Saturday’s Special – Spotlight on Newcomers: Mike Cameron
With so much discussion over the past few weeks over what the Red Sox offense will be like,
and in particular a lot of skepticism over what the newcomers in particular will offer, this blog has been, and remains, particularly optimistic. Mike Cameron is a big reason for the optimism.
One thing for certain is that over the years that I’ve played fantasy baseball, this guy has been one of the most underrated players. Not convinced fantasy baseball has any relation to real baseball. I beg to differ. Fantasy baseball is largely an offensively focused competition when it comes to the everyday players, and those that produce in fantasy also for the most part are big producers in real life. I had the good fortune to have Cameron on my team for part of two seasons, and because of how diverse he is on offense, he was a big, and consistent, contributor. He hits for power, he gets extra base hits, he steals bases, he knocks in runs, he scores runs.
Yes, he’s going to be 37 this season, but since he
became and everyday regular in 1999, in his
one and only season with the Reds, he has had 500+ at bats and played in at least 140 games in all of those seasons except one (as long as you’ll allow me a pass with his 493 at bats with the Mets in ’04 (I believe that was the season that ended early because of a freak, horrific collision in the outfield.) What’s more, playing mostly in pitcher parks since from 2000-09 (for the Mariners, Mets, Padres and Brewers), his numbers were remarkably consistent: avg. always around .270; doubles always around 30; HRs always around 20 to 25; RBI always right around 80; SB usually at least 20 (except for last year, when he only had seven);
and OPS around a respectable .800.
We know what he’s going to give the Sox on defense and with heart – and as long as he’s healthy, he’s going to likely add some very versatile offense to an already tough lineup.
Red Sox 1027 
here’s the problem with cameron. this offense due to its lack of power needs him ( and beltre and scutaro for that matter ) to do someting he’s NEVER done. hit for a high average. dude’s never hit above .267 in a full season and over the last 3 he’s more like .245. i’ll agree he has been pretty consistent with his power numbers but for this lineup they are not good enough to offset a .245 average. this really figures to be a jason varitek situation. over the last 2-3 yrs anyway. yeah he can hit it out on occasion but he constantly bats with multiple men on base and cant get them home because he hit for such a poor average. cameron’s avg. it likely to be as bad as tek’s but as you said he is 37 and hitters don’t typically trend up in the late 30’s. hopefully he has a career year.
cameron’s career stat’s are really what is so puzzling about this offseason. to me anyway. this team in order to be productive is going to have to manufacture runs. which means a lineup that 1-9 gets on base and hits for a high average. you look at the numbers for beltre, cameron, and scutaro and they typically don’t do either very well. scutaro had a pretty solid year last year but over his career not so much. i’m not sayin any of them are bad players. they are not. individually. but as a group you’re taking up 3 spots in your lineup with guys who really historically don’t do what you need them to do. hit for average and get on base. some people thought bay struck out a lot and he did BUT cameron and beltre both strike out twice as much as they walk.
Here’s the thing that’s particularly intriguing about Cameron, though. Despite a somewhat low batting average and high strikeout rate, he still manages to score runs and drive in runs, which is what any offense needs to be all about, scoring runs. In the five of the eight seasons (out of nine seasons total) when he’s been in at least 140 games, he’s scored 88 runs or more, and 84, 74, and 76 in the other three; similarly he’s driven in at least 75 runs in seven of those eight seasons (and the one he didn’t was his very first full season). Even last year, when he only played in 120 games, he scored 69 and drove in 70. The guy is money. I think you’re going to like him.