Longtime major league outfielder Cameron Maybin announced his retirement this evening. The 34-year-old appeared in fifteen major league seasons, suiting up with ten different clubs between 2007-21. He spent the bulk of that time — four seasons apiece — with the Padres and Marlins.
“I’ve played this game since I was 4 years old,” Maybin wrote as part of his announcement, the full text of which is available on Twitter. “Three decades later, my love for baseball is only matched by the love I have for the family that’s supported me every step of the way. … Although my journey as a professional baseball player ends here with the announcement of my retirement, my work in this game is just getting started. I’m excited for what lies ahead, including my work with the Players Alliance in our effort to provide access and opportunity for the next generation of Black ballplayers.”
Maybin was a first-round pick back in 2005, selected tenth overall by the Detroit Tigers. At just 19 years old, Maybin made quick work of his minor league competition and drew praise from a number of publications. Baseball America regularly ranked the speedy outfielder among the top ten prospects in the game, doing so from 2007 until he exhausted prospect eligibility in 2009.
Though he made his Major League debut for the Tigers in 2007, a franchise-altering trade sent Maybin, along with a young Andrew Miller and others, to the Marlins for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. Irregular playing time but continued minor league dominance made Maybin a target of another trade just a few years later, when the Padres acquired him to be their starting center fielder for relievers Ryan Webb and Edward Mujica.
San Diego took well to their new center fielder, as Maybin broke out with a 40-steal, 103 OPS+ showing in his first year on the West Coast. That performance, combined with Maybin’s stellar glove up the middle, resulted in a 5-year $25MM extension before the 2012 season. Before the contract’s expiration, Maybin was dealt in yet another high-profile trade. In this deal, new Padres general manager A.J. Preller made his presence felt by acquiring closer Craig Kimbrel in an Opening Day-beating deal with the Braves.
After a year in Atlanta, Maybin bounced around between eight teams, providing clubs with speed and modest offense in the outfield and off the bench. During this stretch, Maybin had a resurgent year when he reunited with the Tigers in 2016, sporting a 118 OPS+ in 94 games. He pushed his offense to new heights in 2019, with a strong .285/.364/.494 (127 OPS+) showing in 82 games for an injury-ravaged Yankees team.
Maybin was set to look for 2022 opportunities as a veteran depth option for clubs. Instead, he’ll eschew a complicated free agent market and retire a career .254/.323/.374 hitter with 187 steals.
MLBTR congratulates Maybin on an excellent career, and wishes him the best of luck with his Players Alliance endeavors and elsewhere.
I remember when he hit his first career dinger off some guy named Roger Clemens. Seems like a lifetime ago…
He had 2 hits off him that day. Clemems beaned him during his next at bat.
Clemens had a knack for doing that to anyone who hit well against him.
He had a knack for being a jackass. Just ask Piazza. Didn’t he also molest some 15 year old country singer as well? Good luck and congrats to Maybin. Future as a coach?
A knack for being a jack ass? He IS just a straight up jack ass. Simple as that
This guy wasn’t the star that people expected him to be, but can you really call a guy who played parts of 15 seasons in the big leagues a bust?
I don’t think so.
Happy retirement, cash those MLB pension checks monthly, and live the good life.
$38.7MM career earnings. 13.5 career WAR.
I’m with you, @78. Hard to say he was a bust when the dust settles. Gave the Yanks a nice spark in ’19. Retired at 34 with plenty of loot. I could “settle” for a busted life like that.
Good player and a really great teammate! Wish him and his family nothing but the best. Solid player with the brief time he spent with the Yanks. Thanks for your reliability and your character. You were a pleasure to watch!!!!!!
Yeah, ditto. I’m not downplaying his career, but I think his character and actions were more remarkable. What a great example for youth to emulate as the advance in this sport.
Wish him the best, and I could certainly see him as a bench coach sooner or later.
Yeah certainly not a bust. Hell, how many top 10 picks make it at all in MLB? Great career.
@mlbfan78, exactly! He stuck around for good reason.
He had a solid career. I wish he lived up to more of his hype in his first stint with the Marlins, but he still had a decent career.
Happy retirement nonetheless, Cam.
Thanks for the free taco!
I remember his year with my Braves, had a good year with them. He wanted to stay, but the Braves thought otherwise.
Yeah it was a nice year though the braves were a 90+loss team back then.
2017 WS Champ.
*
What page in the official MLB record book did you find the asterisk? I can’t find it.
Gotta love how these folks can find the asterisk key even tough it means absolutely nothing.
2019 DWI Champ.
Lol that’s not a thing.
Stay salty fella. XD
HOF OFC!!!!!
Super class act! Loved him as a Friar. Godspeed Cam.
Forgot he was with the Mets and it’s only been a few months.
Fun player to watch when the Angels had him.
I agree. He brought a lot to the team when filling in for Trout in 2017 (the year he tore his thumb ligament sliding into second base). Good player and seemingly an even better person. Enjoy your retirement Cameron!
Definitely one of the big disappointments since I remember following prospects getting drafted and called up. Honestly thought he’d be a perennial 30-30 type of player who’d sail through his team controlled years and get a solid 6 year/$90M free agency deal and so on and…. obviously that didn’t happen.
