The Marlins’ decision to release Mike Cameron with 2 1/2 weeks left in the season seemed awfully odd, particularly with Mike Stanton and Logan Morrison banged up. But they obviously had their reasons. Juan C. Rodriguez of The Sun Sentinel reports that the center fielder was let go for conduct detrimental to the team.
No word on what said conduct was. It certainly comes as a big surprise, as the 38-year-old Cameron has never been viewed as a problem player. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Cameron played in 45 games for the Marlins after being released by the Red Sox and hit .238/.331/.420 with six homers and 18 RBI in 143 at-bats. It’s not a great line, but the .751 OPS is actually slightly better than what NL center fielders (.747) and left fielders (.748) are putting up as a whole this season.
With Cameron gone and Morrison and Stanton both sidelined, the Marlins are using an outfield of Greg Dobbs, Bryan Petersen and Emilio Bonifacio tonight. It’s the fifth outfield start for Dobbs, who spent much of the first few months battling Bonifacio for playing time at third base.