So Cabrera has no range to his left at third, and Guillen's footwork at first is dangerously bad. Is it just me, or is the solution here painfully obvious?

Put a call into the farm system. Notify the Tigers' developmental team that they need to get a kid catcher ready to start the season in 2009.

This isn't football, it's maaagic!

So Cabrera has no range to his left at third, and Guillen's footwork at first is dangerously bad. Is it just me, or is the solution here painfully obvious?


Sign Doug Mietnkiewicz?

I've never understood why people think you can just plug bad defensive players into 1B and -- poof -- all of your problems would be solved. While it ain't shortstop, it's hard over there, and quite awkward for the uninitiated. Is there really a long line of success stories in converting guys in their prime to first? Off the top of my head I'm thinking Thome, Pujols, and . . .who else? Hank Aaron played there a bunch in Atlanta in the early 70s, but that wasn't his prime.

"Sign Doug Mietnkiewicz?"

Already taken. We'd be willing to move him for a reasonable offer, though.

Put a call into the farm system. Notify the Tigers’ developmental team that they need to get a kid catcher ready to start the season in 2009.

Brain Sabean: Suzie, get the farm on the line. Tell them I want one of everything!

PI rocks the house. Here's the list of players who have played 400 games at both 1B and 3B (Cabrera has played 379 at 3B so far):

Pete Rose
Tony Perez
George Brett
Darrell Evans
Harmon Killebrew
Joe Torre
Todd Zeile
Jim Thome
Richie Hebner
Dick Allen
Enos Cabell
Dave Magadan
Jeff King

If you up it to 500 games, you lose Brett, Thome, Zeile, Hebner, and King.

Edit: Could Cabrera join their ranks? Maybe, if he stays in shape. But a lot of those guys (i.e. Cabell, Hebner, Zeile, Rose, Perez) were leaner, more athletic types than Cabrera is. Others weren't necessarily all that great at 1B, but had to play SOMEWHERE.

My guess: Cabrera is the Tigers' DH really, really soon.

Of course, I think the real solution is leaving Guillen at 1B, moving Cabrera to left, sticking Inge at third and benching Jacques Jones. But the Tigers seem mysteriously disinclined to do that.

FWIW, only three players have played 300 games at 1B and SS (I picked 300 since that's about 2 seasons worth of games): Ernie Banks, Julio Franco and Pete Runnels. Guillen--from past adventures--is already up to 51 games at 1B, so he holds the job in Detroit a couple of years he should manage to add his name to that list.

and benching Jacques Jones

It's a Jones/Thames platoon which is going to be fairly productive at the plate, I think.

I've never understood why people think you can just plug bad defensive players into 1B and -- poof -- all of your problems would be solved. While it ain't shortstop, it's hard over there, and quite awkward for the uninitiated. Is there really a long line of success stories in converting guys in their prime to first?

There aren't a lot of guys converting in their primes because players who start out at other positions tend to still have the ability to stay there in their primes.

There are probably hundreds of players who have moved to first base at some point in their career, whenit was obvious they couldn't handle whatever position they were playing, and its almost never a disaster. Even if the guy doesn't turn out to be a great defensive first baseman, or even a good one, its not at all the same thing as being inadequate at a position like third. If Cabrera can't handle third, first base seems like a reasonable solution to me. My only issue is that spring training is usually the time you make this type of transition, not during the regular season.

Dizzy -- I realize a ton of players have moved to first at some point but, as the list above suggests, it's almost never been a long-term solution for a player in mid-career.

Well Craig, it's not that they ust plunked him over there. He played 40=odd games there last year and looked fine.

Craig, I disagree. I think the list suggests that its very possible. Name me a list of players who moved to first base - at any point in their careers, where they could hit well enought to play the position, and it still didn't work.

Piazza is the classic example of that, though I'd say that the sucesses far outnumber the failtures.

While perhaps infield defense is a concern, I'd say the pitiful 2.14 runs per game is probably the biggest reason this team is winless.

We took away the best defensive 3B in baseball and an underrated though brittle defensive SS and replaced them with, respectively, a statue and a statue. The SS moved to 1B where he is not a statue, but is miscast.

And we're now surprised that the IF defense has dropped off?

PS -- With Jurrjens pitching well in ATL, the Renteria trade has disaster written all over it. You can't really "blame" DD, because he had no idea he was going to get Cabrera, but the end result isn't a very good one.

