin signed for less so how does that make Shapiro look silly. Kendrys is way better then trumbo just look at there stats. Bautista contract is great for the Jays because there’s no way they keep him after this year and they save money for the big 2018 free agent class and Pearce is a quality utility guy just ask oriole fans.
Morales was worse in 2016. And has been worse over a 3 yr period. What stats are you referring to?
fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&…
fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&…
yeah those Happ and Estrada acusitions were terrible too he’s an idiot! lmao
The past 3yrs they’re pretty comparable so your “worse player” must be in regard to the almighty WAR because we all know that’s the be all end all :/
Morales had a brutal 2014. Post their numbers from past 2yrs instead of 3 and see what it looks like. Trumbo won’t replicate his 2016. It was an outlier and he hasn’t been remotely close to that line since 2012. I’ll take Morales for slightly cheaper
Ya it’s kind of unfair to morales when you add the year he didn’t sign til July so he missed spring training
It depends, will the older mercedes get stuck in the shop for extended periods of time AND possibly require additional spending to have a replacement during that time? Sorry….hit a sore topic of an aging MB, lol.
@baseballdeez
I think that merely shows you havent looked at the stats of the actual players all that much
Trumbo’s 2016 is perfectly in line with his career production, just with the park change affecting iso (his time starting in Arizona is the clear outlier, with them trying to make him a spray hitter instead of his natural pull skillset).
Meanwhile 2015 is the blatant outlier in the career of Morales (coming from a +15-30 point outlier in BAbip and his being largely pitched around; hence the 2% spike in BB from only a 44% in-zone pitch selection)
Both have a skillset which doesn’t age well, with Morales already being in the retirement-age range of said set – he will decline fast, and I honestly doubt he will be playing much, if at all, in his age 36 season (the third year of his deal) On the other hand, Trumbo, who is starting his age 31 season, still probably has the 3 years at roughly current ability levels (2016 range production) before the dropoff should be expected.
I wouldn’t really jump in joy to have to pay 3/33 to either (the length being the real issue), but if I did have to choose one to give it to there is absolutely no doubt Trumbo would be the pick – Morales I wouldn’t want on more than a 1/8 range deal as there is a pretty strong chance he is done sometime in the next season or two and should be limited to DH over that (oh, and Morales will easily cost the Jays the difference from the signing bonus by needing another player to make up playing time)
The Mercedes is only “better” because of the name. Guarantee that the chevy will run longer, so transfer that argument back over to the baseball.
I think Mark Melancon won this year.
Like the signing is Bautista it would have cost other teams a 1st or 2nd round draft pick. Morales came without the pick attached. Wait to compare Carter, Moss or any other 1B/DH type to see if Morales was overpaid.
Also remember Morales numbers didn’t come in the AL East.
What’s gonna happen with Mancini? could he be one of the guys that platoons with either Kim or Smith, or is he destined for the minors?
I think they look to trade him. He has nothing left to prove in the minors and he has never played the outfield. He could land them a decent prospect or a back of the rotation starter.
That is the biggest need now a number 4 starter
And a 1 and a 2
A number 3 and 5 wouldn’t hurt either
I believe he will DH vs lefties with Trumbo in RF
Hopefully they trade him to Cincy as part of a package for Hamilton. Hamilton can lead off and play right or move Jones to right
Cincy is set at 1B until like 2021
Oriole’s won that by a landslide
Mark Trumbo doesn’t get rave reviews at 1st base or the outfield
Davis plays first and Seth Smith can play right against right handers with Trumbo DHing
He’s no Pete O’Brien
O’s line up:
Jones CF
Smith RF
Machado 3rd
Davis 1st
Trumbo DH
Kim LF
Schoop 2nd
Castillo C
Hardy SS
Bench –> Joesph C ;Flaherty inf ; Mancini 1st/DH and Rickard or Aneurny Tavarez OF
U should write that down and give it to buck so he can use it to wipe himself
I don’t know, Buck seems like a triple ply kind of dude.
I am smarter than Buck
Would you use Britton in the playoffs pgmitchell? If the answer is yes, you are in fact smarter than buck
wonder if he would have been better off taking the qo and entering the market again next year without the pick attached.
I don’t think either he or his agent wanted to bet on him repeating the year he had.
The other most projectable destination, Colorado, had already blown their QO on Desmond. I just don’t feel other teams would hold him in as high of value at this time as either of them. He could have signed a shorter deal, as well.
