It’s not April 1. I had to check when Tom Gage’s article was posted at the Detroit News tonight proclaiming Carlos Guillen is moving to third base and Miguel Cabrera first base — and the move is permanent. (But remember, it wasn’t too many days ago that Leyland said “Cabrera’s playing first base is only for the day, so don’t make anything more of it, you stinking reporters, don’t you dare ask a follow up, yargh! *puff cigarette.” At least I imagine it something like that. It was in his head anyway.

So the switch makes sense on multiple levels.

• Carlos Guillen was playing better defense at first. He was ugly the first week, but afterwards he looked fine. But Cabrera looked just great at first base and not that good at third.
• Yes, Brandon Inge plays beautiful defense at third. But long term he can’t be tied to the position. And he wasn’t going to be anyway. At some point, Gary Sheffield is coming back. Inge is the super sub and the backup catcher. Pudge needs more days off.
• Guillen may not play better defense at third than Inge — definitely won’t — but he should do fine there. He is a step up over Cabrera.
• So to me, there’s a net gain on defense with no loss on offense.
• Plus it allows Pudge more time off.

Win-win situation, best I can tell.

Update:

Tigers.com has an article. Guillen and Cabrera are fine with the switch. Guillen said it makes the club better. Nothing too substantial.

I think a few glances around the Tigers blogosphere are warrented in this case.

Bilfer: Huh. Wow. Huh. … Guillen had all kinds of trouble fielding, transferring, and throwing the ball to first base last year. A move to third would seem to present many of the same issues. … I’m not really sure that this solves any problems.

Lee: It certainly was a major announcement and a big surprise but also a move I think can work out well. …. Cabrera to first is a move for which I’ve been campaigning for a while so obviously I’m happy about that. … The Guillen switch to third does make sense though for two reasons. (Go read his reasons for yourself!)

Ian: Leyland says this makes the Tigers “a better team,” and I’m inclined to agree with him.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 10:30 pm and is filed under 2008 season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.