{"id":438,"date":"2015-07-04T17:36:00","date_gmt":"2015-07-04T21:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sullyonsports.com\/?p=438"},"modified":"2019-06-26T16:52:38","modified_gmt":"2019-06-26T20:52:38","slug":"the-detroit-tigers-may-be-finished-without-miguel-cabrera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sullyonsports.com\/?p=438","title":{"rendered":"The Detroit Tigers May Be Finished Without Miguel Cabrera"},"content":{"rendered":"

In every full season of the stellar career of Miguel Cabrera, he has never played less than 148 games. \u00a0He has never been on the DL in his first 13 years in the majors. \u00a0Both of these are about to change after the events of Friday night, however.\"\"<\/p>\n

With Cabrera on first base in the fourth inning and the score 1-0 in favor of the Tigers, Cabrera ran on a 3-2 pitch to Victor Martinez. \u00a0Cabrera pulled up lame between first and second and could not continue in the game. \u00a0It was later revealed that Cabrera suffered a Grade 3 Calf strain and is expected to miss six weeks.<\/p>\n

The Tigers, manager Brad Ausmus, and Cabrera himself knew that the injury was bad, according to Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports’ “Hardball Talk”<\/a>:<\/p>\n

When Cabrera came out of last night\u2019s game with a calf strain you knew it had to be serious. Cabrera has played hurt in the past. He\u2019s played injured in the past. He\u2019s played when he probably shouldn\u2019t have more times than I can count. But short of him literally missing a limb you never expect him to come out of a game.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Brad Ausmus knew it was bad, well before the MRI results showing a grade-3 calf strain came back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Miggy says he can\u2019t play, it\u2019s serious, because Miggy plays through anything,\u201d Ausmus said this morning. But he won\u2019t be playing though this. Ausmus said he\u2019s still waiting on a second opinion, but he doesn\u2019t expect it to be any better. \u201cI looked at the MRI. You can ask me about it,\u201d Ausmus said. But even Dr. Ausmus is resigned to the fact that the best hitter in baseball will be out six weeks. And as he sat and spoke to the media this morning, he made it clear that the Tigers\u2019 options are limited.<\/p>\n

Alex Avila will get the start today, but he has played only three career games at first base. And, Ausmus reminded us, he was just activated from the disabled list himself. He\u2019s worried enough about Avila playing back-to-back games at the position he knows, let alone one that\u2019s mostly unfamiliar.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Tigers are going to have a very hard time replacing Miggy for one simple reason: he is the best hitter in baseball. \u00a0He leads the game in three statistical categories: batting average (.350), on-base percentage (.456) and OPS (1.034). \u00a0J.D. Martinez leads the team in home runs, but Cabrera leads the team in the aforementioned categories, as well as hits and RBI.<\/p>\n

While the Tigers rank first in baseball in batting average (.277), much of that success is due to Cabrera’s presence. \u00a0They also lead the league in hits (761) and on-base percentage (.335), but Cabrera leads the team in all of these categories.<\/p>\n