Miguel Cabrera Needs His Own Thread

...I say with some sadness. (You may be barking up the wrong tree there.)

Not to harp on this too much, but there's some tremendous parallels between Miggy and Pujols here. The Cards are thankful every day they let Pujols walk after his age-31 season rather than giving him that deal.

— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) June 13, 2018

Officially out for the rest of the season with a ruptured left biceps tendon.

i wish he would just take a year off to get as healthy as he can possibly get at his age and go from there

― qualx, Saturday, October 14, 2017 4:41 AM (seven months ago)

Prescient post.

Not to harp on this too much, but the last thing the team's 85-year-old, championship-craving owner cared about in 2014 (and most other years) was overpaying.

Maybe the Tigers would have been super smart like the Cardinals and let Cabrera walk if THEY had recently won two World Series.

They didn't even need to worry about him walking -- he had two years left on his contract (I'm sure you don't need reminding).

I think there's a good chance Miggy ages like Thome did -- high OBP's and good power, but as a full time DH playing 110 games per year. His iron man seasons with 150+ GP are surely past.

36 today. it's getting ugly : /

think the tigers are going to exercise that second option year in 2025??

It's Miguel Cabrera's birthday!

Let's watch that time he was offered an intentional walk and said "nah." pic.twitter.com/MvDujabTiU

— Cut4 (@Cut4) April 18, 2019

He has looked even worse than the numbers indicate.

poll: if miggy tried to hit an intentional walk pitch today (and if pitchers still threw intentional walk pitches), could he still hit one 2 feet outside for a RBI single

my guess is the pitcher would have to jog forward a little to play it.

after Pujols, is this the worst current contract to be stuck with in baseball?

chris davis is a pretty bad one too

Ooh ya. Three first basemen.

what a moment

With his double in the 5th inning, @MiguelCabrera now has 560 doubles in his career, tying him with Jeff Kent and Eddie Murray for 27th in MLB history.

— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) April 23, 2019

MRI on Miguel Cabrera's knee is still being reviewed by "a lot of different doctors," Ron Gardenhire said.

— Jason Beck (@beckjason) June 2, 2019

Miguel Cabrera diagnosed with “chronic changes to his knee” as the result of a long career, according to Tigers head athletic trainer Doug Teter.

— Jason Beck (@beckjason) June 4, 2019

what the

hmm, a case of "chronic changes to knee"

beginning to see why they sought out a second opinion

sir, i have bad news. it's about your lungs. they...they're changing. chronically.

“Okay, now, the symptoms you describe point to ‘bonus eruptus’, it’s a terrible disorder where the skeleton tries to leap out the mouth and escape the body.”

a bizarre way to say "old" or "arthritis"

I think I have this affliction

There was a four-year stretch when, after final game each season, would ask Cabrera what injuries he was dealing with down stretch. And only then would he answer. The guy just played, especially when they were playing in October. https://t.co/YHtuMpTtvj

— Jason Beck (@beckjason) June 4, 2019

“The only advice I can say to young kids is take care of their body when they have to," Miguel Cabrera said. "When they have something, stop playing for a week and come back. Don’t play through pain, because you’re going to pay the price later.”

— Jason Beck (@beckjason) June 4, 2019

also do your homework and stay in school

Speaking of Cabrera, his 2019 is one of the oddest superstar decline years that I can remember. If you told me back when Cabrera signed his contract extension that he’d be a terrible major leaguer in 2019, I would have believed you (as did the projections). But I wasn’t quite prepared for the shape of the decline; I did not see Cabrera’s decline phase being “really, really slow Vince Coleman.” I expected Cabrera to look more like Albert Pujols does now, maintaining his power but eventually losing everything else. Instead, Miggy has retained his ability to hit singles but has only hit 10 homers in a run environment where records are being shattered left and right. Just for a quick comp list for 2019, I looked up every season within five points of Cabrera’s in BA, OBP, and wRC+, within 10 points of OBP, and with at least 80 strikeouts.

https://i.imgur.com/UVyEfnq.png

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-detroit-tigers-discovered-their-nadir-in-2019/

Kind of gruesome...He's signed for three more seasons; he might need that to reach 500 HR.

nothing more fun for fans than watching aging vince coleman try to reach a round HR number!

signed for 4 more seasons iirc

Kinda puzzled why Fangraphs is so surprised by his "decline" (3 seasons of fairly level shitty/replacement level)? Or is it "odd" to be that shitty for 3 seasons?

i feel like your question is answered in the quote.

