More on the pitching market and Mark Trumbo

The pitching dominoes are falling fast and the Winter Meetings don't officially begin until Monday.

You just knew teams would act aggressively once J.A. Happ came off the board.

But seriously ...

Jordan Zimmermann signs a five-year, $110 million contract with the Tigers and a day later is accused of settling too fast. He's a filthy-rich bargain compared to David Price, who agreed yesterday to a seven-year, $217 million deal with the Red Sox.

The annual average value of Price's contract is a whopping $31 million, tied with Miguel Cabrera for the highest in baseball history. But Zack Greinke could exceed it later this week after choosing between the Dodgers and Giants.

As if we needed another reminder why it's so important to draft and develop your own pitching. To keep the arms healthy.

If you listen closely, you actually can hear Wei-Yin Chen's price going up.

There's a lot to be said for putting your money where your bullpen is, such as re-signing Darren O'Day and adding another reliever via free agency if you can't or won't give out these massive contracts to starters. Relievers are handling a heavier load these days. They can cover for a lot of sins. However, the Orioles can't ignore their rotation. They can't plug a journeyman into the back end and be done.

I've been pushing for them to re-sign O'Day, but they also need to grab one of the second-tier starters. I never considered Zimmermann on that level. More like Doug Fister, Scott Kazmir or Yovani Gallardo.

Price is 104-56 with a 3.09 ERA in eight major league seasons, but he's 2-7 with a 5.12 ERA in 14 playoff games, including eight starts. Both wins have come in relief.

The Orioles beat Price in Game 3 of the 2014 American League Division Series, though he held them to two runs over eight innings. Yes, Bud Norris shut out the Tigers on two hits over 6 1/3 innings.

Price, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander started for the Tigers in the ALDS, leading to this tweet last night from Peter Gammons:

Note from Baltimore:the 3 Tiger pitchers the O's beat in the '14 ALDS are now signed for $607M

-- Peter Gammons (@pgammo) December 1, 2015

Price is 8-4 with a 2.65 ERA in 19 regular season starts against the Orioles and 4-0 with a 3.24 ERA in eight starts at Camden Yards. He went 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA in two starts versus the Orioles this season, allowing two runs and striking out 20 batters in 14 innings.

The Red Sox are winning the offseason, as they've done in the past. The Padres won it last winter, unless it was the White Sox. I forget who accepted the trophy.

Remember when the Marlins won it? Yeah, those were good times.

Acquiring Mark Trumbo won't allow the Orioles to leapfrog the Red Sox, but it certainly has stirred up emotions among fans here. Judging by the comments last night, it doesn't seem to be a popular move.

I'll point out again that Trumbo's arrival doesn't officially end the Orioles' chances of re-signing Chris Davis. However, they needed to bring in another option at first base instead of waiting for Davis to make up his mind. And Trumbo also can serve as a right-handed designated hitter.

The Orioles are getting two players for Steve Clevenger, who's out of options and would have been a third catcher in Baltimore. Trumbo brings power to the lineup. This deal seems to make sense for both teams.

Clevenger still hadn't been notified of the trade when I contacted him last night.

We're waiting for the identity of the second player going to the Orioles. I've heard they had a choice between two who are believed to be on the 40-man roster.

Trumbo is 7-for-35 with two doubles, a home run and eight strikeouts in 10 career games at Camden Yards. He's a career .267/.313/.511 hitter versus left-handers and a career .243/.295/.463 hitter versus right-handers. His best month is May, when he's hit .283/.346/.556 with 27 home runs and 66 RBIs in 109 games.

Trumbo is a career .244/.300/.464 hitter with runners in scoring position and a .231/.312/.443 hitter with RISP and two outs. He's batting .192/.259/.329 in 20 games against the Red Sox, .317/.369/.604 in 27 games against the Yankees, .202/.202/.313 in 26 games against the Rays and .264/.295/.623 in 28 games against the Blue Jays.

Trumbo is 12-for-40 (.300) with a double, three home runs and 12 RBIs in 10 games at Fenway Park and 10-for-33 (.303) with two doubles, two home runs and seven RBIs in nine games at Tropicana Field.

I also checked how Trumbo's fared against assorted pitchers and found that he's 7-for-19 with two doubles and a home run against Price, 6-for-13 with a double, two triples, three home runs and seven RBIs against Dallas Keuchel, 9-for-16 with a double and two home runs against Ivan Nova, 6-for-15 with two doubles and three home runs against Mark Buehrle, 5-for-11 with two doubles and a home run against Chris Sale, 5-for-16 with a home run against CC Sabathia, 5-for-9 against Gallardo, 4-for-10 with two doubles against Alex Cobb and 3-for-6 with a double against Johnny Cueto.

Trumbo also is 1-for-12 against Erasmo Ramirez, 0-for-8 with six strikeouts versus Max Scherzer and 0-for-9 with six strikeouts against James Shields.

The trade gives the Orioles 12 arbitration-eligible players with the non-tender deadline arriving tonight at 11:59 p.m.