Trumbo Swung to Arizona in Three Team Deal

"I'm going that-a-way."

There's been rumors for several days that the Los Angeles Angels were trying to deal first baseman/outfielder Mark Trumbo. Tuesday afternoon one of the rumors came true when Trumbo was sent to the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of a three team deal.  The Angels picked up left-handed pitchers Hector Santiago from the Chicago White Sox and Tyler Skaggs from Arizona. The Diamonbacks also sent outfield prospect Adam Eaton to Chicago.

Home runs (29, 32, 34) and RBI (87, 95, 100) increased each of the three years the 27-year old Trumbo played for the Angels, but so did his lack of contact. Trumbo struck out a career worst 184 times in 2013 and had an on-base percentage of .294. The Diamondbacks will look to Trumbo to add power to a lineup that relied heavily on Paul Goldschmidt last season. (The NL MVP runner-up hit 36 of the teams' 130 home runs.)

Eaton was supposed to make a major impact on the Diamondbacks lineup this past season, but an injured left elbow limited him to 66 games and he managed to produced just a .674 OPS. He'll compete with Avisail Garcia, Alejandro De Aza, and Dayan Viciedo for playing time in the White Sox outfield.

Skaggs was originally selected in the first round (40th overall pick) of the 2009 MLB amateur draft by the Angels. He was dealt to Arizona at the 2010 trade deadline as part of a package for veteran starter Dan Haren. The 6'5" left-hander made 13 Major League starts over the last two seasons with an ERA over 5.00, a WHIP of 1.412, and 7.4 strikeouts/9 IP.

Prior to the 2013 season he was named the 12th best prospect in baseball by Baseball American and MLB.com tapped him as the number 10 prospect. But after having success at the Double-A (13 starts) and Triple-A (9 starts) level in 2012, Bauer struggled in his first full year at the Triple-A level. He allowed more than a hit per inning and gave up 4.5 runs per game. A drop in velocity of Skaggs' fastball was considered to be the main reason for the drop in performance.

Santiago started, closed, and pitched middle relief during his three year stint with the White Sox. This past season he started 23 games and came out of the pen another 11 times. The Newark, New Jersey native can strikeout batters with the best of them (8.3/9 innings in '13), but also struggles with his command (72 walks in 149 IP). It's not yet known how the Angels plan to use him.

Kershaw Should Be NL MVP

I'll be the first person to tell you that I don't believe a pitcher should win one of baseball's Most Valuable Player Awards. That being said, Clayton Kershaw should be the 2013 National League MVP.

The three finalists for the award to be announced shortly are Andrew McCutchen, Yadier Molina, and Paul Goldschmidt. All worthy candidates, but none more valuable to his team than Kershaw. (By the way, anyone besides me hate the fact that they announced the three finalists ahead of time? I hated when the NHL started doing it and it's not getting any better!)

My prediction is that Molina will be the winner, which will create some history. With last year's winner Buster Posey, the league MVP award will go to catchers in back to back seasons for the first time.

Molina is one of the best catchers in the game. He's already achieved All-Star honors, a Gold Glove Award and a Silver Slugger this season. His slash line of .319/.359/.477 and a career high 80 RBI was vital to the St. Louis Cardinals Central Division crown.  Of course, Molina's pitch calling, overall defense and dependability in throwing out would-be base-stealers (43% in 2013) is what he's best known for.

But with a starting staff of Adam Wainwright, Shelby Miller, Michael Wacha, Joe Kelly, and Lance Lynn, and the offensive production of Carlos Beltran, Matt Holliday, Matt Carpenter, and Allen Craig, there's a pretty good chance the Cardinals could have replicated their season had the Cardinals used a catcher who was half as valuable.

The Los Angeles Dodgers were abysmal to start the season , due in large part to a rash of injuries. It was still somewhat of a surprise that they were in last place in the NL West from May 6 to June 30. That's a span of 50 games, which some teams could not have made up. However, the Dodgers play in the weak National League West and trailed the division leading Diamondbacks by four games on June 30. Despite being in the basement, the Dodgers trimmed 4.5 games off the lead in a little over two weeks.

Kershaw was the steady hand that kept the Dodgers afloat until the cavalry arrived in the form of healthy players and surprises like Yasiel Puig. The left-hander won his third straight ERA title - his 1.83 mark was the third sub-2.00 ERA since 1997 (Roger Clemens, Hou 2005, Pedro Martinez, Bos 2000) - and his third straight WHIP title with a career best 0.915 (only Randy Johnson's 2004 mark of 0.9 was lower since 1995).

Additionally, Kershaw led the league in strikeouts (232) and topped the 200 mark for the fourth straight year. He was also tops in shutouts (tied with 2) and displayed remarkable consistency by starting 33 games for the third straight year. (He started 32 in 2010). He was also among the league leaders with 236 innings pitched, 16 wins, complete games (3), and had a 4.4 strikeout to walk ratio.

The Texan allowed more than three earned runs in a start just three times, while he ranked 57th in the Major Leagues in run support. He had a 2.12 ERA in his eight no-decisions and the Dodgers scored 14 runs in Kershaw's nine losses. Over his final 17 starts, Kershaw was 11-4 with a 1.61 ERA and the Dodgers went from last place, 6.5 games back, to a division crown by 11 games.

Had Kershaw not been on the Dodgers or a pitcher with half his output replaced him in the rotation, it's likely LA doesn't win the division, never mind making it to the sixth game of the NLCS.

CC Uses Smoke and Mirrors to Beat Diamondbacks

"Smoke and Mirrors", that was CC Sabathia's explanation after he earned the victory Wednesday night despite not having his best stuff. With his fastball hovering at 90 mph, Sabathia fought his way through eight innings. It was long enough for the Yankees to mount a comeback from a 3-0 deficit to gain a 4-3 win on Travis Hafner's 8th inning pinch-hit home run. Mariano Rivera closed it out for the Yankees seventh win in eight games.

After the top of the first inning, it appeared the Yankees would go down to defeat and Sabathia wouldn't make it past the 5th inning. But after he gave up a 2-run home run to Paul Goldschmidt and threw 31 pitches to start the game, Sabathia allowed just one more run and averaged 11 pitches per inning over the remainder of the game.

While the smoke and mirrors might have been said tongue in cheek, there's no question that Sabathia has already learned a valuable lesson that it has taken other hard throwers much longer to learn. When the fastball isn't there, change your approach, mix things up, and keep the hitters off balance. People talk about Sabathia's ability to go deep in games and his desire to have the baseball in big spots. What you don't hear enough is the degree of "pitching intelligence" that Sabathia has. It's the key ingredient that separates the game's top pitchers from the average ones.

In recent Yankees history you can point to Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson as two veterans who it took a while to master the change in their game approach. Both had nagging injuries, but both bounced back when they used a different approach to attack hitters.  In his final season (2008) in baseball, Mussina earned his 20th win in a season for the first time. The prior year saw Mussina post career worst numbers in ERA,WHIP and hits per/9 IP, and the lowest innings total of his career.

Johnson was revitalized after he left the Big Apple. A stubborn mule, it took the "Big Unit" a couple of years to learn how to pitch with a balky back and a lot less velocity. The 17 wins he earned in his second season (2006) with the Yankees was completely misleading. A 5.00 ERA and the worst K/9 IP ratio of his career wasn't helped by Johnson's surly attitude.

If Sabathia's left elbow is healthy or not, if he regains some of his lost velocity or just continues with what he's got, the Yankees won't need to worry about Sabathia keeping them in games.