Lynn Henning

Posted by Lynn Henning (The Detroit News) on Wed, May 6, 2009 at 11:14 PM

A year after the Tigers began their infield realignment

It has been slightly more than a year since the Tigers abandoned their initial bad plan and began re-shaping their infield.

Some fans can't yet figure out why things were so crazy heading into 2008 when Miguel Cabrera was at third base and Carlos Guillen was at first. They can't fathom why Brandon Inge was banished from third and left to drift about the field as a fill-in.

Memories are short. It pays to review history now that so much realignment has taken place within the Tigers infield -- and outfield -- during the past 12 months.

Everything began unraveling after Cabrera had been ransomed from the Florida Marlins in an eight-player trade in December, 2007. Some of us believed at the time that Cabrera would end up playing left field. We theorized as much because Brandon Inge inhaled everything on the left side of the infield and his range was too vital to Detroit's defense to displace him at third base.

Well, some of us proved not to be very sharp forecasters.

At the start of spring camp a year ago, Cabrera was headed for third, Guillen was going to first, and Inge was about to learn lots about the word "nomad."

What happened next was partly political. The Tigers were walking on eggshells with Cabrera at the end of spring training. Jim Leyland, the Tigers manager, had already seen during camp that Cabrera wasn't going to cut it at third base. The best solution would be to move him to first.

But there were a couple of problems. Cabrera was new to the league, new to his team, new to his town. He needed no further disruption, especially when the Tigers were trying to woo him into signing a long-term contract.

But by April, the big contract was locked up. Cabrera was Detroit's for the next seven years and he was headed for a job relocation.

A second problem was Guillen. He had been kicked from pillar to post, or at least from shortstop to first base, and Leyland wasn't wild about introducing him to a third new position in the span of six months. But Leyland also knew it was the only way out of a bad situation when Cabrera couldn't play third and Guillen, surprisingly, could not get a handle at first.

So the switch was made. And at least as it applied to Cabrera, it has worked. Cabrera has been settling in deftly at first base and is becoming a plus defender there.

Guillen's transition wasn't as smooth. He had too little range and needed a new locale. The problem, of course, was that Inge had been drafted as Pudge Rodriguez's replacement at catcher after Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees, which ended any change Inge was headed back to third. At least immediately.

Not until the end of the season, when the Tigers decided that finding a new catcher would be wise, and sending Inge back to third even wiser, did things begin to smooth out.

There's only one piece Leyland can't place in May of 2009. It's Guillen. He covers too little ground in left field. Now that Magglio Ordonez is beginning an inevitable transition to designated hitter, Guillen is doubly difficult to deploy.

But that's the tradeoff in getting Leyland's infield re-arranged sensibly. That's the price, ultimately, that had to be paid in adding Cabrera, who hasn't created much buyer's remorse at Comerica Park.