Mariners Acquire OF Cameron Maybin from Marlins

The Mariners have a new starting center fielder.

Well, it was looking like Jerry Dipoto would go quietly into the trade deadline after his busy Monday. Of course, that wasn’t the case.

Per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, the Mariners have swung a deal with the Marlins for veteran outfielder Cameron Maybin. This will be Maybin’s fifth team in three years.

Guillermo Heredia has been a solid contributor to the Mariners this season, but after a hot start, he’s been miserable at the plate. Since the end of May, Heredia is slashing .190/.238/.277 to the tune of a 43 wRC+.

While Heredia’s glove has been better than FanGraphs says it’s been, Maybin is still an upgrade in the outfield.

Maybin is currently in the midst of his third-best defensive season by UZR standards. Through 576.2 innings in all three outfield spots (left field being his most active), Maybin’s at a +4.7 UZR (10.3 UZR/150).

From an eye-test perspective, Maybin has better length and range to patrol Safeco Field’s meadows.

Offensively, Maybin is a significant upgrade over Heredia. In fact, as of today, he’s on the hottest offensive stretch of his career.

In the month of July, Maybin has put up fantastic numbers, slashing .309/.427/.456 (148 wRC+) with three homers. On top of that, Maybin is stealing more, swiping five bags in July to bring his season total to eight.

Considering Heredia’s reputation as a, um, poor baserunner, the Mariners have also significantly upgraded their IQ on the base paths with Maybin’s addition.

He also walks quite a bit, currently sitting at a 11.1% clip. That would rank him second amongst Mariners hitters with at least 250 plate appearances, not too far behind the leader Mitch Haniger (11.7%).

The trade comes at a high cost, however, as the Mariners are shipping middle infield prospect Bryson Brigman to Miami. After struggling offensively for his first year-and-a-half in the Mariners’ system, Brigman has turned things around in 2018, slashing .304/.373/.391 at High-A Modesto.

We had the chance to interview Brigman during Spring Training and he’s a great kid. Wish nothing but the best for him in Miami.

With Maybin being a rental, this is a tough pill to swallow. Still, the 2018 Mariners got better today.

Depending on the logistics, expect Maybin to make his Mariners debut either tomorrow or Thursday. It seems pretty likely that Guillermo Heredia will be sent down to make room for him, though he should be back up in September, if not sooner.

This should be the last trade of the day for the Mariners, but there’s still half-an-hour left before the deadline. With Jerry Dipoto, anything could happen.