Tigers trade Cameron Maybin to Angels for minor league pitcher
The Detroit Tigers’ off-season of trading has begun.
For their first move today, they traded centerfielder Cameron Maybin to the Los Angeles Angels for minor-league right-handed pitcher Victor Alcantara.
The Angels will exercise Maybin’s $9 million option for 2017.
Alcantara, 23, posted a 4.30 ERA and 1.46 WHIP in 29 games – 20 starts – for Double-A Arkansas this season. He is not considered a top prospect.
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In essence, the Tigers simply decided not to pick up Maybin’s option. This was not an unsurprising move, given the team’s plan to trim payroll this off-season in an attempt to become more flexible on and off the field.
In 2016, Maybin posted a career-best offensive season, hitting .315 with an on-base percentage of .383. He hit four home runs and drove in 43 runs. After returning from a broken wrist and bum shoulder in mid-May, Maybin sparked the team at the top of the batting order with an energizing brand of play mixed with clubhouse leadership.
It showed in the standings: The Tigers were 51-38 when he started this season and 34-9 when he scored a run.
But with a payroll over $200 million, the Tigers needed to trim money somewhere and they decided Maybin, who has been oft-injured throughout his career – including this past season, when he played in just 94 games – was the first move to start the trimming.
Incoming is Alcantara, a lottery pick of sorts.
“We’re going to see him as a reliever as well,” assistant general manager David Chadd said. “He’s got a power arm, 95 m.p.h. to 100 m.p.h. Power slider. Trouble throwing strikes at times. He’s gotta get that figured out. He’s still young at 23.”
A briefing from a scout who has seen Alcantara: “Mid-to-upper 90 m.p.h. fastball, slider flashes plus, lacks command, lacks mechanical/delivery consistency, upside guy who likely ends up as a reliever.”
Now, they will sort through a number of internal and external candidates in what general manager Al Avila termed a “wide open competition.”
“We will weigh our options as far as centerfield is concerned for next season,” Avila said. “There will be a wide open competition starting in the spring and we’ll see how it plays out.”
Among the in-house contestants in that competition: Outfielder Tyler Collins, who hit .235 in 56 games last season; rookie JaCoby Jones, who is playing in the Arizona Fall League and likely not ready to be counted on for a full-time major league job; and Anthony Gose, who was demoted to Double-A Erie last season after a disappointing year on and off the field.
The team could also elect to add a cheap veteran option to the mix in free agency, one that wouldn’t hamper their payroll but also provide some stability in centerfield.
Maybin was acquired last off-season in a trade with the Braves for left-handed reliever Ian Krol. He gave the Tigers more than they could have expected, filling an important role on their team. But in a year’s time, the financial dynamics have changed, and his contract option was the first casualty.
The team likely did not have many other suitors for Maybin, so they went with an unproven minor league arm that carries potential, to get something instead of nothing.
Contact Anthony Fenech: afenech@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @anthonyfenech. Free Press sports writer George Sipple contributed.
