After eight years and a lot of center fielders, the Tigers and Cameron Maybin are back together

On Dec. 4, 2007, after just 53 Major League plate appearances, the Tigers traded Cameron Maybin to the Marlins along with Andrew Miller, Burke Badenhop and others in exchange for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. And while you can certainly say that the trade has worked out for the Tigers, with Cabrera collecting two MVPs during their time together, perhaps the team was always missing something. 

On Nov. 20, 2015, coming off a season in which he set a career-high with 10 home runs, Maybin is returning to Detroit. Like "The Notebook," the years separated the two, with Maybin playing for the Marlins, Padres and Braves in between. But it was simply meant to be. Maybe the Tigers had even been sending him letters over the past eight years, hoping he'd come back, but he never received them. We just don't know. 

Tigers bring back former 1st-round pick Cameron Maybin, acquiring the CF from Braves for Ian Krol and Gabe Speier.

- Jason Beck (@beckjason) November 20, 2015

Since Maybin's been gone, the Tigers have also gone through 16 starting center fielders. Perhaps each one was in some way a reflection of Maybin, a sign of the team trying to get over the true love that they shared. Perhaps Austin Jackson's promise reminded them of Maybin, Quentin Berry's speed resembling Maybin motoring around the bases. Then again, maybe they were all just good outfielders and I'm looking too deeply into this ... nah, can't be. 

Even after all this time, Maybin is still only 29, so the Tigers and the center fielder should have plenty of productive baseball-playing and rowboating in the years ahead of them.