Still, very impressive he managed to stick around and make his mark in the game. He was a memorable player for all of the career shortcomings. A lot of guys come and go without being memorable, but Maybin stood out.
I hope he stays with the game and makes a name for himself in this secondary post-playing baseball career he seems to be planning.
@TTO I always thought he would be a 15-20 Homer guy will 30 plus steals. But he while he didn’t do that he still had a better career than most.
Matt Wieters comes to mind as well and was pretty much the same time period thru and thru
Oddly they both kinda had the same kind of career in the end
As an avid Roto player at the time I was VERY interested in both these guys arrival but they never quite gave us that WOW factor we craved
Wieters was touted as “Joe Mauer with Power.”
He was a tall drink of water that never quite materialized as such.
eppler wasted money on him while better ones were available for less.
Solid career and by all known accounts a good guy.
Maybin was a key part of the Detroit Tigers blockbuster deal with the Miami Marlins for Miguel Cabrera
Top Tigers prospects: OF Cameron Maybin, Starting pitcher/reliever Andrew Miller , relief pitcher Brook Badenhop and a some other young prospects for young major leaguer Miguel Cabrera (with 500 home runs this year and 3,000 hits to be passed in 2022, Miguel Cabrera is a first ballot Hall of Famer.
That was a Dave Dombrowski Pres of Detroit Ball Operations Deal.
It was Burke Badenhop, not Brook. There were actually about 3 other prospects along with Maybin, Miller and Badenhop. The other piece of note after these three was catcher Mike Rabelo who had a funny incident when Jack McKeon called him to the side for spiking the ball at home plate after a big strikeout for a Marlins win..
Pitchers Eulogio De La Cruz and Dallas Trahern. How could you forget those two?
Sportsfan:0000: Then Dave shot himself in the foot with the ridiculous extension to the D-train before he even threw a pitch in Detroit.
They should have flipped D Train at the time.
OR turned him into a DH /OF/ 1B.
D Train could hit and hit with power!
It was a below market deal for an All Star starter who was still fairly young at the time. No one could have predicted that Dontrelle would be injured and/or lose his pitching effectiveness so quickly and so completely at such a young age.
I recall a spring training game in Orlando vs. the Braves and Dontrelle was really struggling. We sat on the grass in LF and we could hear Willis straining and groaning and literally screaming in frustration all the way out there.
He tried so hard. He is a really good guy. I wish he had had a better career.
I was surprised that the Tigers and Leyland did not use Dontrelle as a DH/1B/OF
The man could hit!!!
The Tigers also got Dontrelle Willis back in that blockbuster. I almost drove off the road when I heard that trade announced on my car radio way back when.
I will always regard Cameron Maybin as a Tiger. When they drafted him he was going to be another Roberto Clemente. He wasn’t, but he still had a well above average ML career. I wish him the best.
Really enjoyed his time here. He signed fir a lot of kids, took pictures, etc.
I was highly disappointed, but I always will remember a game at the old Pro Player Stadium (or whatever it was named that week) when he stole a HR by him going waist high above the fence. For those that don’t remember that stadium, it was a deep and high CF wall. It was a play that matched any catch Torii Hunter did.
Always will be associated with the Miguel Cabrera trade, but it was nice to see him back with the fish as an older mentor the last time around. Good luck
Always will be associated with the Miguel Cabrera trade, but it was nice to see him back with the fish as an older mentor the last time around. Good luck
It’s cool he already has an idea for how he wants to spend his time in the future. It’s also cool that this idea is an awesome thing to want to do.
Always enjoyed watching you play, man! Really fun Padres teams back then
Just out of curiosity does anyone know what the other offers were for Cabrera and Willis? Obviously the trade was a total disaster for Florida (just breaks my heart lol).
I’ll either edit this or reply again once I find specifics, but I seem to remember the Angels offering a package including Nick Adenhart (RIP)
EDIT: it looks like the Marlins wanted a package including Adenhart and Howie Kendrick
latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-nov-14-sp-cabrera…
You are correct. I remember at the time that the Marlins took a lesser package than what the Angels offered.
Clearly the Marlins didn’t think it was less than the Angels offered.
Both Maybin and Miller were two of the top, young MLB prospects in the country at that time. If both had produced for the Marlins then is was a very good deal for both sides. Maybin was a “late bloomer” and produced more for his teams after he left the Marlins.
Miller was converted from starter to a shut down, league dominant reliever who helped a few teams make the playoffs and beyond.
Badenhoff pitched on a few playoffs teams.
Some of the other players turned into back up players and spare parts.
Dontrelle became a “salary dump” absorption for the Tigers.
Wow that article says the Marlins wanted Kershaw for Cabrera. Could you imagine if that’s how it worked out? Wow.
From what I remember the Marlins wanted a Frontline position player prospect and a top pitching prospect (or rookie) for Cabrera alone. I believe the Adenhart deal didn’t include much else they wanted. At the time Maybin and Miller were considered top tier prospects. But both went up and down way too much with weird inconsistent playing time. I remember going to a game Miller pitched against BAL and he gave up a first inning home run and then proceeded to get the next 21 batters out. I thought that would be his coming out party. But either way… What could the game have been if LAD traded Kershaw for Cabrera?