I worded my post poorly:

Miggy's 2019 did not forge much of a different vector from his 2018 (injury) nor his 2017 (terrible) seasons. Expecting an outlier on the tailend of 3 seasons of lackluster performance is a bit reckless imho... tho I'm not a baseball blogger.

As was noted in this Chris McCosky pievce last October, Miguel Cabrera's right knee is not going to get better. It's the core reason why he's not hitting. He's in shape, he has the fire -- but not the right knee. It needs, probably, replacing. No go there. https://t.co/dXTIH507P2

— Lynn G. Henning (@Lynn_Henning) August 26, 2020

A ballplayer getting his knee replaced isn't a ballplayer returning to big-league duties. Thus, it seems, the script is nearly written: Tigers will get him to 3,000 hits, try to get him to 500 HRs. And then there will be a parting. All because the knee can't adequately function.

— Lynn G. Henning (@Lynn_Henning) August 26, 2020

Needs 165 hits for 3000 and 19 HRs for 500.

At .198/.297/.327 this year, and has looked as overmatched as those numbers indicate.

Hasn't appeared desperate, at least -- no major deviation in his swing percentages. Making less contact outside the zone.

I dunno.

talking out of my ass here, but i find it hard to believe that a knee replacement would make things worse than they already are

You don't need great knees to hit a HR from the DH spot (Joey/Albert Belle, Bo Jackson, Kirk Gibson, Mo Vaughan, Don Mattingly, David Ortiz, etc.). But getting those 165 hits might be the bigger challenge if he can't run at 80% or less of his peak speed.

.198/.297/.327 is going to be even worse when pitchers start challenging him more often (he has a walk rate of 11.9%, somehow)

xp you can be slow as hell and still be a good contact/non-slugger:

here's the bottom 10 in sprint speed:

https://i.imgur.com/ggu5FsT.png

well, maybe not a good contact hitter, but still able to get "hits"

Yes, exactly! That's his current "speed". After a knee replacement, you can best believe he will be slower than Pujols & Yadi (he's marginally faster than them now).

Also, just say Miggy collects a hit, he immediately becomes a baserunning liability: much easier to get a double play off of the slowest runner in baseball, he will not be able to slide in to 2B to break up the double play, in fact he will be a huge injury risk every time he has to slide, he will not be taking an extra base on a gapper (1st - 3rd, 2nd - Home). Baserunning liability = more out chances for the defense = less run production for DET.

yeah, i guess i agree it's liable to get pretty ugly. what your'e describing is pretty much albert pujols for the last several years

talking out of my ass here, but i find it hard to believe that a knee replacement would make things worse than they already are

― mookieproof, Wednesday, August 26, 2020 11:32 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

recovery is tough and you need to be on blood thinners for a few months. it’s not impossible but for someone his age it’s asking a lot

i'm on blood thinners right now and am totally fine to DH until my cat bites me and i bleed to death

lol

Heating up.

The late-Pujols phase of his career into its fifth year...Hit a HR first time up today, so 12 more for 500. Getting to 3,000 hits will be difficult--full season, no injury. If he duplicates his 2019, he'd just make it. And then, yikes, two more seasons.

on pace for 500 or so HR this season as of today

Miguel Cabrera has departed the field of play via the BIG FLY.#DetroitRoots pic.twitter.com/aQebyTB7eJ

— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) April 1, 2021

The MLB site had a lead story last night about Cabrera on the verge of passing Ruth in career hits. He went 0-3 in each game and is now hitting .146.

New obsession: .125.