Miguel Cabrera – The Quiet Candidate
August 25th, 2009 | by jelletlambie |As the final days of August flutter away, with the last bits of summer wafting in the cooling winds of coming September, the Detroit Tigers find themselves still in first place in the AL Central. It has been this way for 123 days now. For more than four months the Tigers have lead their division, and continue to do so, by some 3.5 games over the Chicago White Sox and 4.5 over the Minnesota Twins. It may be too early for the champagne to be popped, it is in fact too early for that. A trip to the playoffs could still evaporate like quicksilver on the horizon. However, we have reached that point in the baseball season where it is fair game to begin discussing other end of season items. it is time to begin that ever incredulous debate, the argument which seems historically entwined with controversy and heated banter from the jump – who should be the AL MVP?
The current consensus pick seems to be Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins. The left handed hitting catcher currently leads the AL in batting average (.374), on-base % (.445), Slugging % (.629) and OPS (1.073). His 25 home runs and 78 RBI’s are best among full time catchers (Victor Martinez of the Red Sox has played almost half his games at first base). The 26 year old backstop is having a career year, albeit for a third place team, at least currently. Mr. Mauer has captured the attention of national writers like Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, and rightfully so. Among his many poetic points for Joe to become MVP, which are sound, is the argument against the idea that a player on a middle of the pack team can’t win the award. I find that logic as stupifying as Passan does, although I don’t have an MVP vote. Many who have such a choice in the matter disagree with us both. It will be interesting to see if traditional thinking holds. It will be interesting as well to see if Young Joe Mauer can become the first catcher to win the AL MVP since Ivan Rodriguez in 1999.
If Mauer fails to win the hearts and minds of voters this fall, other potential suitors for the trophy include Mark Teixeira of the Yankees, Michael Young of the Rangers and Kevin Youkilis of the Red Sox. Each have a fan base, each are in the midst of excellent offensive campaigns, each have their own unique niche to fill in this story, and each play for playoff contenders. For my money though there is another candidate whom I believe will challenge Joe Mauer more than these men. Like Mauer, he plays in the AL Central. Like Mauer, he is 26 years old. In fact he is exactly one day older than Joe Mauer, born April 18, 1983.
His name is Miguel Cabrera, and he’s just getting warmed up.
The Tigers first basemen made a statement last night with his five RBI outburst against the first place Angels. He now has 80 runs batted in on the season. His home run last night was his 26th of the ‘09 campaign. His three hits yesterday raised his total for this season to 158, more than Mauer coincidentally, good for fourth best in the AL. His batting average tips the scales at a taut .341, good for fourth best in the junior circuit as well. He is a beast, a beast who is getting better as the season wears on.
Worthy of note as well in this discussion is the impact of Miguel Cabrera on the Tigers as a whole. Over the course of this season only the Los Angeles Dodgers have been in first place more days than the Detroit Tigers. Without Miguel Cabrera I seriously doubt that would be the case. Without Joe Mauer the Twins may well be in the same place they are today. I can’t say for certain, my sooth saying hat is at the cleaners.
For those who begin their decisions on such awards based primarily on statistics, the following numbers should be considered. If you are not a sabremetrics savant a few of these categories may be confusing. AL ranks are in parenthesis:
Batting Average: .341 (4th)
On-Base %: .407 (3rd)
Slugging %: .570 (3rd)
OPS (On-base + Slugging): .977 (3rd)
Hits: 158 (4th)
Total Bases: 264 (2nd)
HR: 26 (T-8th)
RBI’s: 80 (11th)
Adjusted OPS: 151 (2nd)
Runs Created: 103 (3rd)
Adjusted Batting Wins: 3.2 (3rd)
Times On Base: 209 (7th)
Offensive Win %: .719 (5th)
Keep in mind that August has been his most productive month of the season. MVP voters tend to vote according to the question Janet Jackson made famous – What have you done for me lately? Remember last year when Josh Hamilton put the baseball world on his shoulders in the first half, only to finish seventh in the final vote. Lately (I.E. the month of August) Miguel Cabrera has hit .381 with 23 RBI’s and 18 runs scored. In the last 28 days he has 27 RBI’s, including several that have tied the game or given the Tigers the lead. Since the All-Star break Miggy is hitting .390/.459/.638/1.097 with 30 RBI’s. And this is nothing new.