Name me a list of players who moved to first base - at any point in their careers, where they could hit well enought to play the position, and it still didn't work.

Well, I'd first say that anyone NOT on that list would have to qualify as a situation that "didn't work" the way the Tigers would need it to work for Cabrera in that, if it did, they'd have had 400+ games there. Remember: Detroit is not trying to squeeze a couple more years out of Cabrera's bat, as is usually the case with such conversions. They need him to stick at first (or somewhere) for a decade.

That list consists of people who were either so bad at third at so young an age that they HAD to move to first, or else versitile players who played for teams that NEEDED them to move to first because of roster and/or playing time issues. Cabrera would be in the former camp. That gives you, what, Thome and Allen? Maybe Brett and Evans, although their moves were far more about prolinging their careers than hiding their gloves during their prime.

Obviosuly you risk this kind of move for a bat like Cabrera's if you have to. If it's me? I move him to DH and leave him alone to become Big Papi-west. Of course you have Sheffield to worry about (signed through next season). Not sure what you do there.

Dizzy -- I realize a ton of players have moved to first at some point but, as the list above suggests, it's almost never been a long-term solution for a player in mid-career.

Well, you did limit the list to 3B. But the real issue, as Pops pointed out in #9, is that most players aren't moving to 1B mid-career while still in their primes. They're moving to 1B in late career, when their fielding has fallen off and their hitting probably is too. So it's not surprising that it's not a long-term solution; their "term" is already running out when they switch.

Piazza is a classic example of that. He moved to 1B at age 35, when his offense was already slipping and he was coming off of a lost year (68 games). It's not exactly shocking that he didn't last there, given that he put up an OPS+ of 108.

I do agree with your main point that it's not always so easy to just plug a guy into 1B. But it's still easier than plugging him into any other defensive position. Obviously players typically slide left on the spectrum (Damon being a recent example).

Not sure how you count a move to left field given that Cabrera has already played there quite a bit, but the 400 games at 3B-LF is an interesting list too:

Harmon Killebrew
Gary Sheffield
Sid Gordon
Bob Bailey
Tony Phillips
Pete Rose
Howie Shanks

Sheffield is the obvious inspiration here, if for no other reason than that he's in the same dugout as Cabrera and can offer some pointers. Of course he was originally a shortstop -- albeit a bad one -- and, in my opinion, a much better overall athlete than Cabrera is.

Killebrew may be a nice comp in that (a) he was stocky; and (b) the vast majority of his time in left came when he was around Cabrera's age. He was moved back to the corners at age 29 in order to save his legs, however,(and to accommodate Don Michner). Not sure if this was related or not, but he got injured in the same year he moved off of the outfield (1965) and never went back on a regular basis after that. Twikies won the pennant that year, of course. Howie Shanks was a Deadballer, and Rose, Phillips, and Bailey were more athletic than Cabrera is. Chipper Jones falls just short on this list, but his move to left was something of a disaster for his health and, to a lesser extent, his bat.

If you expand it to all outfield positions you get guys like Bobby Bonilla, Larry Parrish, and Hubie Brooks. There are a lot of similarities to those guys and Cabrera, although Miguel obviously has a better bat.

If it's me? Given how much less of an athlete Cabrera is than the Pete Roses of the world, and given how much more valuable his bat is to the Tigers than any of these guys' bats were to their teams (possibly save Killebrew), I'd be wary of risking Miguel and his hamstrings in the outfield. This may just be the Braves fan in me projecting, though. I think that move killed Chipper for a couple of years, and if it killed Cabrera in the same way, the Tigers would be toast.

Not sure how you count a move to left field given that Cabrera has already played there quite a bit, but the 400 games at 3B-LF is an interesting list too:

Harmon Killebrew
Gary Sheffield
Sid Gordon
Bob Bailey
Tony Phillips
Pete Rose
Howie Shanks

We can probably stop typing Rose's name, as he played over 500 games at every position other than catcher, short, and center.

Brain Sabean: Suzie, get the farm on the line. Tell them I want one of everything!

chuckle.

While perhaps infield defense is a concern, I'd say the pitiful 2.14 runs per game is probably the biggest reason this team is winless.

That, and the 6.29 runs allowed per game. That's not ALL the defense's doing. The Tigers have a really, really shaky bullpen.

If the Tigers suffer too many more injuries, they'll start looking like the 2007 White Sox.

