Baltimore Orioles: A Pedro Alvarez, Mark Trumbo Lineup

Aug 9, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates pinch hitter Pedro Alvarez (24) reacts in the dugout after scoring a run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the seventh inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Baltimore Orioles Vice President of Baseball Operations Dan Duquette shared some extended remarks this past week about former Pittsburgh Pirates player Pedro Alvarez, now a free agent.

Was Duquette operating in a wandering verbal state of free association, or was he giving some sort of hint of genuine interest in the left-handed, power-hitting first baseman? El Toro only just turns age 29 in February.

It was pretty clear that the Pirates were backing away rather quickly from Alvarez, not wanting to pay the salary increase that would come from arbitration if tendered a contract. He made $5.75 million this past season, his second year of arbitration eligibility.

Of Alvarez, Duquette said …

"“He was drafted second in the draft by the Pirates and he’s had an up and down career with them. I guess he didn’t have a very good year, so they turned him loose and he’s a free agent.”"

Duquette also spoke of seeing him play during his amateur years and liking what he saw. And we know how partial DD is toward first round draftees. And by saying that Alvarez was second, that is the second player overall in the entire draft of 2008.

In 2015, Alvarez batted .243 with 27 home runs in 150 games. His career average is .236, and his peak number of home runs was 36 in 2013, while also hitting 30 in 2012. The drop off in the past two years is what concerns the Pirates, along with simply dreadful defensive statistics.

But Alvarez could DH in the American League. And in any league, he can also strike out quite a good bit. In his league-leading 36-home run season of 2013 (tops in the NL along with Paul Goldschmidt), he also topped the circuit with 186 strikeouts.

So imagine a batting order with him and Mark Trumbo. Or, imagine if the O’s were to secure Alvarez, only to have Chris Davis also re-sign. It could be Trumbo at first, Davis in right, and Alvarez at DH. The ball would fly over the fence a lot, but it would also be the unholy trinity of strike one, strike two, and strike three!  To be fair, the actual strikeout trinity would be Davis, Mark Reynolds and Chris Carter; but you get the point.

It is terribly unlikely that Alvarez and Davis both come to the Orioles, but what would a lineup look like with just Alvarez as a part of it? And let’s also project a high OBP right fielder, preferably a left-handed hitter. It might look like this:

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Reimold – LF

Right Fielder

Machado – 3B

Adam Jones – CF

Trumbo – 1B

Alvarez – DH

Schoop – 2B

Wieters – C

Hardy – SS

If the Orioles do not sign such a right fielder as envisioned here, but have to rather go with a current option, slot that player in the eight or nine hole and move everyone else up a place.

Here is an extra piece of information about Alvarez, who played college baseball at Vanderbilt University. He and Ryan Flaherty were there at the exact same time.

This is proof that I’m too hard on Flaherty!  In 2008, he clearly picked up the power slack for Alvarez — who just five years later would lead the National League in home runs.