Atlanta Braves “What if” Trade Scenarios
Jul 4, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves center fielder Cameron Maybin (25) waves to the crowd after hitting a home run against the Philadelphia Phillies in the second inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Cameron Maybin
Let’s start right away with the one that has me torn the most. Yes: I believe Cameron Maybin has the most trade value among the position players available. Yes: he would be a “sell-high” candidate.
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However, I also believe that Maybin has ‘found himself’ this year and that his new-found offensive abilities are not a fluke… this could be the real deal for another couple of years at least, and with his contract, that date range would fit nicely. Additionally, it’s clearly hard to find a decent bat, so the best bet there may be the bat you already have… which saves effort to replace that bat later.
But again, this isn’t about value or personal feelings: it’s about coping with loss.
As such, there is reason to believe that Atlanta is not only willing to part with Maybin, but they have already been arranging the deck chairs with this possibility in mind.
A month ago, Mallex Smith was promoted to AAA. This was interesting on several levels:
- It was an ‘early’ promotion, though Smith had been tearing up AA ball (.340/.418/.413/.830 with 23 steals in 57 games).
- The promotion effectively ended an experiment of trying out Jose Peraza in CF.
- It puts Smith on a trial run in AAA so that the Braves could consider promoting him to the majors if needed.
Unfortunately, Smith’s transition to AAA has been a lot less productive than hoped, thus far: .205/.234/.288/.521 (7 steals in 18 games). So he’s probably not the first choice for a CF replacement at this time.
Nonetheless, Gwinnett has no shortage of Center Fielders, should Atlanta choose to trade Maybin:
- Eury Perez (of course already in the majors, but was hitting .296 in AAA; .286 in limited time with Atlanta)
- Eric Young Jr. (.225 at AAA)
- Todd Cunningham (.240)
- Mycal Jones (.264)
IF MAYBIN IS TRADED: I expect that Perez gets first shot at the position with Smith to get a September call-up.
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