Mark Trumbo’s first career trip through free agency was a microcosm of the baseball talent market this offseason.
And so, the Orioles retain baseball’s 2016 home run champion — pending a physical exam — at a relative bargain price, gambling, correctly as it turns out, that the market for power bats would sink. Trumbo, who will play mostly right field and designated hitter in Baltimore, may be one-dimensional — he doesn’t get on base or add anything defensively — but that one dimension, the ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark at an elite rate, is something every team covets.
That is particularly true of the Orioles, who rode the long-ball — 253 of them, the most by any team since 2010 — all the way to the AL Wild Card, where they lost in a one-game playoff in Toronto. To re-sign Trumbo at such a bargain price was another coup for GM Dan Duquette, the king of the late-winter/early-spring, bargain-basement impact signing.
With Trumbo back in the fold, the Orioles can still view themselves as a threat in the loaded in AL East, where the Boston Red Sox appear to have the deepest, most talented team in the league, and where the Blue Jays, after re-signing Jose Bautista this week, are built to contend again.
More than most teams, the Orioles have a defined window for contention — one that is open for exactly two years, which is how long they have until closer Zach Britton, center fielder Adam Jones and third baseman Manny Machado reach free agency.
But with Trumbo back in the fold, the Orioles certainly appear no worse than they were in 2016, and with the addition of another dependable starting pitcher and continued progress from young starters Kevin Gausman and Dylan Bundy, they could be even better.