He drove in 70 runs in 68 games of the second half of last season. For his career he’s a .314 second half hitter with a .931 OPS in that span. He’s getting hot at the right time, as they say, and he’s proving that he belongs in the conversation once again. Also of note, and vastly underrated in the most valuable player discusscion, is the importance of his defense. If Mark Teixeira were in the National League Miguel might win his first Gold Glove this year. it will happen eventually, for Cabrera is more than a hitting machine, he is a complete player with a drive to play the field as well as he hits. This my friends, is a rare thing indeed.
Miguel is no stranger to MVP voters. He has received votes in the category every year since his debut in 2003. In that season, where he finished fifth in the Rookie of the Year voting after playing 87 games, he garnered more MVP votes than anyone else even nominated for the ROY. In 2004 he finished 22nd in the NL MVP race. In both 2005 and 2006 he finished 5th. In 2007, his final season in the NL, he finished 15th. Last year in his first AL campaign, in which he lead the league in home runs, he finished 13th.
Why is this relevant? Because he’s a name you know, at least the voters do. And these things are often as much about popularity as they are about worth. Whether that can translate to a Tiger winning the award for the first time since Willie Hernandez in 1984 remains to be seen. If the Tigers hold their division lead and join the playoff party his name will have to be in the conversation, just as four Tigers received votes in 2006.
At this moment, the trophy is likely Joe Mauer’s to lose, and that’s ok. It is not often we see a player put together a season as he has, particularly from the catchers position. There is still a good amount of baseball to be played, plenty of time for all the candidates to make their case. Whether Cabrera wins, finishes second, or somewhere down the list, it is time that we all recognize how special a talent he is, and how much impact he has on the Tigers future. He is not only the best hitter on the team, but the best hitter on the team by miles.
While Miguel has compiled his gaudy offensive numbers no other Tiger regular has a batting average higher than .275. No Tiger aside from Cabrera has an on-base % above .348, no other Tiger has an OPS north of .805. He has been sandwiched between hitters like Clete Thomas, Marcus Thames, Ryan Raburn, a slumping Magglio Ordonez and even in one unusual game, hit third in front of Don Kelly. With all the protection of knife in a gun fight Miguel Cabrera has still produced, how he has done it boggles my mind.
Earlier in the season sports writers such as Pat Caputo heaped undue criticism on Cabrera for brief struggles driving in runners. Pat and the rest of the nay sayers failed to mention that the two men hitting in front of him, Curtis Granderson and Placido Polanco, were getting on base about as often as Jim Leyland. They failed to point out that Cabrera was outhitting the next best Tiger by some 60 points or more. These folks neglected to opine about the abysmal protection the Tigers lineup has afforded Mr. Cabrera for most of this season. And yet he is still hitting the ball like it stole his girlfriend. Why? Because he’s that good.
Miguel Cabrera is a special talent. Over the final weeks of this season I expect he’ll be showing us that, every day. While it’s a longshot as we speak today, I contend he could very well be named the 2009 AL MVP when the dust has settled. Perhaps he’ll win, perhaps he won’t, either way he’ll keep doing what he’s done since 2003, play himself into the conversation.
Have a question or a comment? Leave your thoughts below or drop me a line at jelletlambie@gmail.com
Tags: Detroit Tigers, Joe Mauer, Miguel Cabrera, Miguel Cabrera MVP
By Jen on Aug 25, 2009
Great piece, great information.
By John Parent on Aug 25, 2009
Outstanding work. At this point, I would still be shocked if the award didn’t go to Mauer, and he certainly would be a fine choice, but without Cabrera, the Tigers are a third place club. With Mauer, the Twins are a third place club (at least for now).
It’s the Most VALUABLE Player award, and so I do feel the standings should play into the discussion.
The Yankees without Teixeira are still in first place, or at least in the running. the Twins without Mauer are still a third place team. The Red Sox have six guys they could replace Youkilis with and suffer only a small decline. Cabrera is by far the most valuable player in the AL.
By Klaver on Aug 27, 2009
I wanted to lunge through the radio when the 97.1 guys kept dogging on Miggy earlier this year. He has done everything that has been asked of him for 2 seasons now. The trade to bring him aboard was a stroke of genius. His average and runs batted in are staggering given the offense he plays for. No doubt an MVP candidate. He is being more noticed now because Grande and Polly are finally getting on base, and all of a sudden Miggy’s getting a chance to pad the RBI total.