38 million in cash and a ring! I’d call that a nice career.
A solid center fielder otherwise never fulfilled the hype. He stole that 38 million. Good for him.
Ignorant comment. He earned every dollar.
Agreed, Very solid with a glove, a little light with the bat. Good Luck CAMERON
I remember in 2016, I thought he was a spark plug for the Tigers. That team was not the same once he got traded at the deadline.
Good luck with your future endeavors, Cam.
They missed all of those hugs
@TroyVan:
Sparkplug was also the first word that came to my mind with regard to Maybin’s 2016 season. But didn’t the Tigers trade him after this season (but mid-season in 2020)?
Gruß,
BSHH
Fun player to watch. Wish all the best to Cam and his family
Maybin was another “can’t miss” prospect who didn’t live up to the hype. He did carve out a nice career for himself as a journeyman. Would have liked to see him sign with the Tigers one more time, even if it was only for one game just so he could join Rickey Henderson (A’s) and Tony Fernandez (Blue Jays) for most seperate stints with the same team (4)
No sensible baseball fan of any vintage, much less a GM, would refer to any prospect as “can’t miss.”
Young Billy Beane may beg to differ
Old Billy Beane wouldn’t.
You deemed him a “can’t miss”?
Cooperstown is waiting for Maybin.
Will he be enshrined with his Mets uniform or Cubs uniform?
This dude made me never want to try energy drinks after his heart issues. Still a fantastic and entertaining player to watch and a great teammate and representative of the game. Best of wishes to him in retirement.
I was sorry that the Yankees parted ways with him after his half-season in the Bronx. Besides being a very productive player between the lines, he was conspicuously a favorite in the dugout. Good luck to him in his transition.
Fun player to watch, he played a nice CF and reminded me at times of Steve Finley
Congrats on a great career! Hope you enjoy your time with your family, and kudos to you for committing yourself to an upcoming generation of players.
Maybin had a very nice career. Not a superstar or even a star player but he was a very useful player for any team he played for.
Have a productive retirement.
Many Marlins fans will remember Maybin as another one of the horrible returns that Mike Hill got in trades rivaling the following:
The Yelich trade speaks for itself. The fact that it was the last trade that the Jeter committee let Hill handle on his own speaks for itself.
Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen for Emilio Bonifacio.
Mike Jacobs coming off a 30-HR season for a reliever that didn’t last long, who was also using a fake name.
Dan Uggla traded to a division rival for Omar Infante and Mike “I can blow games just as bad as Renyel Pinto” Dunn.
Luis Castillo (the pitcher) along with two other prospects to the Reds for Dan Straily.
A couple of other gaffes.
Thanks for the memories Cameron!
Watched him play in Syracuse last year. He was hustling and smiling the whole game. My 8yo daughter was the smallest of the kids fighting for foul and shagged balls. He made sure she got one before he left the field. Made a little girl super happy. A class act.
Didn’t realize he was only 34. I enjoyed watching him play with his time as an Angel. It’s good to see him helping the next generation of athletes.
He struck out 12 times last year. In 28 ABs.
Any player who scores over 500 runs during his career was a valuable asset to his teams. Well done, Mr. Maybin.
I can totally see him coaching when/if he decides to go that route. He enjoyed the game, played smart, always seemed to have a good attitude (even when not playing and through his struggles last year), was an excellent base runner and outfielder. I’m sure he would make a very good Of/baserunner/1b coach.
Great attitude and outlook. Great in the clubhouse. Great personality.
Gracious with fans and the media.
I can see Cam Maybin in the broadcast booth or on MLB Network or ESPN
doing commentary and/or games.
Baseball commentators used to call guys like Maybin “can’t miss prospects”.
I thought he would be a bigger star, but not everyone can reach that level.
Cam had great speed, great defense, could hit with some pop in his bat.
If his hit tool had been a little better, then he would have been a perennial All Star.
Congratulations to Cameron Maybin on a notable MLB career
and best wishes on your retirement.
It is refreshing to see a player go out on his own terms.
Some players with his skills would hang on as a bench and parttime player
for another 5-10 years or until the phone stopped ringing etc..
.
Maybin should go back to the Tigers as outfield and base running coach. His #4 is waiting for him.
I remember turning on a random day game and seeing his debut
Many people don’t know his grandfather- Deacon Jones was a short time MLB player and much longer time MLB coach
He was the hitting coach on Bill Virdon’s Astro staff 1976-1982.
I met him when I was 8 in spring training 1979. Gave me a ball and made my day.
Congratulations Mr. Maybin.
Best wishes on your retirement.
And yes….. I blame Al.
Sorry to see him go, as a Yankee fan 1st and Marlins 2nd I was able to see him at his best. I wish him nothing but happiness going forward. That being said I thinks guys like this with what I believe to be a lot left in the tank are retiring sooner than they might have thanks to the China/Fauci virus. It has ruined so many things in this world the damage will take decades to figure out. I really hope these talks work out soon so baseball can help our country get back to some semblance of normalcy.