Tigers swapping Guillen & Cabrera in the field

Apparently Guillen's moving over to third base & Cabrera's going to first. Definitely diminishes Cabrera's value somewhat, though it helps to get his glove away from the hot corner.

almost 4 years ago zempf 5 comments 0 recs |

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I understand how this may diminish Cabrera’s value in a league-wide sense, but it doesn’t really diminish his value to the Tigers. It’s not as if they’re swapping a hitter into the lineup of lesser value than Cabrera or Guillen.

More than anything, it increases both of their values as roto/fantasy players.

You know Selig? Ombudsman.

by rolub on Apr 23, 2008 11:24 AM EDT reply actions

The short-term positional value obviously is a wash—they are swapping positions. This seems like a better deployment of the same players, which can’t be a bad thing for them if that’s how it goes.

It does in isolation reduce Cabrera’s long-term value by about two marginal Wins per season, but it was possible that he was going to be a deeply negative defensive contributor at 3B, so maybe it isn’t that big of a difference.

by Jay on Apr 23, 2008 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Don’t forget, too, that they moved Guillen to first base in order to cut down on the injury risk. I’m sure it’s a bit less injury-prone than SS (fewer guys trying to kill you & break up a double play), but 3B is still going to cause him more wear & tear than first. If this leads to them fielding Inge at third & Cabrera at first instead of Cabrera at third & Guillen at first, that’s a pretty big offensive decline.

Despite all of my best intentions, I have not, in fact, grown up to be a debaser.

by zempf on Apr 23, 2008 2:10 PM EDT up reply actions

I read somewhere, I forget where, that Guillen’s particular issues aren’t particularly helped by moving him around the infield, because the biggest problem keeping him healthy is simply the amount of time he has to spend standing out there. It will be interesting to see how he adapts to the position, but outside of truly freak injuries, I don’t know that he’ll be any more worn down playing 3B than 1B.

by Jay on Apr 23, 2008 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions