Rival teams are already calling the Red Sox about Mike Cameron, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. However, Boston probably won’t accept an offer unless they’re blown away and teams aren’t likely to make overwhelming proposals for a 38-year-old player who’s set to earn $8MM this year.
The Red Sox can use Cameron, a right-handed hitter, to complement left-handed outfielders Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury and J.D. Drew. And at this point, the Red Sox don’t have glaring needs in other areas, so they don't have to acquire new players. “They’re in a good position with the depth they’ve created,’’ an AL executive told Cafardo.
Though the Red Sox could express interest in Joe Blanton if a starter goes down, the right-hander isn’t a fit for Boston now, according to Cafardo. It’s conceivable that the Phillies called about Cameron, since Domonic Brown will miss the beginning of the season with wrist surgery. For what it's worth, Cameron says he'd prefer not to be traded.
If I’m the Red Sox, I keep Mike Cameron around. They are in winning mode right now, and have had injury issues with Drew and Ellsbury. He’s a nice insurance policy, and I’d say a necessary one.
Only one reason Cameron does not want to be traded, he wants a ring but a trade to philly would not be bad but almost anywhere else would suck for him
I just don’t see Boston taking the risk. Drew and Ells will probably miss a few games and Cameron is pretty decent against lefties. He makes excellent depth and doesn’t mind being a 4th wheel so why give him away?
I hope they keep Cameron, I have a hard time believing they will get a good prospect for him and they don’t have a glaring need anywhere. Hes fine with being the 4th outfielder, a good clubhouse guy, and can be a late inning defensive replacement. Good guy to have off the bench, although he is overpaid. I really hope they dont get Blanton, cant stand the guy. At least the local Mcdonalds would get business though, Ortiz, Jenks, Reyes, Blanton.
Reddick, McDonald, Kalish, Nava. Red Sox don’t really need Cameron for his experience at this point. McDonald and Nava can both hit right handed and would probably be the two most likely players of this group to make the team. I like Cameron with Boston if he’s healthy but if another team wants him, Boston can take a chance on a mid-level prospect without losing much flexibility or production this season.
I disagree with this completely. McDonald and Nava are good stories but they are organizational filler. The Red Sox are the favorites to with the WS, and those guys shouldn’t get more than 100 or so at bats. Reddick to this point has only proved that he’s incredibly streaky and shouldn’t be counted on for anything. I’m high on Kalish, but he isn’t playing this season as a 4th OF, he’ll get regular time in Pawtucket. Mike Cameron isn’t a luxury, he’s a need. Drew is a huge injury risk and can’t hit lefties. Ellsbury is also coming of an injury, and with the struggles of the rest of the lineup hitting lefties, Cameron could easily see 400 at bats. I struggle to see how giving him up for a midlevel prospect would help at all. If anything, the Red Sox farm system has more midlevel depth than any other system, they lack the elite talent. Obviously Cameron isn’t bringing back elite talent, so there is no point.
I guess I don’t consider Cameron all that reliable either. I’m not downplaying the need for a decent 4th, even 5th outfielder on this team. Cameron has basically hit .250 the past several years, McDonald hit .270 in 300+ ABs last year. Cameron has higher SLG than McDonald did last year. I have concerns about either player getting significant playing time honestly, and wouldn’t have a problem with Boston offering McDonald or Nava or Reddick to teams calling about Cameron. I liked Cameron when he was with Milwaukee but he’s getting older. I’ll concede that there might be some downside to any of the other guys getting playing time instead of Cameron if he’s traded but I don’t think anyone can predict how much.
Even with the age/injury concerns with Cameron, he’s a significantly better player than McDonald and Nava. Nava is terrible in the field and his bat isn’t that special, he’s the definition of a AAAA guy. McDonald is just a guy, every organization has a guy like him. He played pretty well last season, but there’s a reason he was in the minors for 12 years. I wouldn’t be shocked if he isn’t even on the roster come August. Cameron was a valuable starting OF for years and had one injury. The bottomline is Cameron is better than all of those guys, and the Red Sox are trying to win the World Series. Why would they decrease depth and make themselves weaker to obtain a mediocre prospect who likely wouldn’t crack their top 30?
