Will The Padres Keep Cameron Maybin in 2015?

Let’s just say that 2014 was not Cameron Maybin‘s year. The same could be said about 2013. I’m not so sure that 2015 will be his year either, perhaps not with the San Diego Padres anyway.

In 2014, Maybin appeared in just 95 games. He missed a huge chunk of the season with injuries and was suspended for another 25 games after testing positive for amphetamines.

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Maybin is an exciting player to watch when he’s in the lineup, and his athletic abilities and impressive catches in center field have earned him the nick-name “Spider-Maybin”. The problem is that Maybin can’t stay healthy, and when he is healthy he isn’t producing. The 27-year-old has only played in 109 games over the past two years and has posted an inexcusable .196 batting average during that time. Over that stretch, his ability to steal bases appears to have diminished with each injury.

I like Maybin, but his 2015 $7 million salary does not reflect his performance or ability to stay on the field. With so much young outfield talent down on the farm, it seems like dealing Maybin this off-season and starting Will Venable at center in 2015 might be the way to go. Venable comes with a significantly lower price tag at just $4.25 million, and has played well during his appearances in center.

Padres General Manager, A.J. Preller, might have already set this plan in motion. If you head over to the Padres online store, select jerseys are listed at 20% off. Curiously, out of the five jerseys with player names on the back that the site is currently showcasing, four of them are Maybin jerseys. The other? Carlos Quentin.