The countdown on Miguel Cabrera
I can't help but wonder this week how long before Miguel Cabrera will be the Roy Halladay of some future trade-deadline fleshfeast.
It's probably a matter of years, four at least, before there will be speculation about the Tigers making available a player who is sure to be regarded as one of the best hitters in all of baseball.
Or, rather, that's what he SHOULD be regarded as being.
Cabrera is having a tough 2009 season. As tough as it can be, anyway, for a man who was hitting .326 entering Tuesday night's game against the Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark.
There is a stunning statistic that has been dug up this week. It has to do with Cabrera and his batting average since May 27 with men in scoring position.
He is batting .111. He is 9-for-45. And not one of those hits has been for extra bases.
It is astounding. It is even more mind-boggling when you learn that it is the worst -- the worst -- such average for any hitter in baseball.
What has happened? The man has been a great hitter since he broke into the majors six years ago. He is 26 years old. He looked early this season as if he were on his way to a Triple Crown.
He still has 14 home runs to go with that .326 batting average. He has 42 RBIs, although that's 20 or 30 fewer than he should have rolled up by now, even if he were swinging with his eyes closed.
It's baffling. But it points to a couple of things:
Even great players can have relatively average years. Check the career statistics for a good many of those busts in Cooperstown. Hall of Famers are human. And so is Cabrera.
He will probably come back, maybe even down the stretch, to make everyone forget about his wimpy first three months of 2009.
But it is almost inevitable that the Tigers will some day trade him. And I would be surprised if the July doesn't arrive in four or five years when Cabrera will be at the heart of non-stop trade speculation.
There will be teams galore involved. There will be packages of prospects bandied about that will make Tigers fans drool.
That, of course, is the way it goes with superstars.
At least if they hit.
Cabrera might want to address that half of the equation, and the sooner the better for the Tigers.
