Marlins Acquire Mike Cameron from Red Sox

[Ramp]

Oh stop.... I'm sure every writer of all teams gets a tweet like that at some point

[Erick]

Providing we aren't giving anything of worth up, probably.

Dewayne Wise is dreadful. He always has been. There was a point in time when Cameron was a really good player. Why not take a shot and see if he can be OK? It's not like Dewayne Wise or Wes Helms' roster spots are being used well.

Mike Cameron has been dreadful the last two years, as well.

This team isn't going anywhere this year. Does he have any sort of future with this organization after this year? He's 38. I'd rather give Bryan Petersen the playing time. At least if we get lucky with him, we know that he isn't retiring after the year.

[Bobbob1313]

Two years is not as long as forever.

And I don't disagree that there's not much here, but I don't see why anyone would be opposed to this.

If he's replacing Dewayne Wise, then there's nothing to dislike about this.

[Fritz]

Championship.

[Ramp]

Florida Marlins
Acquired CF Mike Cameron and cash from the Red Sox for a player to be named later or cash considerations. [7/5]

On Friday, John Perrotto wrote that Boston had little hope of moving Cameron in a trade—citing scouts who think the center fielder is toast—and it’s important to keep that in mind when dreaming up the identity of the player to be named later. In a way, this trade is similar in scope to the last two struck between the Red Sox and Marlins, and neither of those saw a player of value exchanged for the “name” portion of the deal:

Date
BOS received
FLA received
11/12/2010
Andrew Miller
Dustin Richardson

11/05/2009
Jeremy Hermida
Hunter Jones & Jose Alvarez

The Marlins have been on the lookout for a center field solution since trading their own Cameron during the winter. Chris Coghlan disappointed then suffered an injury, and the replacements Florida has thrown into center have not done much better—it is almost as if DeWayne Wise, Emilio Bonifacio, and Bryan Petersen are not major league-quality starters. Cameron enters a low-expectations environment because the alternatives have been that poor, akin to Mark Ellis joining the Rockies last week.

As a whole, Marlins center fielders have batted .233/.295/.365, and while Cameron’s time in Boston was nobody’s idea of fun, he managed a line of .219/.285/.352 against superior pitching. Maybe Cameron has a dead-cat bounce in him, or one last hot streak, but if not, perhaps he could become a decent platoon partner with Wise. It is not ideal by any means, and Cameron has struggled in 70 plate appearances against lefties this season, but ask yourself this: who seems like a better bet to provide some offensive value: Cameron or Bonifacio?

The one big change in Cameron’s underlying statistics on a year-to-year basis is his declining power and increasing pop-up rate. In the three seasons prior to Cameron’s signing with Boston, he had 45 percent of his hits go for extra bases and hit 14 percent infield flies. With Boston, he had 36 percent of his hits go for extra bases and hit a pop fly in 17 percent—including a 22 percent mark this season. Those numbers are going in the wrong ways, and while it does not ensure that Cameron’s bat has slowed, it sure gives some water to theory that he has to cheat on pitches in order to hit them authoritatively.

There is a legitimate chance Cameron is done as a productive major leaguer, and because of possibility, there is a legitimate chance Cameron is in his final days as a major leaguer. Say what you will about Florida’s budgetary restrictions or business practices, but they tend to work quickly in cutting bait. Jose Lopez, signed earlier in the season to a minor league deal, received 31 plate appearances before hitting the road (albeit a poor 31 plate appearances, as he reached base five times); Richardson, acquired in the Miller deal, lasted 32 innings in Triple-A; Jones got around 46 innings; and so on. Florida might not be spending a lot of money, but that doesn’t preclude them from understanding sunk costs.

If Cameron looks done to them, then he might not make it until August, and that would be a rather sad ending for arguably one of the game’s greatest defensive center fielders of all-time.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/ar...rticleid=14441

[Party]

Nice move to the FO, hopefully lightning strikes.

[HUGG]

Cameron has a .477 ops this year and it's still almost 100 points higher than Wise's.

