Orioles designated hitter Mark Trumbo has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 quadriceps strain and will be out of action for the next three to four weeks, tweets Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun. Meoli adds in a followup tweet that top prospect Ryan Mountcastle has a nondisplaced fracture in his right hand and will be sidelined for the next four to six weeks.
The injury to Trumbo likely means he’ll open the season on the 10-day disabled list. While it’s unfortunate news for Trumbo, that could bode well for both Colby Rasmus and Danny Valencia, each of whom is in camp on a non-roster deal and hoping to make the 25-man roster out of camp. Both had decent chances of making the team anyhow, though an early absence from Trumbo creates an easier path to playing time — particularly for the right-handed-hitting Valencia. It’s possible that an injury to Trumbo could also open the door for Pedro Alvarez, another veteran in camp with the O’s on a minor league pact.
As for the 21-year-old Mountcastle, he has just 39 games above the Class-A Advanced under his belt, so he was always going to be ticketed for the minors anyhow. The loss of up to six weeks, though, will slow the beginning of his season and further delay his ultimate path to the Orioles. There’s been plenty of debate about his eventual position on the diamond, but Mountcastle’s bat has been impressive in the minors for the most part. He hit .314/.343/.542 in 379 plate appearances at Class-A Advanced last year before struggling in his brief time in Double-A. Baseball America, (#71), Baseball Prospectus (#65) and MLB.com (#98) all ranked him among the game’s Top 100 prospects entering the season.
What a Trumbummer
It’s not the worst news in the world.
That contract isn’t the worst contract in the world, many of you make it to be. Get better soon, Trumbo!
It’s not a terrible contract but still a mistake to resign him. That money could have gone towards a Machado extension or a pitcher that Baltimore has always desperately needed. They always had the offense to compete but well-below starting pitching.
It’s a little bit of revisionist history to hate the Trumbo deal that much. After this offseason it’s a very bad contract because of the huge correction. But that’s a little bit like looking at the value of your house after the housing market crashed. We didn’t have a DH last season and we certainly didn’t know trey Mancini was going to be anywhere close to the player he was. Kendrys Morales got 3/33 which put Trumbo’s 3/38 coming off a 48 HR season right in line. His money didn’t effect the orioles getting a Sp. there were none in FA last year and at the time Trumbo inked we had gallardo,Miley,ubaldo, bundy, Gausman and Tillman on the roster. Say what you want about that group but we weren’t going to be adding to that last offseason….Especially not in last years Fa Market.
It is not revisionist history if that person did not change his opinion. It would only be a revision or inconsistent if he liked the deal at the time but now regrets it and complains about it.
Paying him any amount of money for producing negative WAR is a terrible contract any way you look at it.
If I look at it from Trumbo’s view, it’s a good contract.
I’m sure you knew this was going to happen when they inked him right? You know everything me GM lol
Yes, I did.
It’s not the worst, it just made no sense and was obviously a bad deal at the time. But if these are the deals you regret, you should be happy. They aren’t franchise or payroll crippling, just more of an inconvenience
Yeah at least they didn’t do something stupid like sign Chris Davis to a crippling contract.
No, the worst contract is the Chris Davis contract.
There are far worse contracts than the Davis contract. Trumbo is one year in on a three year deal. Let’s wait and see. And re Machado, that simply is a deal the O’s should NEVER make.
Hardly. I think it’s fair to say that Chris Davis is top 5 for worst contracts.
Why would they not sign Machado, when he’s the best player they have had in years? They gave a bad contract to Davis, so why not spend more on a player who is superior? The deal they should’ve never made was Davis.
There really aren’t many deals worse than Davis. It’s one thing to be a fan and support the team but it’s another to be blind. Hey ward and Davis probably have the 2 worst contracts in baseball.
Pujols got a 10 year deal, one month before age 32. Davis is 32 in 2 days, and has 5 years left.
Both had negative WAR last year. Pujols’ deal is worse. Like you said, there’s Heyward. Davis is top-5.
Pujols too. Miguel Cabrera’s is very bad. That could take the cake if he continues to hit like last year.
@JDG
That’s the same logic that Detroit used when signing Cabrera. Best player we have had. Let’s lock him up. How do you feel about that contract? If Baltimore wants to sign Machado, it wont be for the limited number of years that you envision.
Heyward and Davis worst contracts? How does anyone forget about Pujols?
Not the worst news but it’s unfortunate that they’re stuck with him. That’s money they should have coughed up for Cruz the year before.
Wow,this makes sense now you’re a Orioles fan.
How did any of what this poster said make him an orioles fan?
Keep up.
At least the O’s had depth in those positions with Valencia and Alvarez. That makes the blow significantly less serious.
Wishing both the best in their recoveries however.
You really don’t want Trumbo in that lineup anyway.
I’d take him in a heartbeat if he replicates 2016.
Addition by subtraction. Now if only Davis would require TJ surgery….
A Chris Davis for Khris Davis swap would be heaven for the O’s right now, but the A’s nor any team would even answer the phone if they thought DD was looking to offload that albatross.
There’s literally no trade match in baseball for Chris Davis. All orioles fans can hope for is that he can hit 80% as well as he was when he inked that ridiculous deal. Hopefully he can provide some positive value.
Not really addition by subtraction though. You replace Trumbo with another Trumbo. Be it Alvarez or Valencia. The skills are similar.
Clearly you didn’t suffer through watching Mark Trumbo everyday Last Summer. I’ll take Valencia. Or move Mancini to DH and let Hays play The Outfield.
I saw them all. Valencia or Alvarez aren’t very different from Trumbo though. Hays coming off a 4-23 spring isn’t going to crack the opening day roster. Would make little sense for us to have him up for service time considerations regardless of his performance. Eventually our best lineup is going to have rasmus and hays in the outfield and Mancini at DH or 1B.
Sorry for the random caps. Credit talk to text.
I can agree with those points. I still think Hays is ready. I think next year we could potentially see a Mullins/Hays/Stewart OF so finding Mancini ABs at 1B/DH would be ideal. Maybe Trumbo can have a decent season and we can find someone willing to pay a few million of his remaining year’s salary.
Yeah, unlikely in this market that we find a taker for Trumbo. If he hit like he did in ‘16 we might not find someone willing to take the gamble that he reverts back to his ‘17 form next season. Hays, Mullins, and Stewart will all probably be i the big leagues next year but I don’t expect them all to be quality starters. If hays and one of the other 2 turns into a starter that’ll be just fine. Hays hasn’t looked great in ST and there’s really no reason to rush him up and start his clock when he hasn’t played AAA baseball yet. He needs a little bit of time but if he’s hitting down there, he should be up in short order.