The Tigers pulled out an 8-4 victory today over the equally troubled Orioles, but the win didn’t come without a fair share of bummer news. Baseball legend Miguel Cabrera was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, and the club announced after the game that the former Triple Crown winner is dealing with right knee soreness; as veteran reporter Chris McCosky of the Detroit News was quick to note, Cabrera has been dealing with chronic pain in that knee all season (link).
Across 1200 plate appearances since the beginning of the 2017 season, Cabrera owns a .273/.347/.405 batting line; his wRC+ of an even 100 indicates that he has been the perfect exemplar of a league-average hitter over that time frame. Of course, it is without the slightest bit of schadenfreude that one would point out how far those marks have fallen since Cabrera’s heyday. Miggy garnered MVP votes in every season ranging from 2003-2016; in that same span, he made ten All-Star games, won two MVP awards, and took home seven Silver Slugger trophies. Jason Beck of MLB.com indicates that Cabrera is considered “day-to-day” for the time being (link).
More notes from around the American League…
- Bob Hohler of The Boston Globe had the privilege of interfacing this week with retired Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, who made his first public comments to an English-language publication since being shot in a near-fatal June 9 incident in the Dominican Republic. “People need to understand, this isn’t a movie where you get shot in the street and you’re back two minutes later,’’ Ortiz said in the wide-ranging piece, which covers the events of that fateful night and his ensuing recovery process. “I got shot and almost died. I only have one life to live. I can’t just go to the pharmacy and buy another one.’’ As Hohler’s piece goes on to delineate, justice has still been hard to come by for the future Hall of Famer, as detectives in the DR are still yet to pinpoint a motive behind the attack that seems coherent to Ortiz; the former Boston great has since hired former Boston police commissioner Ed Davis to investigate the case.
- The Mariners have set something of an ignoble record in 2019, as Cut4’s Jake Mintz & Jordan Shusterman point out that Seattle has given playing time to an all-time-high 67 players this season (link). While many around baseball are giving attention to the litany of home run records being broken this year, manager Scott Servais and GM Jerry Dipoto have arguably accomplished a much more impressive feat in managing such a revolving door of a clubhouse.
I pray they find out what xactly happened to Papi, it’s a shame the Dominican is so limited in resources, n good thing Ortiz is not.
They already know what happened, Big Papi was messing with the wrong chica.
Man miggy was always one of my favorite players even playing against my team. It’s a shame that we have to age and go in such a sharp decline . He’s a hall of famer in my mind
And the word of the day is “schadenfreude”
Why is Ortiz a future HOF when guys like Bonds and Clemens aren’t in?
That Mariners’ stat gave me a good chuckle. There were countless time this season I would look at the box score and think “Who the hell is that?” Makes sense they would set that type of record considering they were constantly shuffling relief pitchers and seemed to have a new outfielder every 2-3 weeks.
The top end of the farm system (before this past offseason’s trades) was trash- we probably broke another record this year for total number of players released. Light at the end of the tunnel tho- Our better prospects are getting close to promotion. Kyle Lewis! Oof!
Schadenfreude?
Not quite the right use of schadenfreude.
But I do appreciate the effort.
One might say that you are a Frood who chooses not to throw shade.
He used the word correctly. Relax, sports writers are going to use purple prose from time to time.
Biggest HOF joke?!!? Phil Rizzuto!!!! Got in because he was a very likeable guy and many friends who voted.
Damn. Tigers STILL on the hook for $124 Million, GUARANTEED, with $60 Million extra if there i mutual interest.
As much as Miggy has brought to the game, 2023 will probably be his final year. I’m not sure anyone can see how a team can bring back a declining slugger who has difficulty staying healthy. Hot damn, though. $124 Million to go.
For all the chatter about Pujols’ contract, there are worse in MLB. Cabrera’s final few seasons figure to be more misbegotten than Pujols’. Pujols will probably finish 2019 with 25 HR and 100 RBI at age 39; Cabrera is 3 years younger and much less productive on an equally bad team. The last season for Pujols will be 2021, and Cabrera will be under contract two years longer.
Then there’s Chris Davis in Baltimore…
Miguel Cabrera needs to be a full time DH at this point. Try to preserve his health so he can at least produce something worth all the $ he is getting