Major League Baseball

Trading for Trumbo shows Seattle GM won't go down without a fight

Published Jun. 3, 2015 9:08 p.m. ET

Ken Rosenthal

The Mariners had to do something — as I wrote earlier Wednesday, their offense is hideous. Frankly, I thought they might do the typical struggling-team thing and fire hitting coach Howard Johnson. They came up with a better solution on Wednesday, acquiring slugger Mark Trumbo.

The deal cost the M’s catcher Welington Castillo, right-hander Dominic Leone and two prospects, one of whom is the intriguing nephew of Vladimir Guerrero. In addition to Trumbo, the Mariners acquired left-hander Vidal Nuno to help a pitching staff that currently is dealing with a number of injuries.

The outcome of the deal likely will hinge short term on whether Trumbo, 29, helps revive the Mariners and long term on the development of outfielder Gabby Guerrero, 21, with the D-backs. Guerrero, who had been the M’s seventh-best prospect according to Baseball America, was batting .215 with a .567 OPS at Double-A.

Some in the industry already are saying that the D-backs did not get enough for Trumbo, whose right-handed power is rare in today’s game. Trumbo is earning $6.9 million this season, and under club control for one more year. But the D-backs had no place for him — third baseman Jake Lamb is expected to come off the disabled list late next week, likely forcing Yasmany Tomas to the outfield.

Thus, Trumbo was an obvious trade candidate, and the D-backs’ need for a catcher due to the season-ending loss of Tuffy Gosewisch further motivated this deal. But three days ago, when I asked D-backs general manager Dave Stewart about Trumbo, he acted as if I wanted to know whether he would trade his firstborn child.

Stewart only has been on the job since last September, but I’ve got to hand it to him. His response was classic GM-speak, well-crafted subterfuge. Heck, Stew probably had the deal half-done as we spoke.

“With all of our players, if you overwhelm me with something, I’ve got to listen,” Stewart said. “I guess most people would say the trade deadline is where we’ll find the best value. But at this moment, Mark Trumbo is my guy. He gives us something in our lineup that none of our other guys do other than (Paul) Goldschmidt — a guy who can hit the ball out of the ballpark. (David) Peralta does when he plays. But right now, our main home-run threats are Goldschmidt and Trumbo.”

Were.

The Mariners — losers of five straight, nine-and-a-half games out in the AL West and 27th in the majors in runs per game — made this move partly out of desperation. The question is whether adding Trumbo’s .298 career on-base percentage to a team with a .298 on-base percentage is an actual solution.

Trumbo’s defense in the outfield, too, is questionable, but the M’s can use him not just in the corners, but also at first base and DH. The middle of their lineup — Nelson Cruz, Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager — now looks even more imposing, though it sure would be helpful if Cano snapped out of his season-long slump.

Whatever, this is a team that entered Tuesday with a .580 OPS in left field, thanks to Dustin Ackley, Rickie Weeks and Co.

Beggars can’t be choosers.

What did the M’s give up? They acquired Castillo from the Cubs a little more than two weeks ago, but he never was going to play much behind Mike Zunino. Leone, a reliever, pitched well as a rookie last season, but was struggling this season at Triple-A. Guerrero, the better of the two prospects in the deal — infielder Jack Reinheimer is the other — is the one who could haunt Seattle.

No matter.

General manager Jack Zduriencik has been on the job since October 2008, and Lloyd McClendon is his third manager. A change in GMs certainly is possible if the Mariners do not win this season, but Zduriencik demonstrated Wednesday that if he goes down, he will go down swinging.

Frankly, he had little choice.