Nationals give Mike Cameron Minor League Deal

Center fielder Mike Cameron received a minor league contract from the Washington Nationals, and the soon-to-be 39-year-old outfielder will also get an invitation to Spring Training.

Cameron is still a decent defensive player, and the Nationals are rightly valuing him as a replacement-level player due to his age and recent performance. He was worth 0.4 WAR last season, as his wRC+ was a meager 75. A lot of this has to do with bad luck, because his BABIP was .228, and this led to a .203 batting average. Not even a 10.4 BB% could make up for this low BABIP, and Cameron got on base at an extremely low .285 clip. This means that there is a decent chance that Cameron is worth more than 0.4 WAR, because a .228 BABIP is certainly unsustainably low.

Another good thing is that Cameron still has some pop left, and a .156 ISO is respectable for a 38-year-old center fielder. People underrate Mike Cameron when talking about his career, because he was never worth below 2 WAR from 1999-2009. He has literally been cursed by the Red Sox, because his streak was broken ever since he signed with the Sox. Cameron was surprisingly productive even as he aged, and he was worth over 4 WAR in back-to-back seasons in 2008 and 2009. His defense has only recently taken a turn for the worst, and his wRC+ fell beneath 100 for the first time since the ’99 season.

A change of scenery should do the former Brewer some good, and I could see him being a quality fourth outfielder who would be worth 1  WAR over 500 plate appearances. He’s still able to play center fairly well, and that’s no small feat for a player of his age. He had a wRC+ of 93 in 2009, and the only reason why he was worth negative WAR was because of a weird and huge decline in UZR. I see him as an 85 wRC+ guy with a +2 UZR- or something of that nature- if he does get playing time next season. Nobody should give him 500 PAs, but this is all done for comparisons sake. In any case, the Nationals picked up a cheap, veteran outfielder who should be able to make the Major League roster next season. One day in the future, I’ll write up a post about Cameron’s under-appreciated play, as well as his defensive prowess in center. There will be some unavoidable bias, because Cameron is one of my favorite players. I’m glad that somebody decided to give him a chance, and I hope he is able to give a steady veteran presence off the bench- or somewhere- for this young ballclub.