Detroit Tigers: Miguel Cabrera Could Play Third Base in NL Parks
By Matt Snyder
Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus says Miguel Cabrera “is an option” at third base when the team opens the regular season in Miami.
The Detroit Tigers will open the regular season on the road against the Miami Marlins on April 5. That puts the American League Tigers in the interesting position of not being able to use their regular roster for the first series of the season.
The National League, of course, does not use the designated hitter, so the Tigers will either have to forgo the luxury of having an extra slugger in their lineup or shift around defensively to make everyone fit.
Manager Brad Ausmus is leaving himself the option of sliding Miguel Cabrera back across the diamond to third base in order to get Victor Martinez into the lineup on such occasions. Alicia DeGallo of MLB.com passes along the following spring training quote:
"“Yea, Miguel is an option at third base the first couple of games,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said Wednesday at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland. “He is, assuming Vic’s OK at first.”"
Fantasy owners in particular should cheer these remarks as Cabrera would gain significant value if he once again became eligible at third base. But even if he were to start every NL game at third base, he wouldn’t see the positional eligibility until mid-May at the earliest (five games started is the threshold for Yahoo! fantasy leagues).
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Cabrera was the Tigers’ regular third baseman in 2012 and 2013, but only made eight starts at the position in 2014 and did not play there at all in 2015.
But, while it’s right that Ausmus keeps his options open, the Tigers might be better served in sticking with their normal infield defense. Martinez is a step down from Cabrera defensively at first, and Cabrera is a step down from Nick Castellanos at third.
They might make up that difference with an improvement offensively, but Victor would have to prove he’s rebounded from a miserable 2015 at the plate. The Marlins currently list left-handed starter Wei-Yin Chen second on their pitching depth chart. The offensive gap between V-Mart and Castellanos becomes narrower when a lefty is on the mound.
Don’t be surprised if the Marlins (and other teams throughout the season) try to stack right-handed starters against the Tigers’ right-handed heavy lineup, however.
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The Tigers are scheduled to play a total of 10 games in National League ballparks in 2016, including the first two and the final three (they end the season in Atlanta).