So far, I've heard one name of someone who was plugged in at first, and couldn't handle the job defensively. And that guy was a catcher. I'd agree that you can't assume a catcher can handle another position, especially after catching a large number of games, but I don't think that the case.

Well, I'd first say that anyone NOT on that list would have to qualify as a situation that "didn't work" the way the Tigers would need it to work for Cabrera in that, if it did, they'd have had 400+ games there.

I don't agree with this at all. If someone didn't end up playing 400 games at first base, it doesn't automatically mean they couldn't handle the position. It can means the team didn't need or want him to play 400 games there, or that his bat wasn't good enough to play first, or he got injured, or he got old, or they game him another shot at another position, or something else. There are many, many reasons why a guy may not play 400 games at first after moving there mid career.

The real question is whether a team would be less hurt defensively by putting Cabrera at third base or first base. I'd guess the answer would be first, and I don't think there's any real historical evidence that suggests differently. If the team moved Cabrera to DH a couple of years later does not automatically mean moving him to first for a couple of years was a bad idea.

While perhaps infield defense is a concern, I'd say the pitiful 2.14 runs per game is probably the biggest reason this team is winless.

That, and the 6.29 runs allowed per game. That's not ALL the defense's doing. The Tigers have a really, really shaky bullpen.

The bullpen (not including Jason "let's throw gasoline on the" Grilli) has been better than the rotation so far, IMO.

If it's me? I move him to DH and leave him alone to become Big Papi-west.

You're really killing his value, and the team's flexibility by making him a permanent DH at this point. I think you have to give him a good long look at 1B, at least 1.5 seasons before you punt him to DH.

Is that how people think farm systems work?

You call them up and say,

Dombrowski: "oh, by the way, we need a catcher"

Farm: "OK. We have 3 or 4 good catching prospects here, but I was just using them as ball boys...didn't realize you actually wanted them to make the bigs"

So chem, what is your take on this start? You among those who think it's already over?

Never mind. Ignore me.

Is that how people think farm systems work?

No, I suspect this was just Henning's way of saying that Pudge looks done and the Tigers need to seriously look for a replacement. I'm sure others will insist that he is actually that dumb, what with him being a professional sportswriter and all.

No, I suspect this was just Henning's way of saying that Pudge looks done and the Tigers need to seriously look for a replacement. I'm sure others will insist that he is actually that dumb, what with him being a professional sportswriter and all.

That may very well be what he meant, but the way he writes it makes him look like a naif. "We need a catcher, get a catcher ready!"

Other than that, it's ok. With the luxury of hindsight, the Tigers are exactly the kind of team that may have been better off signing Adam Everett to play short. They could have afforded to punt offense in the 9 hole, it would have shored up their infield D, and they'd still have the immortal Jair J. around. Hindsight is great! I have a feeling they in no way expected to come away with Cabrera, though, when they picked up Renteria. Those must have been interesting days in the Tiger FO.

So chem, what is your take on this start? You among those who think it's already over?

No, it's not necessarily over. The offense won't put up a .640 OPS all season, and the improvement should take some of the pressure off the starting pitchers, who need to figure out how to make 100 pitches last 7 innings every now and then. There are enough pieces in the bullpen to make it workable.

But the performance to date has been awful in every facet of the game.

But the performance to date has been awful in every facet of the game.

Well, teams don't usually look good during 7-game losing streaks. I wouldn't worry about it.

There's also the possibility that the Royals and White Sox are just really, really good. Wait til the Tigers get to play the lesser teams in the league like New York and Boston.

I was led to believe that a decent portion of Cabrera's bad defense in Florida could be explained away as a result of his weight at the time. Or that it was at least possible his weight was a significant factor.

His defense in Detroit has looked fine to me thus far. Just solid, average, but a far cry from "statue".

There's also the possibility that the Royals and White Sox are just really, really good.

PECOTA says they're not good so they're not! Get with the program

PECOTA says they're not good so they're not! Get with the program

Heh.

The Royals currently have the best team ERA in the AL (2.57) and the White Sox have the best team OBP (.372) and SLG (.494).

Teams in first or second place in the AL: Orioles, Blue Jay, Chisox, Royals, A's.

Yes, if this were October, that would be awesome. AWESOME!

Hmm, a team of beer league level mashers who can't play any defense paired with a lousy pitching staff, and we are surprised they aren't winning every game?