The Detroit Tigers have one of the best hitters in the league in Miguel Cabrera, a guy whose had his share of off-field problems, has had weight issues, and now will attempt to play a position he couldn't handle when he was 30 pounds lighter.
In 2006 and 2007, Cabrera was the everyday third baseman for the Florida Marlins. In 2007, he was minus-11 in the zone fielding rating, putting him firmly in the bottom 20 percent of third basemen in baseball. He's listed at 240 pounds, but has been bigger. The Tigers tried him at third base in 2008 for 14 games, and he made five errors.
Buster Olney of ESPN.com wrote Saturday that he hasn't talked to a single MLB talent-evaluator who believes Cabrera can play third base regularly.
"I think he wants to show the world he can play third base," Tigers manager Jim Leyland told the Detroit News. "I don't think this is going to be bad. He told me he wants to play there."
Keep in mind that Leyland won the World Series in 1997 with a guy who was a bit overweight: Bobby Bonilla. It seems like the Tigers might be following that similar footprint. But only when they need to. It might take some ego-massaging from Leyland if Cabrera is adamant about playing third.
As the Detroit Free Press' Michael Rosenberg wrote: "Their best team does not include Cabrera at third. Cabrera has great feet and hands and a good arm, but he lacks quickness. Yeah, sure, maybe his bat can make up for his glove. But why do that, then put a parade of light-hitting guys at designated hitter? What is the point?"
Nobody whose in their 20s and healthy wants to be the DH. And it's likely that Cabrera and Fielder will both get some time at DH, too.
So this might be much ado about nothing, at least until Victor Martinez comes back in 2013. Then the Tigers truly have three star players for two spots.
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