Who’s going to DH vs lefties if not Trumbo?
Nevermind it would be Macini I would think
Why has every slugger the past two offseasons not named Edwin Encarnacion or Justin Upton (who doesn’t count because the Padres didn’t even try to re-sign him beyond extending the QO) ended up re-signing with their original teams? Teams seem really hesitant to give up draft picks for sluggers these days.
Because everybody hits home runs right now. Freddy Galvis hit 20 homers last year. Jedd Gyorko hit 30 and is probably a bench player in 2017. Power just isn’t as valuable as it once was. There were 113 players who hit 20+ homers in 2016.
did the mets misread this market or what?! i know cespedes was the best player on the market but you could have gotten EE and Trumbo for barely 3/4 of what theyre paying cespedes.
Except cespedes is much better than trumbo. And EE got a deal that wasn’t too far off of what cespedes got. Also EE and trumbo don’t play corner outfield. (Trumbo does, but he’s awful)
i was careful to point out that cespedes was in fact the best available. player. but EE got 60 million, Trumbo just got 37. I recognize that cespedes is better but those two players combined would be more valuable then cespedes and 13 million cheaper. picking up bruce’s option feels like a massive misplay, even if they didn’t get yoenis back, for 13 milion they could have gotten just about any of these 1 dimensional sluggers.
20/20 hindsight. At the time the Mets had to make the decision on Bruce, who knew all these players would go for less? At the time, it looked like fair value. I do agree, it doesn’t now.
also shouldn’t have picked up bruce’s option
but at 32 per year instead of 27 for 3 years and position doesn’t work
I think this is good for the O’s so long as they don’t plan on using him in the field and pretty much limit him to DH with the odd day at RF/1B to give someone a rest.
Also seems like the days of big contracts for the one dimensional power hitters are all but gone, before the offseason started I expected Bautista, Trumbo and Edwin to sign for a lot more than that have gotten. Interested to see what carter will get now. Not that I’m complaining because I think players who are versatile are much more valuable to a team than those who do nothing but hit homers.
Question is whether Trumbo would have been better off accepting the QO of $17.2M for one year versus $37.5M for 3 years.
Anybody else starting to get the smell of owners collusion this off season ? Seems like a lots of big names staying out for lower than projected values. Odd
It’s not odd. Those players either offer limited skills, or are declining due to age. Take Trumbo’s 2015 season and decide how much you want to pay for him. EE had his strikeouts go up significantly (warning sign) and is getting up there in age. Carter strikes out a ton and is terrible in the field. Weiters is a poor pitch framer (trendy stat of the year) and doesn’t offer much offensively. I wouldn’t be in a rush to sign them, either. I’d be looking for alternatives.
There is just a large supply, not as much demand, and a changing understanding of what is valuable. Some of these guys also have the QO on them.
Isn’t the reliever market enough to quash any idea of collusion?
Teams are becoming better at evaluating a players true worth. There was a time when dingers were everything – but now, we are able to better quantify the value of OBP, baserunning and defense.
All of the sluggers who are seeing their earning potential shrink, have serious flaws.
Part of the issue is there are so many one dimensional guys on this years market. We’ve seen guys get paid handsomely when they provide more than just power. The four huge NL contracts went to above average hitters that can also play average to above average def. Teams are also learning that low obp, big power, high K players age terribly. I firmly believe you will continue to see DHs only receiving EE type contract if they are top 10-20 well rounded hitters.
This is a reflection of the actual value of the player. The days of paying for past production of a declining older player are rightfully being corrected. Not so much a reflection of Trumbo himself who I think will provide good value for the deal but of a market correction overall.
I’ll agree with you in general, but maybe not on Trumbo. I feel a blanket statement denies the reality that Trumbo actually might have jumped his power a bit. There’s no reason to feel he cant sustain that part of his game for a few seasons. Nothing else really changed…and I feel that might be what limited his market. His skill set limited him…some parks would curtail the power a little bit as well. Lumping him in with, say, Jose Bautista might not be fair. Trumbo also had a slug of similar skilled players on the market that gave teams other contract options. Then there’s the QO attachment as well.
The problem with “rightfully” in your comment is that most players in their primes are far underpaid, relatively speaking due to team control and arbitration years. Players rely upon getting “overpaid” to make up for lost opportunity.
