But you haven’t…you’re continuing to argue a point that’s already been decided.
You can insist all you want that you think otherwise, but Cabrera will be at third and Inge won’t.

…nobody cares if there is a difference in their “defense” because their overall value isn’t even close – and the more you insist that “defense” is somehow the trump card, the sillier this gets. Jones will be at least the LH platoon in LF as one of our two LH hitters (plus SH Guillen).

Cabrera
in the major leagues has started 356 games at 3rd base and 341 in the outfield… Not a major difference

He obviously has OF experience and wouldn’t embarass himself

Money you say?

Hmm… well if ballplayers aren’t satisfied with the enormous sums they already make and want to maxamize their value so be it.

But, his value comes from his hitting ability not his fielding ability.

A guy he is often compared to is Manny Ramirez – great hitter crappy fielder who makes $20mil/year

And even at his age he is still producing probably due to the lessened injury risk of playing OF.

If he was playing 3rd (boy that’d be real ugly) who knows what kind of offensive #s he would have put up and how healthy he would have stayed.

Even a guy like Soriano who switched from probably the 2nd rarest hitting positions to OF cashed in for 17mil/year.

After Arod and Jeter the next 9 highest paid hitters are either OF or 1st basemen

Manny, Helton, Soriano, Wells, Giambi, Beltran, Griffy Jr., Pujols, Lee

Rank Player Team Length of Contract Salary
1 Alex Rodriguez Texas Rangers* 10 years (2001-2010) $252,000,000
2 Derek Jeter New York Yankees 10 years (2001-2010) $189,000,000
3 Manny Ramirez Boston Red Sox 8 years (2001-2008) $160,000,000
4 Todd Helton Colorado Rockies 11 years (2001-2011) $141,500,000
5 Alfonso Soriano Chicago Cubs 8 years (2007-2014) $136,000,000
6 Vernon Wells Toronto Blue Jays 7 years (2008-2014) $126,000,000
6 Barry Zito San Francisco Giants 7 years (2008-2014) $126,000,000
8 Mike Hampton Colorado Rockies* 8 years (2001-2008) $121,000,000
9 Jason Giambi New York Yankees 7 years (2002-2008) $120,000,000
10 Carlos Beltran New York Mets 7 years (2005-2011) $119,000,000
11 Ken Griffey, Jr. Cincinnati Reds 9 years (2000-2008) $116,500,000
12 Kevin Brown Los Angeles Dodgers* 7 years (1999-2005) $105,000,000
13 Albert Pujols St. Louis Cardinals 7 years (2004-2010) $100,000,000
14 Carlos Lee Houston Astros 6 years (2007-2012) $100,000,000

If I were Cabrera (who as you all know is young, but somewhat out of shape) I would try to maxamize my value while reducing my injury risk and playing to win.

Therefore I would if I were him play OF.

Rings

I’ve moved on, I would like them to keep Brandon as a super-sub if at all possible

This isn’t about Brandon

This is about first the Tigers and secondly Cabrera

The best defensive scheme for winning ballgames in my mind would be to stick Cabrera in the OF and Inge at 3rd.

And I would like Cabrera to stay with us for awhile and not to have to have him worrying about his D or getting injured.

Also I think it is important to realize that while he might be great this team was already really good without our offseason trades.

Is he going to hit better than Maggs or Shef or Guillen next year? who knows maybe

But a reason why I think some teams are sucessful is because players don’t get big heads and everyone is tugging on one end of the rope for a common cause.

Anyways

Baseball is a business, and if nobody wants Inge, then Inge will just have to suck it up, and ’suffer’ through getting paid 6 million to play a part time role…..gee, life’s rough isn’t it?

Paying him to play somewhere is foolhardy, in my opinion. But if someone wants him and his big contract, great, best of luck Brandon.

But, David, be realistic…at this point, your criticism of Cabrera’s “unwillingness to play wherever the team wants” is because of your endless defense of, and advocation for, Brandon Inge to remain the starter. You’re already “mad” at him because he’s replacing your guy, before he’s slipped on the Old English “D.”

It’s over.

Inge is done at 3B for Detroit, barring injury. He’s asked to be traded (& you’re already seeing the value that most other teams place on Mr. Inge by the mad rush for his services in the trade market) and the Tigers have said that Miggy will be at 3B – and in my opinion, the team will be better for it.

Let’s move on.

These guys don’t want to embarrass themselves, and playing positions they’re not comfortable with can lead to that.

The bigger issue here, you may notice, is nobody wants to move down the defensive spectrum. The more people who can play your position, the less your value is and these guys know that.

I’m sure some of them actually are team players to some extent, but generally you can look to money for your explanation. And this isn’t me decrying the greed in the game.

If my boss comes in tomorrow and tells me the city I work for would be better served if I did a job that paid less but I could do a better job at, I’d be looking for another job that evening doing what I want to do for the pay I want.

(Of course the exception here is Sheffield, who is as far down the defensive spectrum as you can get at DH. However, he has to weigh the years he can play as an every day against the years he can play as a DH and balance those worksheets out against one another.)

I understand it but

Pudge went to 1st and 2nd so he could play

Guillen is shifting to 1st

Shef said he would play anywhere except 1st etc.

I dont get it

I didn’t think anyone was bigger than the team

I didn’t think Leyland tolerated that when he was in Pittsburgh from Barry or in 2006 or 2007 from anyone

Why start now?

http://www.mlive.com/tigers/in.....stion.html

That said, teams like Kansas City and Pittsburgh are possibly on their way to spending more in the draft with their young GM’s Dayton Moore and Neal Huntington.

To me, I think the slotting system is dumb, but with out-right defiance from the big markets, it’s really hurting baseball, in my opinion since teams like the Pirates and whatnot don’t even hesitate to pass on a guy like Porcello for a bullpen bound arm like Daniel Mosko’s (such a bad pick at that spot). This doesn’t happen in the NHL or football where teams refuse to pony up the cash and I think having a hard cap on draft spending to keep the elite talent at the top of the draft boards going to teams that really need them.

All that said, I don’t think there’s any reason to not spend a ton in the Draft. Especially when teams like the Pirates trade for aging vets with hefty price tags and little remaining talent like Matt Morris instead of spending that on Rick Porcello. It’s all about investment.

Oh, and I know being skinny isn’t what makes a great defender, i think Miggy Cabrera’s defense will improve with continuous weight loss. Not like it matters, he’s on his way to 1B/DH anyways sooner rather then later (like when Sheff’s deal is up).

But even if he were, I’d take that wager against the field. Miller has control issues he’s going to need to work through, and I’d bet a fairly large sum they’re not going to get worked out quickly enough for him to put up ROY numbers (if he were eligible).