Switching the Corners! Guillen to 3rd, Cabrera to 1st

by Ian Casselberry on Apr 22, 2008 11:55 PM EDT in News Comment 12 comments

Sure, the Tigers' 10-2 win over the Rangers was the main story out of Detroit tonight, but Jim Leyland dropped a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am in his post-game comments when he revealed that his corner infielders would be switching positions across the field. Carlos Guillen will move from first base to third base, and Miguel Cabrera will switch over to first, where he's alreayd played seven games this season.

Leyland was decisive with his announcement, saying he wasn't going to take any questions about the switch and he was just letting everyone know so there wouldn't be any surprises tomorrow.

Guillen has played 100 games at third base over his career, all of them during his days with the Mariners when one Mr. Alex Rodriguez was entrenched at shortstop in Seattle. I don't know if it's been brought up in the comments here at BYB (if so, I apologize for not giving credit where it's due), but questions as to why Guillen wasn't moved from shortstop to third base in the first place were occasionally raised during the off-season. And they rumbled up again when Guillen was having problems with his footwork at first base, some of them likely caused by wild throws from Cabrera at third.

Leyland says this makes the Tigers "a better team," and I'm inclined to agree with him. Is Guillen Detroit's best defensive third baseman? No, that's Brandon Inge. And we don't know how Guillen's gimpy hamstring (or his playing first base since Spring Training) might affect his mobility at the hot corner. But if Guillen has better range to his left than Cabrera, some of those base hits that have been sneaking between third base and shortstop (excepting when Inge has played third) might find their way into a glove.

So have at it, people. What do you think of this move? Should it have been done sooner? Would you have preferred a different shufflling of positions? Should Inge be at third base, if Leyland was going to make this kind of switch? Do you think this makes the Tigers a better team?

[Thanks to Mike McClary, who passed the news along via instant message as soon as he heard it, and to Grant E., who posted the link to the Detroit News story in tonight's Game Thread.]

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Eh

In the short term, I’m not opposed to the move, however, it sucks to move a bat as potent as Cabrera’s from third to first at such a young age. Obviously, third basemen who hit like Miggy are much rarer than first basemen.

Like I said, in the short term, I’m fine with it, Guillen and Cabrera are still manning the corners, but I’d rather have Cabrera at third for the long haul.

by ThaWalrus9 on Apr 23, 2008 12:04 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I like the move. In fact, I was thinking that Leyland should do just that the first time I saw Cabrera play first and look a lot more comfortable doing so than Guillen does. Actually, I think this move has less to do with the defense at third (Guillen is a slight upgrade over Cabrera, who has done a good job so far other than range) than it does with the fact that Guillen just doesn’t seem to like playing 1B all that much, whereas Cabrera seems to be comfortable there. It just seems like through his career, Guillen has been more himself when on the left side of the infield. I think he feels he’s taking a bigger part in the defense on the field when he’s at SS or 3B.

by jgalea84 on Apr 23, 2008 12:05 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

As far as moving Cabrera from third to first, I don’t know if this is a permanent move for his career. Guys have gone back and forth before, often times in the same season. I bet there might be a day or two where Cabrera goes back to third, Thames plays first and Guillen DHs to give him a rest, especially if Inge gets dealt or happens to be catching that day. There are a lot of different permutations and since I don’t think the Tigers will ever be sold on Inge as the permanent third baseman that job could easily remain Cabrera’s into the future.

by jgalea84 on Apr 23, 2008 12:09 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

As I said, in the short term, I’m fine with the move. I agree with the sentiment that Guillen seems more comfortable on the left side of the infield. I just hope that Miggy doesn’t give up third base for good. In a few years when the Tigers may be looking to replace Guillen, a first baseman who can hit .270 with 20 HR will be a lot more easily and cheaply found than a third baseman who can. Heck, Jeff Larish could probably give them that.

by ThaWalrus9 on Apr 23, 2008 12:29 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

No rumors, but...

I would venture to guess that with Granderson coming back and both Thomas and Raburn playing well, this move is a precursor to an Inge trade. Granted there have been no rumors and Inge is essentially in the same position he was at the start of the season. But for a guy who was angry to begin with this sort of “anyone but Inge” move might make matters even worse. I’m not sayin’ it’s definitely going to happen, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Inge in a Pirates uniform by May.

by MacRae on Apr 23, 2008 12:40 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I like it

Last year and during the off-season I always wondered why everyone was talking about moving Guillen to 1st with almost no talk of him at 3rd. I thought 3rd made more sense, like ThaWalrus said, its easier to find a first baseman to hit for power with a decent average. As for Cabrera, as long as he is in the lineup I am happy, and there is no reason he cant be like Youklis is for the BoSox. Play 1B, but when you need him he can slide across the infield to 3rd.

by jgrubbs on Apr 23, 2008 12:44 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Great point.

With Granderson back in CF and our starting 1B also acting as a possible back-up 3B why in the earth would you keep Inge around?

Inge about to be traded also answers the question of why this didn’t happen right out of spring training. It’s not like the Tigers didn’t know that Miggy is a lackluster fielder yet they didn’t try him at 1B till the season started.

I see no reason to subject these guys to on-the-job training now unless there is something else brewing.

by MacRae on Apr 23, 2008 1:00 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I change my mind. I think he’s going to be in San Francisco by May.

1. The Pirates can bring up Neil Walker from AAA if they really get desperate

2. Brian Sabean is more likely to make a bad decision than Neil Huntington

3. Despite the fact that trading for Inge might turn out bad for Sabean in the long run, Jose Castillo isn’t exactly working out.

by MacRae on Apr 23, 2008 1:15 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

INGE

Boy,
I never would have seen this move coming. I guess Leyland has to shake it up a bit. And Inge is still the odd man out. And He isn`t helping Himself hitting in the .240`s!! I hope he goes anywhere but Pittsburgh.
Maybe the Lions will sign Him as a Wide Receiver!!

We still got snow on the field in the Keweenaw!

by Fats Fothergill on Apr 23, 2008 5:41 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Hmmmm.

The only way it makes sense is if Inge is about to be dealt. Otherwise, I don’t see the point of putting Guillen and his bad hamstring at third base. I know it’s not shortstop, but Guillen looked pretty bad at times last year defensively.

by bradm on Apr 23, 2008 9:41 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

!

I like it, as Guillen will require more days off and that allows Inge to play more. BUT, if I remember correctly, the majority of Guillens errors last year were throwing errors….so this begs the question; Can he get it to first consitently?

Time will tell!

by Zappatista on Apr 23, 2008 10:33 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Guillen

Youse guys are right about Guillen and his throwing errors and his hammy. If you remember he had that problem with the double pump before he threw. You can`t do that at third. He`ll never get anybody out!!

by Fats Fothergill on Apr 23, 2008 10:53 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs