Padres want to offer Maybin a contract extension

Sometimes you eat the wall and sometimes the wall eats you. 

Maybin ran face first into the wall during the first inning of yesterday's game making what Bud Black thinks was one of the best catches of the year.  Maybin made the following statement through his newly flattened face.

"You can never be scared of the wall," Maybin said. "A teammate told me a long time ago, you’ve got to eat the wall." 

If you watch the clip of the play, you see Jesus Guzman run to Maybin's aid as he lies on the ground.  Then instead of helping Maybin to his feet he takes the ball out of Maybin's glove, I guess to show the umpire or wanted a souvenir of the moment.  Only then does he show any real concern for any possible injuries.

As a result of Maybin's improved play, The Padres are interested in extending his contract.

"Probably the biggest, most surprising thing has been that he plays his butt off every day; the talent is obvious," Hoyer said recently. "He just needs a chance to refine it and go through the process. But he comes to play every day."

Bud Black hadn't heard about the possible extension but he's in favor of it.  He was asked who on his roster deserves a Gold Glove and he only mentioned Maybin, but then rattles off a some criticism about the way Cam fields grounders, which is a good way of keeping Cam's ego in check.

"Maybin should get some consideration, even though Cam’s made some errors on some grounders that he shouldn’t have," Black said. "But as far as making the great play — when a guy makes a tough play look easy — that shouldn’t be held against him. It’s still a tough play. Cam has the potential to win a Gold Glove. He’s (just) got to clean up a little bit of the small things."

A scout had this to say about Maybin last March.

"I think he knows the spot is his and he's going to get his 500 at-bats. He looked a little more confident in his jumps. He's good east-west. But he really has trouble breaking back and in. At the plate, he doesn't recognize spin. But, you never know how he's going to be until he gets a chance to play every day."