Completely agree. But from a GM’s point of view why should they pay for past production? In a true sense of value most contracts should decline in value over the years instead of increasing. For example a 28 yr old signing a deal should receive the highest annual salary in year 1 and have it decline as he gets into his 30s
very good deal…. if he’s at first, in the outfield he’s awful
He’s not gonna play first with Davis on the team
@ biasisrelitive
They could slot him at DH.
really interesting how a player with his power only gets that much. Real sign of the type of players teams are looking for nowadays
I’m a Orioles fan so obviously I’m glad he’s back. I just wish they would sign a lead off hitter with speed. Adam Jones did a pretty good job at lead off but he belongs down in the lineup. They haven’t had a true lead off guy since Brian Roberts.
Last year at this time, the O’s signed Chris Davis for 7 years, $161 million. I know there is deferred money, so, let’s say Davis has about 6 years, $140 million left on his deal.
Davis is almost exactly two MONTHS younger than Trumbo.. They are both born in 1986. Trumbo just turned 31 in January and Davis turns 31 in March.
Trumbo is getting $37.5 million over three years ($12.5 M a year for three years).
David is getting $140 million over the next six years — with deferred money factored in, call it $135 M — so $22.5 million a year FOR SIX YEARS.
So, Trumbo is only worth 1/2 as much money per year for 1/2 as many years as Davis.
Amazing.
Aren’t they basically the same guy? Yes, Davis is a good defensive 1B and Trumbo is a pretty lousy defensive OF’er. But, I would argue Trumbo is, at worst, a very comparable hitter.
I am not saying Trumbo got screwed — just had bad timing in a year with a lot of hulking 1B/DH/Bad corner OF types on the market — but this sure make Davis look like a very lucky guy that he came up for free agency a year ago.
Davis is a solid base runner and defender, and is more selective at the plate. Trumbo is none of those; that being said, Davis isn’t worth close to what he signed for.
Davis was a huge overpay, no doubt about it. Is he better than Trumbo…yes…because he has enough of a glove to stick at 1B. I hated his signing before the ink was dry because he was a year removed from <.200 BAA and lackluster numbers. Too bad the O's bid against themselves.
It’s not a bad deal for either side. But the repricing of the one-dimensional slugger continues.
He’s perfect for that ballpark. Three years of Trum-bombs coming up.
He led league in HRs last year or close to it. That’s a bargain for that many homers in your ballpark. What did the last player to hit 40 HRs in contract year get?
Chris Carter hit 41 this year and didn’t even get tendered a contract by the brewers
Someone is going to steal CC, pay him peanuts (comparably) and he could be a bat off the bench and/or a better than typical replacement player if/when the starter goes down.
WE ALREADY KNEW THIS IT WAS REPORTED YESTERDAY! This site does this all the time we know the guy signed then days or weeks later they repost it. Just mire click bate non sense. Ridiculous. I remember this site used to be reputable. Them days r gone.
They post about a topic when they hear about it, then post again when the team announces the move; its necessary and isn’t click bait.
I never comment but just have to say that they are merely reposting to show that the team announced it. Also a 40 man decision was made. Deals are not always a sure thing i.e. Dexter Fowler last year. Just because the sources say it’s a done deal doesn’t mean the team has confirmed. The writers of this site are simply doing their job.
They posted again after THEY first reported it yesterday because the team announced it
What on earth are you even talking about? We simply pushed the post to the top of the page to show the updated information, as we have long done. This is still the original post. A reported deal is not the same thing as an announced deal. It’s an important facet of the story.
The idea that this is click bait is beyond absurd. Are you mad at, say, CNN for “reposting” that the president was sworn in today? I mean, we already knew he won!
So Chris Davis made $161, while Trumbo gets $37 mill. Makes all kinds of sense…. lol
Colorado missed their chance big fella might have hit 60 there
Colorado is idiotic. They signed Desmond to be a below average offensive 1st baseman to 70 mill.
Couldn’t agree more. I wish someone would do analyses of teams and their successful draft picks and FA signings over the past 10 years to see which teams are making the better decisions in terms of bang for your buck. It seems some teams, like Colorado, are just perennial idiots on both drafting and FA pick-ups.
I think every article’s comment section in the past month have had at least one “rave reviews” comment. Should just rename the site rave reviews.
Arrieta will be a Yankee in 2018 & will get shelled like he used to when he was with Baltimore.