you can’t hold last year against cameron; there just isn’t any way for it to make sense to do so
assuming he’d have replicated in 2010 what he did in 2009, you’re talking about a .250/.342/.452 line with 24 HRs and .346 wOBA. also great defense. a 4.4 WAR player – very good
granted, he’s 2 years older now. but there are two considerations that need to be included: he’ll be playing way less overall, and he’ll be playing almost exclusively against LHP, which he dominates
put another way – if cameron were able to hit only against LHP the whole time in 2009, his line is in ryan braun adam dunn jayson werth territory. he kills lefties
With Cameron I think you stop looking at the totality of his performance and instead look at his positives and what he can do for the team in a part-time role. He’s still an above average defender who can play all three OF positions, especially in Fenway. He historicaly hits lefties well @ a career line of .269/.372/.494 for a .866 OPS. Small sample size in 2009 w/ only 150 PA vs lefties but he had a .954 OPSw/7 hrs. Add on the fact that he has good speed and be a good pinch runner then he gives Francona a lot of late inning roster flexibility. He’s expensive for a 4th OF’er but that doesn’t matter for Boston.
– cameron mashes lefties to the tune of a .381 wOBA for his career (.272/.376/.509) and drew (.250/.357/.411 – .340 wOBA) & ortiz (.252/.324/.459 – .336 wOBA) very simply do not
– the lineup against LH starting pitching needs a guy like cameron, but so does the lineup against RHSP. with crawford, drew, and ortiz all likely to appear in the middle of the lineup, LOOGY’s could absolutely kill late inning opportunities for boston if they don’t have a threat off the bench like cameron
– – nava is the 8th best OFer on boston’s 40-man roster
– darnell mcdonald (.296/.354/.442 – wOBA .351 v. lefties) is a poor substitute for mike cameron with the bat alone. factor in defense, and he doesn’t even qualify as a substitute. cameron is an elite 4th OF, so to speak. no mid-level prospect is worth surrendering that kind of asset in a pennant race
Fair enough, I think my main points were that after last season, at his age, I have concerns about his ability to cover for Drew regularly. I’m in no way suggesting the Red Sox are a better team without him, just that they might be able to risk dealing him and settling for one of McDonald / Nava etc. If he hadn’t been injured last year and was a year or two younger there’s no way I advocate for trading him at all. Guess I’m probably underestimating his chances for living up to his reputation / past performance this season.
yeah you’re undervaluing him quite a bit, but i don’t think you’re saying anything that crazy. i just don’t imagine the red sox could get anything in return for him that would be more valuable to the organization than what he can provide to the big league team in 2011
Dustin Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez, Kevin Youkilis, Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard and Jacoby Ellsbury would like to remind you that the Red Sox have a pretty good track record. The fact that you bring up Lars who is still only 23 years old is a good indication of their success. Outside of Craig Hansen I don’t think their system has been overhyped…you can make the case most of the prospects were underrated before promotion. But yeah, continue whatever point you were making, just don’t confuse fans proping up their prospects with actual results. The Red Sox have developed a ton of top talent, it isn’t smoke and mirrors.
Agreed. Kalish has given no reason to be considered overrated. If anything I think he will slightly surpass expectations, kids a gamer.
This post should be renamed “Phillies Calling about Mike Cameron”
such a shameless hack. nick cafardo cites no source at all for this “news”; he doesn’t even allude to one
the substance of the article is that the red sox have lots of outfield depth, cameron is good, and teams can use good outfielders like him. but the red sox are one of the teams that need him, so they’re unlikely to trade him. but this is newsworthy because i wrote “teams are calling”, even though i name no evidence
wordswordswords nothing worth writing whatsoever
Yeah I was thinking the same thing. It doesn’t make sense for them to deal him in the first place.
This i don’t get they are all over Mike Cameron who is comming off a injury, but Jermaine Dye is a free agent who may be willing to accept less is younger and can put up the same or better numbers.
Except Dye has 2 bad knees and can barely move in a corner OF position and Cameron is a superior defender at CF even if a team needs one, not to mention Dye sat out the 2010 season so nobody even knows if he can even HIT anymore.
That is why people have written off Dye already.
Well, yeah… if you want to look at THAT way, sure.
dont the phils already have a CF ???
Yes, but presumably they would play him in right and occasionally in left to spell Ibanez, who is so old he used to babysit Yoda.
I also heard he owed Moses money . . .
Red Sox don’t really have any holes to fill, so trading Cameron is not going to happen. Of course, a major injury to one or more of the starters and the Red Sox would likely use Cameron as trade bait for pitching.
One thing no one is really talking about in terms of need is catcher. Word is good right now on Salty, but he’s a pretty unproven variable. I certainly hope it isn’t the case, but there’s always a chance he just doesn’t cut it and what then? Tek isn’t going to be the starting catcher, and no one else is really ML ready. That would be one scenario where they might consider dealing Cameron..