Marlins sign Maybin to one-year deal

JUPITER, Fla. -- While Don Mattingly's Marlins will enter the season with a mostly new-look outfield, one of the team's old faces is back.
Cameron Maybin, who spent the 2008-10 seasons with the Marlins after being acquired in the Miguel Cabrera trade with the Tigers, signed a one-year deal reportedly worth $3.25 million plus incentives for performance with the club. He will wear No. 1 with the Marlins and feels he can participate in game action this weekend.
"I'm excited about what I can bring back as a little bit [of an] older player," Maybin said on Wednesday morning. "I learned some good things in those seasons. ... I'm just here to try and help out, try and lead them in the right direction."
Maybin, who turns 31 in April, split last year between the Angels and Astros and stole 33 bases. He won a World Series title with Houston, batting .286 across six postseason games. Though Maybin hit only .186 in 21 regular-season games with the Astros, the former first-round Draft pick said he picked up plenty of leadership advice from older teammates.
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"Finishing up with Houston last year, I've been able to take so many things ... from Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann and some of those veteran guys on how to bring a clubhouse together," Maybin said, "how to create a way of cherishing every win. I think sometimes at the big league level, you get used to doing it so much that we don't take time to cherish a team victory."
Miami enters the 2018 season with questions in the outfield following offseason trades of Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, and Marcell Ozuna. Utility player Derek Dietrich is the only outfielder who has been assured a starting job by Mattingly. With Dietrich in left, prospects Lewis Brinson, Braxton Lee and Magneuris Sierra will battle for spots in center and right. If they are not ready for big league action, Maybin provides insurance at all three outfield positions.
Maybin said the signing came together over roughly a three-day period, as talks with teams sped up after the Super Bowl earlier this month.
Marlins general manager Michael Hill said Maybin's skillset and maturity were key factors in inking the 11-year veteran outfielder to a contract.

"Anyone who's spent time with him knows what he represents as a person, as a teammate, as a professional," Hill said. "I think those are all qualities that, as we continue to build this organization, those are things that are important to us on top of being talented."
Added Mattingly: "Cameron's got a reputation of being a great teammate, and I think that's one of the things you do look at with younger guys. Knowing that you want to play the game a certain way, you really want a clubhouse presence [like Maybin.]"
Maybin already has first-hand experience of Brinson, who was acquired in the Yelich trade, having played against him in a rehab assignment last season. Brinson is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Marlins' No. 1 prospect and could earn his way onto the team's Opening Day roster with a strong showing this spring.
"He's got a tremendous talent, kind of reminds me of a younger me looking at him," Maybin said of Brinson. "I'm just excited to talk to him, pick his brains and bounce things off him to help him become the best player he can be."

Fantasy spin | Fred Zinkie (@FredZinkieMLB)
Coming off a season in which he tied his career high with 10 homers and placed fifth in the Majors with 33 steals, Maybin warrants attention in all roto leagues now that he is set for a full-time role with the Marlins. But as a career .255 hitter who has tallied 400 at-bats in just one of the previous five seasons, the speedster should be considered a boom-or-bust, speed-first asset who is best left for his potential in your draft's final rounds.