Remember When The Homerun Leader Was With The Mariners?

Oh look, it’s Mark Trumbo, the 2016 MLB home runs leader who the Mariners traded for a guy third string catcher.

This was one of the many trades GM Jerry Dipoto made during the last off-season. Looking back on it, it was a trade that has most Mariners fans scratching their heads.

Was Steve Clevenger really worth Trumbo and an additional prospect?

No.

During the 2015 season, Trumbo and Clevenger put up similar numbers in terms of batting average and on-base percentage.

Other than that, Trumbo had extensively better power numbers than Clevenger did, but the M’s threw a prospect in on top of that; it didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Before all that, we must remember Jack Zduriencik gave up Dominic Leone, Wellington Castillo, and two other prospects to get Trumbo in a trade during the 2015 season. It was a desperate move to add power to a lineup, that move ended up failing miserably.

It was a desperate move to add power to a lineup, that move ended up failing miserably.

With the Mariners, Trumbo hit .263 with 13 home runs in 96 games. Those are decent numbers but they were underwhelming for someone who was supposed to be a very good power hitter.

His numbers didn’t help the Mariners lineup at all and his sub-par defensive efforts weren’t adding wins either.

Once Trumbo was traded to the Orioles, he was now taking swings in an extremely hitter-friendly ballpark.  During the 2016 season, following the trade, Trumbo hit 47

During the 2016 season, following the trade, Trumbo hit 47 home runs, drove in 108 runs, and was selected to the AL All-star team.

On the other hand, Clevenger only appeared in 22 games for the Mariners in 2016 and hit just .221 before suffering an elbow injury. He would not return to the field after recovery as he was suspended in September for the remainder of the season.

Clevenger is currently on the Mariners AAA roster.

This is not the first lop-sided trade Clevenger has been a part of. He was traded from the Cubs to the Orioles for Jake Arrieta in 2013.

That’s a bad sign for any GMs who want to trade for him in the future. The Mariners should try to trade him away soon so they can pick up a Cy Young Award winner or a new home run leader in time for next season.

There was another player involved in this trade, C.J. Riefenhauser. He was traded to Seattle from Tampa Bay in the Logan Morrison and Brad Miller trade. Since being traded away by the Mariners he was waived by the Orioles, picked up by the Cubs, released by the Cubs, and then signed by the Astros this off-season.

Since being traded away by the Mariners he was waived by the Orioles, picked up by the Cubs, released by the Cubs, and then signed by the Astros this off-season.

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In the grand scheme of things, the focus of this trade is the exchange of Trumbo for Clevenger.  I think it is safe to say that the Orioles definitely made the better deal. There isn’t much debate about that.

If we look closely, we can see that there were some small positives that came from the swap.

First of all, the Mariners cleared Trumbo’s salary  -the O’s paid him $9.15 million to avoid arbitration with him last season.

Another positive for the Mariners was disposing of Trumbo’s defensive liability. Getting rid of Trumbo allowed the Mariners to be more athletic in the outfield as they did not have to play either Cruz or Trumbo in the outfield every game while the other would DH.

Mark Trumbo is currently a free agent, but the Mariners look to have their outfield set with the recent acquisition of speedy outfielder in Jarrod Dyson and Mitch Haniger, and they also seem to be set to go into the season with the platoon of Dan Vogelbach and Danny Valencia at first base, so a reunion seems unlikely.

Next: Mariners Yovani Gallardo's Greatest Hits

This was yet another trade the Orioles bested the Mariners on, hopefully, Dipoto works his magic soon and wins a trade from the Orioles in the near future to make up for this trade of the Adam Jones trade.