Mariners acquire CF Cameron Maybin from Marlins for INF Bryson Brigman, international pool space

With 90 minutes remaining until the 2018 MLB Trade Deadline, Jerry Dipoto struck his fourth ~deadline deal, and his first to bring in a position player by acquiring OF Cameron Maybin from the Miami Marlins in exchange for a yet-to-be announced prospect and international bonus pool money.

Maybin, who is a free agent at the end of the season, figures to relieve Guillermo Heredia of everyday duties in center field, theoretically bumping either Heredia or Ben Gamel off the 25-man roster.

Maybin, who inked a a one year, $3.2M deal with the Marlins prior to this season, has been Miami’s primary fourth outfielder, logging 287 plate appearances and appearing in 99 games. Maybin has been a 0.8 fWAR player for Miami this season, posting a wRC+ of 91 while slashing .251/.338/.343. While he strikes out slightly more often than Heredia—19.2% compared to 18.2%—he also walks more often, posting a rate of 11.1%. While it’s worth questioning how much this move upgrades the offense, Maybin’s 2 DRS in center field represents a 14 run swing over the -10 DRS Heredia has posted in center this season. That said, Maybin was worth -11 DRS as recently as 2016 for the Tigers, so it remains to be seen exactly how much of an improvement the former 1st-round-pick will be.

Maybin, 31, provides significantly greater value on the base paths than Heredia has, albeit having less success this year, totaling eight stolen bases this year in 13 attempts after swiping 33 bags in just 114 games last season. According to Baseball Savant, the duo have identical statcast sprint speeds at 28.6 ft/sec, tying them for 73rd in baseball with Tommy Pham among several others.

Maybin spent a majority of 2017 batting out of the leadoff spot, from where he slashed .256/.339/.396, but has hit leadoff just three times for Miami this season. The possibility of slotting his 11.1% walk rate and .338 OBP into the leadoff spot and moving Dee Gordon (1.4%, .309) to the bottom of the lineup could be tempting in an effort to jump start an offense that has struggled to put up runs recently. As our own Tim Cantu noted, after starting the year slowly, Maybin has posted a 145 wRC+ with five stolen bases while only being caught once since June 25. More likely, however, Maybin slots in at the bottom of the lineup where Heredia has fit, and will be part of a rotation of outfielders once September rolls around.

We will update this post once we receive details on the prospect and amount of International Pool space was exchanged.

UPDATE: Ryan Divish confirms INF Bryson Brigman, most recently of High-A Modesto is the prospect.

Brigman had broken out offensively after a slow first couple seasons in the pros. The 23 year-old was the 87th overall pick in the 2016 draft, making him the highest-profile Dipoto selection to be traded to this point. He’d hit .304/.373/.391 in A+ with a 112 wRC+ in 425 PAs this year while splitting time between SS and 2B. Brigman also recently sat down with our own Matthew Roberson, a fellow University of San Diego grad, for an interview that was scheduled to publish tomorrow! Alas. [Ed. note: There’s still plenty of interesting insight into the system (and the town of Modesto), so it’ll run anyway.] Best of luck, Bryson.