Miguel Cabrera is an all-time great, one of the most lethal right-handed batters ever with four batting titles, two home run championships and a Triple Crown season. You have to wonder, however, if we’ll ever see Super Scary Miggy again.
Cabrera ruptured a biceps tendon on a swing in Tuesday’s 6-4 loss to the Twins and he’ll require season-ending surgery. His season is over after 38 games and only three home runs. Once one of the iron men of the game, Cabrera averaged 157 games per season from 2004 to 2014 without landing on the DL. But check out his list of injuries since 2014:
? 2014: Played 159 games and hit .313 with 25 home runs but had surgery after the season to repair a stress fracture in his foot and bone spurs in his ankle.cheap nike nfl jerseys from china
? 2015: Landed on the DL for the first time, missing six weeks because of a calf strain and playing only 119 games (he still hit .338 to win his fourth batting title, although he hit only 18 home runs).
? 2017: Bothered by back problems all season and played 130 games, hitting .249 with 16 home runs.
? 2018: Missed time earlier because of a hamstring issue and now he’s out for the season. While he managed to hit .301 while in the lineup, he never did find his power stroke.
Cabrera is now 35 years old — turning 36 next April — with a body struggling to handle the rigors of playing baseball every day. There is still ability there when healthy, as witnessed by a strong 2016 season when he hit .316 with 38 home runs, but will he be able to tap into that ability in the future? The worrisome aspect for the Tigers? Cabrera’s future salaries: $30 million per season in 2019, 2020 and 2021, then $32 million per year in 2022 and 2023… and then a $30 million vesting option (or an $8 million buyout) for 2024, and a $30 million vesting option for 2025.nfl cheap nike jerseys
That’s a minimum of $162 million owed an aging superstar who probably moves to DH next season. Look, maybe Cabrera bounces back and this won’t end up as bad as the Albert Pujols contract. He’s a better hitter than Pujols, who turned into a one-dimensional slugger in his mid-30s, with declining batting averages and worsening control of the strike zone. Cabrera still had a .397 OBP, so there’s some hope he’ll age better if the body does.