The Marlins released center fielder Mike Cameron after last night's win in Atlanta, tweets Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald. The move drops the team's 40-man roster to 39, though it'd fill back up if Scott Cousins is activated from the 60-day DL.
Cameron, 38, hit .239/.333/.423 in 163 plate appearances after being acquired from the Red Sox on July 5th. The Red Sox paid the majority of Cameron's salary, having designated him for assignment a week prior.
Talking to Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post this month, Cameron hinted at retirement, saying, "I may be too young to quit, but my body’s telling me different. My body’s 45." Perhaps he'll change his mind once his body heals up, but if Cameron does call it quits he'll finish with a .249/.338/.444 batting line, 278 home runs, and over 15,000 innings of strong center field defense for the White Sox, Reds, Mariners, Mets, Padres, Brewers, Red Sox, and Marlins.
FYI, he also played for the Reds.
Oops thanks
Wow, I had almost forgotten that Cameron played for the Sox this year, it seems so long ago now… *stares blankly at wall in daze over recent swoon*
38 is too young to quit? It seems to me he was on borrowed time for 3 years as it was.
Tiger fans look at Austin Jackson and see Mike Cameron. He had two homers last year, nine so far this year, fabulous center field defense, fast now, strikes out a lot but acceptable OBP, maybe not an ideal leadoff hitter. If he plays fifteen years, hits .250 with 278 HRs, that’s pretty good. And he’ll make many more $$ than he would have playing basketball.
Jackson has upside to be even better than Cameron, but if he’s “only” Cameron that’s still not half bad. A team that plays home games in Comerica should find a Cameron type and make him a fixture in center field.
the comparison seems to fall apart after “plays good defense and strikes out a lot”
but they strike out a lot for different reasons. cameron was patient and with an 11% walk-rate and .200 ISO power his strikeouts were balanced by plenty of walks and homeruns. jackson just swings at everything like a jerk and doesn’t show much power
if austin jackson turns out as well as mike cameron he’ll be very lucky. cameron was a very valuable player for a lot of years
You drove me to look at Cameron’s career more closely.
He was born 1-5-73; Jackson was born 2-1-87.
Jackson signed with the Yankees out of high school, never played a major league game in NY, played the entire 2010 season in Detroit at age 23. In 2010 he hit .293 with four (not two) HR. In 2011 he’s currently hitting .254 with 9 HR. He walked 47 times in 2010; 53 times so far in 2011.
Cameron played sparingly for CWS in 95-96 at ages 22-23; his first full year was 97, age 24. Playing in a better park for hitters, his offense resembles the 23-24 year old Jackson. He finished with 14 HR, batted .259 with 55 walks.
Cameron’s sophomore slump came the following year, 1998. He played regularly but hit .210 with 8 HR and 37 walks. He rebounded from that and had a successful career.
Cameron and Jackson are similar players. They are athletic defensive center fielders. Jackson might well surpass Cameron’s career production. Even if he doesn’t, it won’t require luck or overachievement to match it.
given that jackson played close to 40 more games than cameron in their rookie seasons, citing totals is a very serious mistake. to clear things up, cameron’s rookie season featured a 12.3% walk-rate to jackson’s 7%. their totals were similar only because jackson had 230 more plate appearances
you imply that cameron,who had above average power throughout a career played largely in pitcher’s parks, was HR-lucky in his first couple of seasons. that’s a little outlandish, but i can’t disprove it so we’ll assume it’s true
still, the only offensive similarity is that they both strikeout a lot. but again — and this is the whole issue — it’s not for the same reason
cameron’s swing-rates sat around 40% and he chased pitches out of the zone only around 17% of the time (even less earlier in his career). jackson on the other hand, though he only swings a bit more overall (45%), chases waaay more pitches (almost 30%) out of the strike zone. it’s no coincidence that when cameron’s chase-rate went up at the end of his career, his productivity plummeted
a good illustration of one of the consequences of these different approaches, using cameron’s rookie year and jackson’s career, is the percentage of PA concluding with the batter ahead, behind, or even in the count:
ahead: 38% to 32%
even: 30% to 32%
behind: 26% to 38%
(cameron career: 41%-33%-26%)
given how extreme the effect of hitting ahead or behind is for both (and most players), even small differences here are very important – and the differences here are big ones. jackson’s poor approach severely limits his offensive potential. mike cameron never really had an awful approach
so even if you for find reason forecast a significant power spike as jackson gets older, it’d be a surprise if his awful approach at the plate ever allowed him to make use of it and become the productive offensive player cameron was. and it was cameron’s bat that set him apart from other strong defensive centerfielders who were not especially valuable players overall
“so even if you for find reason forecast”
i can’t even keep focus through the end of long posts when i’m the one writing them
He strikes out way too much. But he is soooo much fun to watch play outfield. He belongs at the nine hole. That’s why the Tigers need to really look at Reyes. I think he would put them over the top.
that’d make a very strong lineup
and yea, his defense is nothing less than spectacular. UZR has him among the best, but DRS and +/- have him head and shoulders above every qualified centerfielder in the game – by about 20 runs over the last two years if you can believe that. crazy good
Holy crap. Have we ever agreed on something before?!
/checks the records
It hasn’t!
I think (and im not a baseball expert but close enough) that the reason he strikes out so much is because (from somthing I read) his one of his 1st yrs in the minors the yanks tried to make him into a power hitter!!! Wtf? Mabe that explains why he has the high leg kick which I beleive hurts his ability to make contact. Mabe in the offseason he could work on a new stride. I think a toe tap would suit him well. We dont need him to hit 15 hrs for us. We just need him to make more contact.
if he doesn’t retire another stint with the Mets in center or off the bench as a pinch hitter
He was hitting OK with the Marlins, I don’t get why he was released.
“I may be too young to quit, but my body’s telling me different. My body’s 45.” isn’t enough of a clue?
He really wasn’t hitting that well with Florida and with this injury combined with Bryan Petersen and Emilio Bonifacio hitting well, he has become irrelevant and he was certainly not in their future plans. It was the inevitable, might as well let him go home a little early to heal up.
Well this is a sign of one of the only bright spots for the Marlins, the outfield. Stanton in right, Morrison in left, option for Bonifacio/Petersen/Coghlan in center or shift any of the three centers to cover any of the other spots. The oldest of all those guys is age 26, that is a future + outfield if i’ve ever seen one.
He was a pretty good player for a lot of years. Got on at a good pace, stole bases at a good rate fielded at a superstar level and hit home runs. If he does retire then I hope he realizes that he had a solid career and left everything on the field. It was fun watching him. Good luck Mr. Cameron.
I think we all saw this coming.
Phils?
Giants?
Rangers?
No.
Maybe.
No.
Another great free agent signing by Boston.
Well, at least the Marlins still have John $uck signed up for two more years at $6 million per. LOL!