By Blaidd Drwg
A couple of seasons ago, the Red Sox made what I thought was a great move in signing Mike Cameron to a 2 year, $15 million dollar contract. At the time, Cameron was 36, but was still playing gold glove defense in CF and had posted an OPS+ of 110, 111, 104 and 121 in his previous 4 seasons while averaging around 140 games per season. The Sox were going to shift Jacoby Ellsbury to LF and have 3 potential gold glovers to cover the outfield expanse in Fenway.
A lot of people didn’t like this deal – Cameron was too old, he strikes out too much, he doesn’t hit for a high average, etc.
Well a season and a half into his contract, the Red Sox have designated him for assignment. They got 81 games of injury-plagued substandard baseball (and a whopping 71 OPS+). Cameron could not get it together in Boston when he was healthy and he wasn’t healthy for most of his stay there.
I doubt that anyone will rush out to sign a 38 year old hitter who looks done, but he probably wouldn’t be a bad pickup for a team trying to contend as a 4th OF/late inning defensive replacement/power bat off the bench. That is, once of course he clears waivers and becomes a free agent, meaning that any team that signs him would only be responsible for the pro-rated part of the MLB minimum salary, leaving the Red Sox on the hook for most of the roughly 4 million he is owed the rest of the season.
Updated 4:05 PM – This just in from boston.com:
Cameron, who was designated for assignment on June 30 by the Red Sox, has been sent to the Florida Marlins along with cash in exchange for a player to be named later or cash, the Red Sox announced moments ago.
My guess – the Sox are giving the Marlins the cash to pay Cameron’s remaining contract. If not, this move makes no sense for the Marlins.
FlatbreadGarden 
I had a big crush on Kirk.
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