Archive for the ‘Miguel Cabrera’ Category

Video: Miguel Cabrera is Both Lucky and Good

Posted by Drew Fairservice under HardBall Talkin', Miguel Cabrera on May 23, 2013

There is no real debate: Miguel Cabrera is the best hitter in baseball right now. Joey Votto might be close but, honestly, Cabrera is able to hit the ball out of the park with more regularity than the Reds prolific walk machine cum doubles addict.

Miguel Cabrera is so good because of his ability to hit essentially any pitch thrown to any location for power to any part of the ballpark. Like the above video, for instance, which Miguel Cabrera drives deep to the right field side of center.

Cabrera doesn’t get it all and appears to catch a stinger in his right hand in the process (as if he caught it on the end of the bat a little). The ball is a high drive that drives Michael Bourn all the way to the track. It appears Bourn has a bead on it until…he doesn’t. Clank, straight over the fence for a home run. One of the cheapest home runs you’ll ever see.

This is one that will live for the ages on the internets and on clip shows. The sheepish grins on the faces of both Cabrera and Bourn underlines the absuridity of the situation. Bourn is a sure-handed center fielder to boot, just not this time.

Enjoy your notoriety Michael Bourn. Just be glad you aren’t Jose Canseco – that guys a piece of shit who also had something weird happen in the outfield one time. But mostly he’s scum.

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Roto-Relevant Research: Strikeouts & Homers

Posted by Eno Sarris under Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Roto Relevant Research on May 09, 2013

World Series - San Francisco Giants v Detroit Tigers - Game 4

Supposedly ladies love the long ball. But strikeouts are fascist. So it’s hard to figure out who’s happy and who’s not when it comes to the “strikeout or home run” state of the game today. Look at how crazy it’s gotten, thanks to Doug Niblock’s excellent work at High Heat Stats:

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WAR is All About Picking the Right Hill to Die On

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Analysis, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Prince Fielder on Feb 28, 2013

New York Yankees v Detroit Tigers - Game Three

Some wise old lawyer once said “tough cases make bad law” and they were right. As I understand it, the clearer the better when trying to establish new precedents and regulations. Baseball statistics on the internet are not law. The do change the way we talk about and think about the game of baseball.

The “we” in this case is fans, media, commenters, everyone. The proliferation of advanced statistics is nearly complete. It is not a matter of whether or not stats are “here to stay” in the greater sports conversation, it is the rate at which they adopted by the majority.

No matter how often we reference WAR or wOBA or whatever else, they are not yet consumed by the majority of sports fans. For this, we can point to any number of reasons. The most significant of which might simply be apathy. The “average fan” just doesn’t care to concern themselves with measures more complicated than those they learned by osmosis as a youth.

There remains a significant portion of the sporting population who does care about stats but remains reluctant to pick up the WAR mantle. They will come in time but, for now, remain skeptical.

You know this person – they condemn WAR as a “junk stat” and gleefully profess their own mathematical emancipation before worrying about the ERA of their favorite team’s fourth starter.

WAR is for them and it will find them, in time. But bringing more folks under the “advanced stats umbrella” requires throwing it widely and not full of holes.

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Miguel Cabrera Papelbones the Phillies Closer with Spring Bomb

Posted by Drew Fairservice under HardBall Talkin', Miguel Cabrera on Feb 25, 2013

Sure, it’s just Spring Training and the wind is blowing out and the smaller ballpark makes the home run look that much more impressive, but damn if this Miguel Cabrera megajack off Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon isn’t a sight to behold. High into the sunny sky, appearing to land just beyond [insert Central Florida landmark here.]

Baseball highlights, ain’t nothing like them!

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One Last Kick at the Strawman

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Awards, Miguel Cabrera, Triple Crown on Nov 16, 2012

The concept of value is taking a pretty severe beating this week. Reaching a working definition of “valuable” means parsing its use in an “awards” sense versus its use in statistical abstractions, making for muddy waters indeed. A given player’s role on a winning team, the weight given to defense, base running, and everything else not done in the batters box is suddenly up in the air.

Does defense and base running matter? Are positional differences not worth considering? Allow me the indulgence of a simple thought experiment.

If we are to believe base running and defense don’t matter, and that Miguel Cabrera carried the Tigers, let’s use our imagination to put that thinking to the test.

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Sigh. Miguel Cabrera Voted American League MVP

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Awards, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout on Nov 15, 2012

There are worse crimes in the deep annals of BBWAA vote butchery than voting Miguel Cabrera as the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 2012. SB Nation ran down some of the worst winners and extraneous votes from throughout the years. Cabrera’s win does not belong anywhere near such a list.

Miguel Cabrera is not a bad MVP selection by any stretch of the imagination. He won the freaking Triple Crown, a feat unseen in baseball since 1967. His team made the playoffs – though his team plays in a very weak division and the best pitcher in baseball (and Cy Young runner-up) and a $200 million dollar slugger rank among his team mates.

Some twists of fate coupled with Cabrera’s incredible performance placed him atop three key statistical leaderboards, fast-tracking him to immortality (key if largely irrelevant in an “on the field” baseball sense) and delivering Miguel Cabrera the 2012 MVP award. I don’t care how cosy your ballpark: .330/.393/.606 is really, really good! 200 hits is good, 44 league-leading home runs is great.

Cabrera spent the season at or near third base, giving his all at the hot corner. While no one confuses him for Brooks Robinson, his portly friend Prince and many other top sluggers could not pull off the same trick after more than four years on the other side of the diamond.

The problem, if there is one, is that Mike Trout’s season was better. Mike Trout is probably a better baseball player than Miguel Cabrera. He did not hit for as much power as the Tigers third baseman but he reached base at a higher rate than Cabrera, a higher rate than all but two hitters in the AL.

He also ran the bases better than anyone else, he played defense in the outfield better than anyone else, and hit for more power than anyone has any right to expect of a base-stealing fly catcher – Trout’s 30 home runs ranked him 13th in the American League. In 2012, in the eyes of many around the game, Mike Trout was the most valuable player in baseball.

But Mike Trout was not voted MVP – that goes to Miguel Cabrera. Congratulations.

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Confusion Abounds as Miguel Cabrera Flips the Script

Posted by Drew Fairservice under HardBall Talkin', Miguel Cabrera on Oct 29, 2012

If you, dear reader, click the above photo and read the description below it, you will see something written with great haste. Whoever is tasked with labelling the rapid-fire images that fly into Getty Images headquarters during a tightly-contested World Series game understandably made some…mistakes when creating the image caption, which goes as follows:

DETROIT, MI – OCTOBER 28: Miguel Cabrera #24 of the Detroit Tigers reacts after a pitch by Max Scherzer #37 of the Detroit Tigers in the first inning during Game Four of the Major League Baseball World Series at Comerica Park on October 28, 2012 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

No, Max Scherzer was not traded mid-game, nor did he throw a pitch to teammate Miguel Cabrera. Tight deadlines are bad enough without the incredibly unusual act of a batter calling for an appeal on his own check swing. Ballsy stuff, Miggy. I’ve heard of hitters with a strong knowledge of the strikezone but this is on a whole other level.

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