Cost us nothing.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

MarlinsMedia: #Marlins post-game move: Jose Ceda optioned to NOLA; Mike Cameron (#24) to be activated tomorrow

/Twitter

[nny]

Lets see if he can get it going with consistent playing time.

I incredibly dig it
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I dunno, I have high hopes. I've always been a big fan of Cameron cuz of how underrated he was by a lot of people. So he's sucked in 100 PA this year, even if he puts up the 94 OPS+ he did last year he's still good with his defense and base running
--------------------
I BELIEVE
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Fuck you haters he's gonna be awesome
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He's going to be the cameron that cameron was suppose to be, but then we traded cameron this offseason so we never had cameron but now we traded for cameron so we get the OG cameron BITCHES

[Branch]

Holy fucking lol, I was just listening to the local sportstalk station today and they were babbling about how we needed to trade Mike Cameron.

Enjoy your bloated contract, boys!*

*Depending on how much cash you're getting
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Oh. I didn't read the thread before. You are getting him basically for free. We really wanted him gone, geez.

[Ramp]

We will enjoy that bloated contract.

[Ramp]

Clark Spencer:

Though he’s 38 and has not played full-time in two years, the Marlins are hoping Mike Cameron can still help the team with his glove, bat and veteran leadership.

On Tuesday, the Marlins acquired the 16-year major-league veteran from the Red Sox in exchange for a player to be named or cash considerations, most likely the latter.

Cameron was designated for assignment June 30 after hitting just .149 in 94 at-bats for the Red Sox this season.

Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest said it’s uncertain how Cameron would be used but expected him to play each of the three outfield positions on at least a semiregular basis, if not more often.

“We wanted to add a veteran presence to help with some of our younger guys the second half,” said Beinfest, who singled out Cameron’s “high character” and leadership skills as key reasons behind the trade.

Although Cameron’s offensive numbers have tapered the past couple of seasons, Beinfest said he thinks there’s still something left in the tank. “I think you’re looking for production, and we still think this guy can help us,” Beinfest said.

Cameron is a three-time Gold Glove winner and one of five active players with at least 250 home runs and 250 stolen bases. Cameron has been employed off the bench with Boston the past two seasons.

Beinfest said he expects Cameron to report in time for Wednesday’s game. The Red Sox are expected to pick up more than $3.3 million of the $3.6 million owed to Cameron this season.

and here is Mike Berardino, shitting all over the move.... Mike Berardino does not care for this franchise and he has sand in his vagina

Mike Cameron's impressive resume includes three Gold Gloves, a four-homer game and an All-Star role on the winningest team in baseball history, the 2001 Mariners.

Speed. Power. Defense.

'The highly respected center fielder has shown them all in his standout career.

If only the Marlins were getting that Mike Cameron in Tuesday's trade with the Red Sox.

Then we could trot out references to Ugueth Urbina, another say-what acquisition the Marlins made eight years ago this week.

Like these Marlins, that team was managed by crusty old Jack McKeon after an in-season takeover.

Like these Marlins, that team was buried in the standings but had started to play better in recent weeks.

Like these Marlins, that team was missing the ace of its pitching staff (Josh Beckett) but hopeful of going on a tear once he returned.

OK, OK. I'll stop.

These last-place Marlins, much younger than their bejeweled predecessors, aren't looking very likely to extend those flimsy parallels with the 2003 World Series champs.

Not with the offense still scuffling badly (third worst in National League scoring) and Josh Johnson's $40 million arm still on the shelf with no hard return date in sight.

Not with nine teams and 12 1/2 games separating them from the playoff cut line.

(The 2003 Marlins were just five games off the wild-card pace when they traded Adrian Gonzalez and two lesser prospects for Urbina, the Rangers' closer.)

Tuesday's 14-2 loss to the Phillies left the Marlins 2-9 in the season series and in danger of undercutting all that solid work on the just-completed interleague swing out west.

