It sounds like the same old story, the one where Miguel Cabrera shows up to camp healthy and happy and hopeful for the season ahead. Except Cabrera gave us a twist on Friday through the crackly connection of a Zoom call.
"Right now, I feel like I’m back where I was in 2014 and 2015," Cabrera said.
Wait, he said that, right? It was hard to know for sure as his voice drifted into Cyberspace. So a reporter repeated Cabrera's words back to him to confirm that the 37-year-old really feels like he did when he led the league in doubles at age 31 and led the league in batting average at age 32.
"Yeah, I feel like I did when I was healthy," he said. "I feel like I can move my hips, I can move my body when I'm hitting. I don't try to do too much. If I swing naturally I think it’s going to help me a lot this year to produce more and hit for more power and try to raise my average again."
So maybe it's the same story with some new details. But those details could lead to a new ending, or at least a new version of events along the way. Cabrera hasn't been healthy since -- since when? Injuries derailed his prime, then accelerated his decline. By his own calculation, "the last three years I have been hurt."
Know what Nelson Cruz has done the last three years? He's hit more home runs than all but two players in baseball. He's hit more home runs than anyone since 2014, and he turned 40 last July. He eclipsed 40 homers and 100 RBI at the age of 38. So Cabrera, who turns 38 in April, said he talked with Cruz recently to glean some of his secrets.
"To see what his knowledge is, what he thinks, how he works," Cabrera said. "So I got a very good idea of what I have to do to prepare myself to try to have success like him."
Success like that would be a dream for Cabrera, who hasn't topped 30 homers and 100 RBI since 2016. Then again, even allowing for a large chunk of off-days, he was on pace for about 25 homers and 85 RBI in last year's shortened season. Say he plays 140 games this year. If he really feels like he did in 2014, you start to wonder what he might be able to do.
For one, Cabrera is 13 homers shy of 500 and 134 hits shy of 3,000. Only six players in MLB history have reached both: Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Eddie Murray, Rafael Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols. Cabrera is itching to become the seventh.
"I hope I can get to 500 and 3,000 this year, "he said. "It’s one of my goals this year."
Cabrera could hardly believe those words as they left his mouth. 500 homers? 3,000 hits? He said you only think about such milestones "in the back of your mind." Now they're right in front of him.
"Being in this position is really awesome," he said. "I feel proud about what I’ve done in my career. Don’t stop here. Try to keep going and put up some more numbers, have fun and try to win games. If we are able to win a lot of games, I think the numbers are going to be there at the end of the season."
That's the other piece of his prime he's seeking, the one that put a sparkle on all his awards. Any revival for Cabrera will feel hollow amid another losing season for the Tigers. He's optimistic about the club's chances this year with some new veterans in the lineup and a new manager at the helm, but everyone's optimistic in the spring. Everyone feels young. Everyone feels like they did back then.
"He’s not chasing anything about what he was before," said A.J. Hinch. "He just needs to be the best version of himself now and he’s going to be very productive. He’s going to hit in the middle of our order and be a good impact guy. The idea isn’t that Miggy is the only one who has to do something for us to improve this offense. He obviously can get better and he’s chasing some really big numbers, but he just needs to be one of the cogs in the middle of what's hopefully a long lineup of talented hitters."
Sounds like it used to, like it did in 2014 and 2015. Those lineups are gone, and Cabrera is all that remains. What remains of his career remains to be seen, as he takes aim at history and tries to reclaim the present.