Per Andrew Baggarly and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Giants are “finalizing” an agreement to bring outfielder
Cameron Maybin to Spring camp as a non-roster invitee.
Maybin, 32 in April, has spent time with four teams over the last two seasons, dropping an identical 88 wRC+ in each. Mired for the last three seasons in fourth-outfielder limbo, the former first-rounder has seen his once-vaunted center-field defense decline sharply with age. In nearly 2,800 innings at the position since the beginning of 2015, the longtime MLB vet has posted -26 DRS, though his numbers did normalize a bit in the last two seasons.
Rushed to the big leagues at the ripe age of 20, Maybin was quickly shipped in the
Miguel Cabrera trade to Miami, where he never quite found his footing at the plate. A cross-country swap to San Diego offered respite, and Maybin’s 105 wRC+, 4.3 fWAR 2011 season precipitated a 5 year, $25MM extension for the young outfielder. Tough times followed, though, and the Friars cut their losses just three seasons in.
The then-29-year-old looked to turn a corner in 2016, when he slashed .315/.383/.418 for Detroit in part-time play, though his BABIP (.383) was hardly congruent with his hard-hit rate (24.7%), and he again faced regression the next season. All told, Maybin has slashed a respectable .254/.322/.368 (92 wRC+) in 3,848 lifetime MLB plate appearances, which mirrors closely his Steamer projection (92 wRC+) for the upcoming season.
The Giants would figure to have a place for Maybin in center, as the weak side of a
Steven Duggar platoon, but the up-for-grabs outfield, the sloppiest projected crop in years by the bay, could align with him in a full-time role at either corner. Either way, he’ll jostle with a veritable grab-bag of candidates, including
Gerardo Parra,
Mac Williamson,
Austin Slater,
Chris Shaw,
John Andreoli,
Cesar Puello,
Mike Gerber,
Craig Gentry,
Drew Ferguson, and
Anthony Garcia, for any number of roles. ZiPS, interestingly, projects Ferguson, the Rule-5 selection, and Garcia, the longtime Cardinal farmhand, to post the highest WAR totals of any Giants outfielders in the upcoming season.