Fantasy Fare: The Trouble with Trumbo

Mark Trumbo singles in his Mariners debut on Thursday night. (AFP)American League-only pools got their first significant in-season addition to the waiver wire late Wednesday when the Diamondbacks traded 1B-OF Mark Trumbo to Seattle as part of an otherwise inconsequential six-player swap. But how significant is it, really? At first glance, adding Trumbo (who was hitting .259 with nine HRs and 23 RBIs for Arizona) would seem like a big deal for the M’s. However, the red flag here, as laid out in more detail by Dave Cameron at Fangraphs, is that despite his power, Trumbo is still a bad OBP hitter (.297) now playing on a bad OBP team (.297). And while he no doubt will contribute some HRs (though maybe not as many as you’d hoped for, given the move from to Safeco from Chase Field), the big RH bat may be wanting for base-runners to drive in ahead of him — especially as he is hitting fifth, behind both Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager. In other words, unless you have a gaping hole in your roster, don’t overbid on Trumbo this week. He’s just as liable to disappoint.

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