Cabrera Should Sit Out this One

Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera has purchased himself a bit of bad publicity recently. During the wee hours of Saturday morning October 3rd, he sat around sharing a few drinks with members of the Chicago White Sox, whom the Tigers were playing that weekend. Upon arriving home a few hours later there was an altercation with his wife which led to the police being called to their home. The slugger was taken in, team President Dave Dombrowski was called to pick up Cabrera from the police station as he was too inebriated then to drive himself somewhere, and that seems to be that as no charges are being filed against anyone.

In the meantime the Tigers ended their regular season schedule tied with the Minnesota Twins and are forced to play a one game playoff this afternoon in Minneapolis. It is a game which Cabrera ought not play.

Surely, though, that will not happen. After all, this is a big time sports event, which somehow makes it more important than issues of world peace, health care, and social security, to name a few questions one would like to believe more critical to our well being than a simple sporting match. And nothing wrong with hoisting a few with your buddies, after all. Further, Cabrera has not been charged with anything, so there should be no repercussions based on that either.

Well, maybe. Still, hanging out with the opposition during the course of a late season critical series can be argued as detrimental to your team. Friendship might ease any sense of having to perform your best against the visitors. Then, too, there's still the instance of a domestic altercation of some sort. While it may not lead to legal troubles it nevertheless happened, and some kind of message ought to be sent that such behavior reflects on the team whether you care to admit it or not.

Ryan Raburn should play first today and Cabrera should sit it out. It would signal that certain behaviors are at least frowned upon by the Tigers while rewarding a bench player like Raburn for his good production this past season. It may even teach Cabrera something about his duty to his family and, to an admittedly lesser extent, his teammates.

But, again, that won't happen. Sports are judged in a separate court from the rest of the world. We see that kangaroo in action every day.