"We played much better on the road trip," said Marlins baseball czar Larry Beinfest, who made the trip. "We want things to stabilize here. I'm not sure we're totally there yet."

Monday's 1-0 loss to the division-leading Phillies, who aren't even pitching Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee on this visit, was "tough to watch," Beinfest admitted.

Yet another one-run setback, making it 15 out of 16 in such nail biters, left Marlins officials with a "here we go again" sort of feeling, Beinfest said.

"The pitching, by and large, has been good," Beinfest said. "We've been in games. We just haven't been able to push through. We're looking for people to help us now so we can stabilize and grind away at it. We just need to keep pecking away."

Adding Cameron and his vaunted leadership to the outfield mix is supposed to be a step in that direction, but let's be real here.

McKeon managed him in Cincinnati, but that was more than a decade ago, shortly before the Reds made Cameron the centerpiece of the Ken Griffey Jr. deal.

and here's Juan C. Rodriguez's take:

MIAMI GARDENS— Before Tuesday's game the Marlins announced they acquired outfielder Mike Cameron and cash from the Red Sox for a player to be named or cash considerations.

Cameron, hitting .149 (14-for-94) with a .477 on-base plus slugging percentage in 33 games, was designated for assignment on Thursday. He is earning $7.25 million in 2011, but the Marlins only are responsible for a prorated portion of the $414,000 major league minimum -- less than $200,000. The Red Sox signed Cameron before the 2010 season to a two-year $15.5 million free agent contract. In 81 games for them he batted .219 (56-for-256) with 13 doubles, seven homers, 24 RBI, a .285 on-base and .352 slugging percentage in part because an abdominal tear torpedoed his 2010 season.

Jack McKeon managed Cameron in 1999 with the Cincinnati Reds.

"Loved him," President of Baseball Operations Larry Beinfest said, of McKeon's take on Cameron. "High character guy, great teammate. All the reports were positive. We've been kind of poking around. We tried with [Jose] Lopez. It didn't work out. We wanted to add some verteran presence here to help with some of our younger guys in the second half and thought it made sense."

In his 17th major league season, Cameron, 38, is expected to join the Marlins Wednesday. The Marlins could make a corresponding 25-man roster move as soon as the conclusion of Tuesday's game.

Benifest made it clear Cameron is not joing the Marlins, his eighth major league team, solely for leadership. In spite of his dreadful numbers, the Marlins like that he can play all three outfield positions and thought he looked good offensively when they saw him during spring training.

"He's had irregular at-bats the last year and a half and we think maybe with a little bit more playing time it can come back," Beinfest said. "I can't tell you exactly what was going on over there, but we'll see what we have. We just know that whatever he gives us, which we hope will be production in the field, what he gives us in the clubhouse will be a positive because of his reputation in the game and the kind of guy he is."

[geemoney]

That was only page one of Mike's column that Ramp posted. Here's page two:

This Cameron is 38, hasn't stolen a base since 2009 and suffered through a miserable season and a half in Boston before the Red Sox mercifully designated him for assignment last week.

A torn abdominal muscle had much to do with his washout in 2010, but the woes continued for Cameron, even after a spring training that impressed Marlins scouts.

His two-season totals in Boston: seven home runs, .219 batting average, and a .637 combined on-base/slugging percentage that ranked him among the weakest bats in the game.

All this while playing half the time at the right-handed hitter's paradise known as Fenway Park.

Oh, well. At least he won't cost much.

The Marlins are on the hook for only "cash" or the famed "player to be named later."

And they'll only have to pay Cameron the prorated minimum salary — less than $200,000 — as he finishes out a two-year, $15.5 million contract that has to rank as one of the biggest mistakes of the Theo Epstein era.

"We still think this guy can help us," Beinfest said. "We'll see what we have."

What they have is 21 games until the trade deadline and a talent selloff that is looking more inevitable by the day.

[Ramp]

ha, my bad....

poor shit everywhere

[Jay]

Has Helms fallen out of favor as the veteran presence?