Mike Cameron Designated for Assignment

 

Before this afternoon's win in Philadelphia, the Red Sox cut their ties with Mike Cameron, designating him for assignment. Cameron was signed before last year, and has not at all panned out how Theo was hoping. When he was originally brought in, he was handed the center fielder job before training camp even started. This seemed strange at the time, given that the Red Sox already had a promising, young, athletic center fielder in Jacoby Ellsbury. Of course, both guys were hurt last year, and so this decision never truly came into play.

Cameron came into this season as a fourth outfielder, and a guy who would platoon with JD Drew and hit against lefties. The results have been far from spectacular. In 33 games, his triple slash line ended up at .149/.212/.266. He just never got into any sort of groove in Boston. Upon his DFA, he had played 81 games, and put up a .219/.285/.352 triple slash line, with 7 homers and 24 RBI. It would have been nice to see Theo go younger with this signing, and it ended up biting him in the ass going with an older veteran. Cameron was clearly over the hill, and it was nice to see the Red Sox front office to admit their mistake and drop him from the team. With that being said, Cameron had a very nice career, in which he played some of the best center field of his generation in his prime, and finished with a respectable .782 OPS. 

To take Cameron's roster spot will be Yamaico Navarro. The utility man, who can play both infield and outfield, played in 20 games last season, and struggled mightily in them. Navarro has put up decent numbers in Pawtucket this year, and may have a spot on the roster if the team decides to send Darnell McDonald the way of Cameron.