Houston Astros acquire Cameron Maybin from Angels
By Jason Burke
The Houston Astros added some depth to their outfield mix on Thursday, as Cameron Maybin heads over from the Los Angeles Angels.
The Los Angeles Angels agreed to acquire Justin Upton from the Detroit Tigers this morning, and with Upton on board, they decided that they could dump the remaining $1.5 million on Maybin’s contract elsewhere. The Houston Astros didn’t need to trade any players away for the soon-to-be free agent; instead they’ll just need to pick up the rest of the tab on Maybin’s contract per Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle.
After trading away Nori Aoki at last month’s deadline, the Astros outfield depth currently consists of Derek Fisher, George Springer and Josh Reddick from left to right, with Jake Marisnick able to play any of the three outfield spots, and utility-man Marwin Gonzalez relegated mostly to left.
Cameron Maybin, 30, will represent another outfielder that can play all three positions while being more familiar with center and left. Maybin played in just 94 games a year ago, and has played in 93 so far this season after a couple of DL stints. He has had a major drop-off this season, with his wRC+ sitting ten percent below league average instead of the twenty percent above average he tallied a year ago in nearly identical time.
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For the more traditional numbers, Maybin is batting .235 with six homers (career high is ten in 2015), 22 RBI and 29 stolen bases. His OBP is ten points higher than his career average at .333, and his OPS is comparable to seasons past at .685.
In the second half however, Maybin has been struggling. He’s batting below the Mendoza Line at .197 with a .278 OBP, no homers, one RBI and four steals in 22 games.
The reason, aside from depth, that the Astros are bringing in Maybin for the stretch run is to use him on the bases. His 4.3 BsR (base running) on FanGraphs would be tied with the Brewers entire team at number 13 in baseball, beating out the rest of the big leagues by himself. Among all MLB players, he ranks number 17. His 29 steals ties him at fourth in the bigs with new teammate Jose Altuve.
With Maybin’s speed, the Astros can use him as a pinch-runner if need be late in games for when their power bats aren’t as mighty. He will also be eligible for the club’s postseason roster since he was added before the August 31 deadline.
At an Angels game earlier this year they did one of those “ask the player” segments and I want to say that this particular one was “name that song” or something similar. I don’t remember what Cameron Maybin said, but I remember going from indifferent to actually liking him quite a bit, so he should fit right in with the ‘Stros colorful clubhouse.