Detroit Tigers News: Miguel Cabrera has two herniated disks in his back

Sunday saw the Minnesota Twins reach into the utility closet and grab the necessary broom for sweeping up a Tigers team that is, for all intents and purposes, done with 2017. The team may be done, but we still have one more week of baseball to play. Detroit opens its last road trip of the season against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday. The merciful end is near. Before it’s over, let’s lock down that draft pick.

Miggy is hurt

In news that is going to come as a shock to almost no one, Miguel Cabrera has a significant injury. It seems Cabrera has been playing baseball with not one, but two herniated discs in his back. That has to make playing baseball very hard. The question I’m asking myself is why are they just figuring this out now? Cabrera seemingly hurt his back in March during the World Baseball Classic.

If offseason surgery is required — and that surgery delays Cabrera’s ability to return fully healthy next year, which we’ve seen before — it’s going to be frustrating thinking the Tigers could have figured this problem out a lot earlier than they did. Playing him in another week of meaningless games makes even less sense.

Insult to injury

Pitcher Alex Wilson took a 103 mile-per-hour come backer off his leg on Saturday night and felt a little weird. After trying to throw a warm up pitch he knew something was wrong. He then walked off the field to find he had a clean break in his fibula. This coming a day after his daughter broke her collarbone. I think it’s safe to say Alex didn’t have a great weekend.

Is it spring yet?

In news that offers small glimmers of hope for a new beginning, the organization posted some of next years spring training schedule. They kick off with the annual crashing of Florida Southern’s web page on February 22 followed by the Grapefruit League opener two days later.

A sinking ship?

Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press pulls no punches in what is a pretty scathing review of the decline of the Tigers franchise over the past few seasons. I don’t know what level of accuracy we’re dealing with here [Ed.: I imagine his sources are ironclad to run with an article like that] but it doesn’t make Victor Martinez look all that great. On the other side of things, owner Chris Ilitch is singing the praises of general manager Al Avila saying he is “very confident” the team is on a path to success. Ilitch also made a point of mentioning that long-term Ilitch ownership is something to be expected.

The Safety Dance

In a move that should have come sooner, the Tigers are on board with extending the netting for the safety of fans. It has been a long time coming. I have enough trouble tracking what comes out of the t-shirt cannon at a ballgame. A 115 mile-per-hour line drive would probably contact my face before I had the time to think about putting my hands up. This is a good move.

For your free time

Derek Jeter is cleaning house in Miami in a very strange way. With this year being a record in home runs some folks just won’t let the doping angle die. Our large retired sons. Baseball owners are a scourge on the sport.

Baseball is awesome

Don’t bunt. Just don’t. Ever.