Remember about a month ago when Scott Boras was selling the idea Chris Davis, everyday corner outfielder, to any journalist who would listen? Remember how funny that was?
Well, the last finger on the monkey’s paw seems about to curl up.
Barring injury, the Orioles’ opening day outfield is two-thirds set. One of the outfield corners, most likely the left, will be manned by Hyun-Soo Kim, who the Orioles signed out of the KBO this offseason. Expectations for Kim are modest, but Baltimore’s output from the left field position has been modest ever since Nelson Cruz left town, so whatever. The starting centerfielder, of course, is going to be Adam Jones.
And in right field, the Orioles are currently slated to play…Mark Trumbo?
(Discuss this article on the BSL boards here.)
Mark Trumbo is, by all accounts, a great guy and a clubhouse leader. Mark Trumbo is also all the things that are implied when you lead off a description of a Major League Baseball player with “he’s a great guy and a clubhouse leader.” He has no defensive value to speak of, especially not in the outfield, and is a one-dimensional power bat whose power plays down due to his lack of a quality hit tool or plate discipline. The Orioles have had success in the past turning those guys into productive hitters before — “power without OBP” is basically the team creed — but that doesn’t mean you run him out in right field everyday. If anything, he’s best suited for first base, even though his bat up to this point doesn’t really carry the position. The O’s traded for him and are paying him $9 million next year, however, so he’s got to fit in somewhere.
If not Trumbo, who else in the organization could play there? There’s Dariel Alvarez, who’s having a good start to his time in winter ball right now, and Henry Urrutia, who has already seen time in the majors for Baltimore in 2013 and 2015, but neither are particularly inspiring. Urrutia has probably established by now he’s not a major league caliber player; Alvarez will likely do so this year. Old friend L.J. Hoes is bouncing around waiver-land at the moment but will probably end up in O’s camp for spring training; Xavier Avery is still in the system; Mike Yastrzemski exists. None of these guys are credible everyday MLB corner outfielders. (EDIT: Beyond Alvarez, the two most likely candidates would be Nolan Reimold, and Joey Rickard.)
The trade market would be the place for the Orioles to look if they had anything left in the farm system to deal of particular merit. Harvey and Bundy are both either hurt or returning from injury; Gausman is the only chance the O’s rotation has of producing a great starter this year, and the bloom is firmly off the Christian Walker rose. The Brewers are eager to trade Ryan Braun by all reports, but what would that deal even look like? And after the big signing to retain Davis this offseason, it seems unlikely that ownership would approve of adding Braun’s contract to the payroll, PED issues aside.
That applies to free agency, too, though given that the Orioles aren’t going to want to spend their 14th overall pick on Dexter Fowler anymore than on Yovani Gallardo, the guys we’re really looking at are the fringe major leaguers. If I had to guess, Duquette’s sensibilities lead him most obviously to a guy like Pedro Alvarez — another dude with huge power and huge holes everywhere else in his game. And if you’ve got a roster with Mark Trumbo, Pedro Alvarez, and Chris Davis on it for your 1B, DH, and RF holes, you lose the least defensive value by playing Chris Davis in right, which he’s already done occasionally over the past couple years, and probably Alvarez at first. Probably. That’s a really unfortunate choice to have to make defensively. (EDIT: My BSL colleague Chris Stoner argued that if Alvarez was added, Trumbo should be the 1st baseman, with Alvarez at DH.)
That’s assuming you value atomized, specific defensive value in a vacuum though. You might instead want to maximize the quality of your infield — and outside of the question of 1B, the Orioles still have a very fine defensive infield — and take the hit to the corner outfield defense, especially if it means the guy you just invested $161 million in stays happier. In which case sure, RF Mark Trumbo or Pedro Alvarez. I think I probably take Alvarez in that situation, but I’d need to spend Spring Training watching the two to be sure.
Whatever happens the rest of this spring, Orioles fans are once again going to long for the days when Nick Markakis patrolled right. Even when he lost a step, Markakis was consistent — and consistency and technical proficiency make up for a lot of other failings.
In fact, given the trades the Braves have been making recently, there are far worse ideas than calling up Atlanta and seeing what the ask is for Markakis right now. And if you think that sounds ridiculous, just give Trumbo a couple weeks in the outfield. You’ll come around.
Jonathan is a contributing writer for VICE Sports. His work has previously appeared in Sports on Earth, Baseball Prospectus, The Classical, and ESPN’s SweetSpot Network. Born in central Maryland, Bernhardt currently lives in the New York metropolitan area.