quote:Originally posted by jaggerz:quote:And while I'm at it, this whole "Miguel Cabrera is a LEADER" stuff that's also being trotted out as an intangible (those always get trotted out when the stats don't support your guy)? Am I the only one who remembers Cabrera being arrested for slapping his wife around after coming home at 6 AM and being dragged down to the police station where he his blood alcohol was tested at over three times the legal limit HOURS AFTER *THAT*? All at a time when the Tigers were trying to close out a division crown, with a one-game lead over Minnesota with two games left to play? THAT'S your leader? I think I'd take the rookie over him
in my clubhouse any day.
Cheap shot against a guy that has made huge strides in turning his life around.His popularity with his teammates speaks volumes and they are around him quite a bit more than you.
Is it? I'll acknowledge that that it may be a harsh judgment because alcoholism is also a disease, but choosing to indulge TO THAT LEVEL in the middle of a tight pennant race signifies more to me than an everyday failure to manage a disease.
Remember, the Tigers had lost to the 3rd place team (the White Sox) the day before that happened, while the 2nd place team (the Twins) won to close within a game. Cabrera was so drunk the middle of the *next morning* that there was grave doubt he would even be able to play that day - the second to last day of the season in a race where one game separated Cabrera's team from their pursuer - and if memory serves me they hospitalized him and put him on an IV in an effort to get him ready to play. He did, but not surprisingly he went 0-4 with a strikeout and a GIDP. They lost that day, too, and the Twins won to tie.
Do you remember how that season turned out? Do you really think - diseasse or no disease - that this is how a team leader conducts himself? And it isn't as if he immediately realized the destructive path he was on - for himself and his team. He got another DUI in Spring Tranining in 2011.
As harsh as it may sound - and I don't mean this as any kind of personal indictment or judgment based on a "character flaw" - that had very real baseball consequences for the Tigers that year. Neither you nor I really know what his teammates think of Cabrera, but I guarantee they weren't happy with him then and I seriously doubt they ever looked to him for true leadership in the clubhouse again. Maybe in the batter's box - but not in the clubhouse.
I stand by what I said.