Mark Trumbo Rumors: Seattle Mariners Reunion Or Cleveland Indians Venture?

Mark Trumbo rumors link the slugger to the Seattle Mariners again. A potential reunion between the Mariners and Trumbo was hinted at on Tuesday (Dec. 6) when reports hit Twitter that the two sides were in talks. A report by ESPN analyst Jim Bowden further showed that Trumbo returning to the Baltimore Orioles may not happen after all.

Mariners in serious talks with free agent Mark Trumbo. He would bring serious thump and length to Mariners… https://t.co/s7ut4bCYNq

— Jim Bowden (@JimBowden_ESPN) December 7, 2016

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, the Mariners traded Trumbo to the Orioles following the 2015 MLB season. The Mariners dealt Trumbo and C.J. Riefenhauser for Steve Clevenger, who is also no longer with the team. Trumbo then went on to have the best season of his career, raising his value in free agency by quite a bit. It turned out to be a really bad trade for the Mariners, as the team could have used an additional bat in the lineup as they made a push for the 2016 MLB Playoffs.

In 159 games for the Baltimore Orioles, Mark Trumbo had a league-leading 47 home runs and 108 RBIs. Trumbo was named to the American League All-Star team and also won a Silver Slugger Award for his offensive numbers. Now Trumbo is about to turn 31 and stands to make a fortune through his next long-term contract. Those are the offensive numbers that teams like the Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Indians, and Colorado Rockies would like to see in the 2017 MLB season and beyond. The Rockies have come up recently as a dark horse contender for his services.

The Mariners aren’t the only team that has expressed interest in signing Trumbo, as the Cleveland Indians have also surfaced as a primary suitor. The Indians may need to find someone who can replace Mike Napoli in the lineup, so the team has started making contact with Trumbo’s agent. It is unclear how far along the negotiations have gone, especially with the Mariners making that call as well.

The twist here is that the Mariners have also made overtures to Napoli, with the possibility that he could become the new first baseman for the franchise. Napoli and the front office in Seattle have been talking about a deal for the last few weeks, with confirmation of that chatter coming early on December 6. Now the Mariners are showing up in the latest Mark Trumbo rumors, suggesting that the team is trying to cover all its bases in free agency.

It would be very difficult for the Baltimore Orioles to replace Mark Trumbo in the batting order, but it appears that this is the road that the franchise is taking. A report by ESPN stated that the Orioles offered Trumbo a four-year contract, but that it was lower than the estimated $80 million he was asking to be paid. While there were suggestions that the two sides were far apart in terms of total contract value, it could also simply be that they are still negotiating.

The first time that Trumbo was with the Seattle Mariners, he had just 334 at-bats over 96 games. Trumbo posted a respectable 0.263 batting average with 13 home runs and 41 RBIs in that time. The Mariners had acquired him from the Arizona Diamondbacks midway through the season, but didn’t feel he would be a fit for the 2016 MLB season.

This is what makes the new situation very tricky, because the Mariners appear to have high hopes that he will continue the hot hitting he showed off with the Orioles last year. The Cleveland Indians apparently also hope he can duplicate those numbers. More Mark Trumbo rumors are likely to come out on Wednesday (Dec. 7), with the possibility that a team will meet his demands of $80 million over four seasons.

[Featured Image by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images]