The Indians made a trade today, acquiring 2011 International League MVP Russ Canzler from the Rays. It wouldn't be surprising to see Cleveland add another hitter before Opening Day, but their division rivals appear to have completed most of their offseason shopping at this point. Here's the latest from the AL Central…
- Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski ruled out the possibility of playing Miguel Cabrera in left field, according to James Schmehl of MLive.com.
- White Sox starter Gavin Floyd joined Jim Memolo and Jeff Nelson on MLB Network Radio and said he's been kept in the dark about the trade rumors surrounding him this offseason and that he knows it's out of his control.
- GM Dayton Moore told Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star that he'll consider ways of upgrading the Royals if they're in the pennant race midseason. For now, Kansas City is likely done adding major pieces.
I`d think about putting Cabbie in right, Maggs played there for years. Without any range, speed or an arm.
you would
Playing right field (especially at Comerica) is much tougher than playing left field.
I disagree the sun sets in the left fielders eyes, tough on a summers night!
You can disagree all you want. It still doesn’t change the fact right field is generally a tougher position to play.
Especially at Comerica? Comerica has one of the biggest LFs in the league. It’s bigger than RF.
And given that Cabrera’s range is the main factor and not his arm strength, RF seems to be the better fit.
Maggs had a better arm than people gave him credit for. But you’re 100% right tycobb on the no range or speed!
The possibility of playing him there is “out of left field”
How bout this….. They shouldn’t have paid a DH $200 mil for 9 years to play first base when the first baseman they have is a better hitter, also locked up in a long term deal and cannot play other position. Honestly, they should just DH Feilder now. I mean why suffer defensively just because you over paid. No one else was even going to come close to this deal. This will be the worst signing ever 2 years into it.
How about letting them play even just 1 game together before declaring it the worst signing ever, no?
$200 mill when noone else was close to offering 6 yrs- reminiscent of when Borass hoodwinked Tom Hicks. This will likely hamstring the Tigers franchise as soon as 2015
Yeah, I’m sure in 2 years the Tigers will be kicking themselves about still having the best 1-2 punch in the league.
The team with three DH……..gotta love their bats (Prince,Vmart, and Miggy) but where do you put them besides 1st and DH? I mean if someone can’t handle 3rd how are they going to handle left?
Good thing nobody has to worry about that until Spring 2013.
The silver lining in Vmart being injured is they have all of 2012 to figure that out. Besides, there is no guarantee Vmart will even be ready for spring training in 2013 after having microfracture AND ACL surgery.
Delmon Young is a left fielder…………
I think Miggy could handle it.
I think people are worrying a bit too much about all this. The roster has enough flex to cover any number of eventualities so just see how it shakes out. Cabby got off to a rough start at 3b, but he was new, young, replacing a popular vet, and worrying about living up to a $20m/yr contract while carrying the lineup. Now he’s got a lot of support, he’s in great shape, and he’s a more focused and dedicated player than he’s ever been. He might surprise a lot of people.
As to RF, I like the idea but Boesch seems comfortable there and I don’t see any reason to throw him any wrenches at the moment. Delmon Young will DH and if Cabby has to be shifted there he can’t have any less range than Young did last season. Still, I think 3b is a good fit. He’s got good reflexes and instincts (always thought he played 1b more aggressive than most) to compensate for limited range/speed.
I don’t think Miguel Cabrera and “great shape” go together.
Personally I can’t believe how stubborn Detroit is being about Cabrera playing third.
He actually has lost a bit of weight and is looking pretty fit. And as a manager/GM you have to support your best player until proven otherwise. What are they supposed to tell Miggy, “You’re fat and going to be an awful 3rd baseman don’t even try”? If he can play a bad (but ok enough to justify keeping him there) 3B, then you are maximizing your roster’s and offense’s potential.
Yeah, not sure how they’re being “stubborn” about playing him at 3b when he hasn’t even started a single game there yet? Do people not remember Betemit at 3b? People act like Cabrera is the first big guy in the history of the game to play 3b… it used to be standard to stick a big bat there. Then again, that was also done when you had a lighter-hitting/better-range SS than Peralta, but it’s still not the longshot people make it out to be.
In otherwords, KC fans be ready to be the division doormat again.
The Twins and White Sox are worse than the Royals.
The Twins and White Sox are worse than the Royals.
If Beckham, Dunn or Rios bounce back, the White Sox will be right back in it. Still Tigger’s to lose, but within range
I’ll agree that the Chi Sox are worse off than the Royals, I think that the Twins will be okay this year. They suffered a lot of injuries last year that really hurt them.
If Mauer ends up mostly playing 1B/DH, his bat is just not that great. Their pitching was 24th in the MLB last year. They have no great 26 or under players. The Twins are in dire straits. White Sox minor league system have been rated last or near last in everything I have read. They are in bad shape too.
Valid point about Mauer, I bet he catches 110+ games this year though. Apparently Baker should be healthy which should help the Twins out, he was rollin when he went down last year, and ya Chi Sox are in real bad shape which makes me laugh hard!