It's hard to feel bad for Miguel Cabrera. He's banked over $300 million in his career, and he's got another $100 million coming his way. He's an 11-time All-Star, two-time MVP and a Triple Crown winner. He's got a World Series ring. He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He's done everything there is to do in the game of baseball.
But you look at what he's become, a falling titan on a forgotten team, and it's hard not to feel something. Regret? Disappointment? Let's call it emptiness. You get the sense that Cabrera feels it, too.
"When you're losing, it's hard to have fun," he said last season as the Tigers staggered their way to another last-place finish. "But we have to understand this process right now. We still have to go out there and have fun and try to win some games."
It was a long season for Cabrera, all things considered. He posted the worst offensive numbers of his career. He suggested those numbers were due to the guys hitting behind him. He had to give up playing first base because of a chronically damaged knee -- the real reason for his lack of power. He finished with a negative WAR.
Miggy being Miggy, he smiled his way through it. But you could tell the game was weighing on him. Al Avila acknowledged in the offseason that Cabrera was 'embarrassed' by his performance. So he made a number of changes in the offseason and showed up for spring training looking like a different player.
And the Tigers showed up looking like a new team. Maybe not a winning team, but at a least a team with Major League talent. After scoring the fewest runs in baseball last year, the Tigers signed a pair of power bats in C.J. Cron and Jonathan Scoop. They signed Austin Romine to take over at catcher and Cam Maybin to shake up the outfield.
They talk about competing for the playoffs in this shortened season, and you sort of, kind of start to believe them.
"Those guys are proven Major League players," said Avila. "They've been good offensive players and they've been real good defensive players, too. As importantly, we wanted to bring in guys of high character that we knew had experience and had leadership qualities, guys that give of themselves."
In the clubhouse and on the field, Avila said they've lived up to the billing. That smile you see is Maybin's. The other is Miggy's.
"I've seen Miguel Cabrera now more positive than ever with these guys around him," Avila said. "Now he knows he's got some protection in the lineup."
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Let's see what Cabrera does with it. He looked terrific in spring training, for what it's worth. He didn't look so great in Summer Camp. He's leaner and more limber than he's been in years, and staying off his feet on defense should help him stay in the lineup. The 60-game season should help him stay fresh.
Will he turn back time? Not all the way, not to his prime. Cabrera cashed in his health right now for big hits when the Tigers needed them. You don't have to feel bad for the guy; it's a deal he would make again. Same with that $250 million extension.
But it's okay to feel something else, and to hope for a twist in his shaved-down career. It might make this shaved-down season feel a little more whole.
