Maybin reunites with Marlins
JUPITER — Cameron Maybin is a Marlin again.
Miami signed the 30-year-old outfielder to a one-year deal, the team announced Wednesday, an early spring addition that gives the Marlins much-needed stability in the outfield and a veteran presence in what is expected to be a young clubhouse.
The deal is worth $3.25 million, FanRag Sports reported. Maybin can earn additional money based on agreed-upon performance bonuses.
Maybin said the opportunity to play every day — he’ll compete for a spot in the starting lineup, president of baseball operations Michael Hill said — and the chance to return somewhere familiar were appealing.
“I drove down here today, no GPS, no directions,” Maybin said with a smile at the Marlins’ Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium complex Wednesday morning. “So it was pretty cool coming back in. It’s like I almost never left.”
This is the Marlins’ first major league free-agent signing in an offseason highlighted by the start of a rebuild, including trades of all three of last year’s starting outfielders: Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich.
Maybin is best known to Marlins fans as one of the players who came to South Florida in the December 2007 trade that sent
Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to the Tigers.
Since then, Maybin — ranked by Baseball America as the No. 6 prospect in the game prior to the 2008 season — never quite lived up to the hyped billing that accompanied his initial Marlins arrival. But he has nonetheless carved out an 11-year major-league career with six teams, including splitting 2017 between the Angels and Astros, with whom he won a World Series ring.
A career .255 hitter with a .321 OBP and .372 slugging percentage, Maybin had a .228/.318/.365 slash line last year. He also stole 33 bases — the second-highest total of his career — in 41 tries in 114 games.
The Marlins plan on working him out in all three outfield spots.
“When we looked at the skill set we wanted to bring in, you want the versatility, which he brings,” Hill said.
Added manager Don Mattingly: “He’s in a competition like everyone else, but we look at him like a guy [who is] super flexible in the outfield.”
Maybin has primarily played center field, and could slot in there in the Marlins’ Opening Day lineup. Prospects Lewis Brinson, Magneuris Sierra and Braxton Lee have been in the running for that job during the first week of spring training.
The Marlins have utility man Derek Dietrich penciled in in left field. Bringing Maybin in leaves two jobs — including at least one starting spot — still up for grabs with spring training games beginning Friday.
“As we head into games here in a few days, our young talent will be on full display and they’ll be given every opportunity to compete and make our team,” Hill said. “But you know in Cameron you have an established guy who has been an everyday player, who has played at the highest level, who has won a World Series, who knows what it takes every day, day in and day out.”
Maybin’s first stint with the Marlins ran from 2008-10. He played in 144 games, slashing .257/.323/.391 with marginally more steals (14) than homers (12). The Marlins traded him to the Padres after the 2010 season for Edward Mujica and Ryan Webb.
His struggles -- relative to expectations -- are one reason the Marlins brought him back. Maybin’s presence allows the Marlins to take it slower, if they want, with Brinson, Sierra and Lee. They won’t be rushed to the majors as Maybin might have been.
“We’ve always said that players develop at their own pace,” Hill said. “As an organization, you have to allow them to do that. That’s probably something that we weren’t very good at in the past, but something we fully understand moving forward.
“That’s why there’s such an importance to layers of talent and depth, so you can put players where they need to be. You don’t have to rush players, you don’t have to do something that might not be in the overall best interest in the long term of a player. It’s a different approach.”
Maybin is both a grizzled journeyman — with specks of gray in his beard — and still in what should be his physical prime. He said he learned a lot from watching Carlos Beltran and Brain McCann be the veteran clubhouse leaders in Houston last fall, and he wants to pay that forward in Miami.
Minutes after the announcement of his signing, he was already on the Marlins’ miniature bunting field, working alongside Brinson, outfield prospect Monte Harrison and others.
“I’m just here to try to help out, to help lead these guys in the right direction and create a culture of togetherness,” Maybin said.