Yankees Acquire OF Depth Piece in Cameron Maybin
Earlier today, Jack Curry of the YES Network reported that the Yankees had made a deal with the Cleveland Indians to acquire Triple-A outfielder, and former MLB starter, Cameron Maybin.
This move comes after the Yankees announced early this past morning that they had moved their 5th outfielder to the IL in Clint Frazier for a left-ankle sprain. To take his place on the 25-Man roster, RHP Joseph Harvey was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Maybin, 32, can play all three OF positions, and has been bouncing around organizations for the last couple of seasons, playing for the Angels, Astros, Mariners, and Marlins through 2017 and 2018. A long-term veteran in the big leagues, if he breaks the 25-Man roster, he’ll have made it into his 13th MLB season.
Yanks have acquired Cameron Maybin, who was at AAA with the Cleveland Indians. That gives them some OF depth as he can play all three positions. #yankees — Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) April 25, 2019
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Quick Stats:
Maybin, who’s been with the Triple-A Columbus Clippers this season in 13 games has batted to a slash line of .229/.397/.292 (.688 OPS).
Over his last 3 MLB seasons, Maybin has definitely been slowing down with the bat, going from an OPS+ of 118 in 2016 down to 86 and 88 in 2017 and 2018. However, his defensive value has stayed pretty consistent, and based off the small sample sizes and bouncing around organizations and outfield positions, a dWAR of 0.5 over the last two seasons isn’t bad at all.
For an OF depth piece, and considering how well the Yankees offense has been the past few games during their current 6-game winning streak, Maybin’s offensive set-backs won’t falter this team much if/when he is called up to the team, and his defensive value is solid for being able to slot anywhere necessary.
Here are his Baseball Reference, Fangraphs, and MLB.com pages.
Here is a video about some recent highlights from MLB.com going into the 2019 offseason, where Maybin was recently a Free Agent.
Quick Take:
For a 8th Outfielder (!) that the Yankees have had to grab this season (behind Judge, Hicks, Stanton, Gardner, Frazier, Ellsbury, Tauchman, and Wade), Maybin has the potential to surprise as he has been a solid player in the past.
Not a big deal, especially with the hope that important players will be coming back soon in Stanton and Frazier (should only be out about 2 weeks).
Keeping consistent is key during this time for the Yankees, and Maybin has been consistent enough the past few years.
