Detroit Tigers acquire Cameron Maybin from Atlanta Braves

Over the past few seasons the Atlanta Braves have been active on the trade market, and that trend continued this week. The Braves sent Cameron Maybin to the Detroit Tigers. In return, the Braves received reliever Ian Krol and minor league pitcher Gabe Speier. Since the end of the 2014 season Atlanta has now traded Jason Hayward, Justin Upton, Evan Gattis, Craig Kimbrel, Chris Johnson, Eric Young Jr., Andrelton Simmons, and Maybin.

The Tigers will be Maybin’s fourth major league team since 2007. He was picked 10th by the Tigers in the 2005 MLB Draft, and was a highly touted prospect. In 2007 he played in 24 games for the Tigers before being sent to the Marlins as part of the Miguel Cabrera trade. Miami would then trade Maybin after three seasons to the Padres for Edward Mujica and Ryan Webb. San Diego would be Maybin’s home for four seasons before he was traded again. This time he was part of the return that allowed San Diego to acquire Craig Kimbrel.

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2011 was Maybin’s first year in San Diego, and it was also his best offensive season. From that point on his offense struggled, and he was hampered by injuries. In 2013-2014 he only played a combined 109 games due to injuries. Once the Padres acquired Matt Kemp and Wil Myers prior to the 2014 season it became apparent that Maybin’s role would be diminished.

However, Maybin appeared get his career back on track in Atlanta. He played 141 games in CF for the Braves this season, and had his best offensive numbers since 2011. This year he hit .267/.327/.370 to go along with 10 HR, 59 RBI, and 23 SB.

So what should Maybin expect in Detroit? Anthony French of the Detroit Free Press writes that Maybin’s “role at present looks like a perfect platoon partner to both Anthony Gose in centerfield and Tyler Collins in leftfield, which will seemingly eliminate the return of veteran outfielder Rajai Davis in free agency.”

On the Braves side it looks like dumping Maybin’s salary, 8 million in 2016 and 9 million in 2017, was more important than the return. Krol has a 4.91 ERA in three seasons as a reliever. His advanced metrics are equally unkind (5.03 FIP). Gabe Speier is a young prospect who pitched 12 games in the Gulf Coast league between 2013-2014. This past season the 20 year old pitched in 33 games for West Michigan of the Midwest League. In 44 innings of relief Speier had a 2.34 ERA and struck out 7.4 per nine innings.