Asdrubal Cabrera

[Sol Solis]

Now I know that this may be coming off as a pick of an overreaction considering all the holes this team currently has dotted all over the field (by both not having long term solutions and the long term solutions looking bad... *Cough*Michael Brantley), but as mentioned in Buff's B-list today, Asdrubal Cabrera isn't exactly lighting the world on fire with his hitting.

Sure, the popular commonsense is that he plays exceptional defense at short. I will agree that he makes some spectacular plays but often he makes mental mistakes on some of the easier ones and that leaves me a bit worried... especially because he isn't hitting.

In 2007 he was called up and was nothing short of a revelation, playing great defense at 2nd and hitting very well for a 21 year old. He struggled in '08 getting sent down once and had to find himself in the minors and then last year he was back to his '07 form... only better. Now this year (albeit in a lost year) he's hitting more like it's '08 than '09.

Again, this is nitpicking but I have now become worried that Asdrubal might not be the cornerstone guy that we thought he was. He's a nice piece surely, but considering this is now his 2nd full year out 3 and 1/2 that he hasn't hit very well... and you can begin to see the problems. This is compounded by the fact that Asdrubal didn't hit PERIOD until he was called up to the major, having hit a combined .248 in AA in '06, and was generally not thought of as more than your John McDonald type guy until '07.

With no viable SS options in the minors (I mean AT ALL), we could be looking at a position that was once thought to be manned by an all-star caliber player who is actually just some guy with a pretty good glove.

[peeker643]

It's not nit-picking. Cabrera is a decent major league player who tends to look better surrounded by the flotsam and jetsom of the other guys on this roster.

He's fine. He's capable. Maybe even good. But he's miscast as anything more than that IMO.

[CAVSTRIBEBROWNSin07!]

Before the A-Rod, Nomar, Jeter generation, most shortstops couldnt hit a lick. As Peeker said, so long as he's surrounded by a decent roster you dont notice his issues. Its when he's the 2nd best player on the team that his hitting becomes such a glaring problem.

[skatingtripods]

He's been dinged up this season and really hasn't been able to get into a groove. He's a wizard in the field and he should be a solid .285 hitter. He's beyond adequate. He's an ideal 2 hitter.

[1Perry]

He hit .300 in April. For someone on the Indians that's like hitting .400 on another team.

Fundementals have been lacking all around. That he makes a few mental errors is also like making next to none on another team.

I don't know that anyone expected him to be a cornerstone but he's an All-Star where the Indians are concerned.

[fairvis]

Just for a reference, ACab's stats:
2007: 45 G, 186 PAs, .283/.354/.421
2008: 114 G, 418 PAs, .259/.346/.366
2009: 131 G, 581 PAs, .308/.361/.438
2010: 48 G, 214 PAs, .262/.303/.344

ACab's OPS this year among shortstops would place him 17th, but his BA would place him 9th. His K/BB ratio is much higher this year- 2.91 versus 2.02 last year. We'll see if he figures stuff out, but he'
s definitely a serviceable shortstop as far as batting goes- just this year he's average instead of good.

Put this into perspective: Last year's .799 OPS is the same as Hanley Ramirez's OPS this year, in which he has the second highest OPS among shortstops. In general, the shortstop OPS for the league is down significantly this year- last year, there were 14 shortstops with OPS > .700, and this year there are only 10, and one > .800 (last year there were 5).

[drum]

The last thing i'm worried about on this team right now is Asdrubal Cabrera.

[tecs]

Now I know that this may be coming off as a pick of an overreaction

Yes, you are overreacting. AC just coming off a broken fricken' arm. Give the guy a break. If he's batting .250 going into the end of the season after another 200ab's then that's some cause for concern.

[WiscTribeFan]

I agree with tecs. The guy's coming off a serious injury. The rest of the way is basically his way of getting back into the groove for next season.

Of all the positions I'm worried about, SS is not one of them.

[Sol Solis]

Keep in mind his OBP isn't serviceable. It's .303. That's terrible. Obviously he's coming off an injury so his performance is going to be a bit off. But he hasn't exactly been a model of consistency.

I also understand that there are bigger concerns for the Indians, hence the reason I mentioned that exact same thing. I only brought it up because Buff brought it up in his B-list, which I also mentioned. I think Asdrubal is certainly at least average, but he's not a cornerstone guy. Saying he's "good for the Indians" doesn't mean anything if the team wants to compete.

[1Perry]

If you are looking for 9 guys better than Ascab to compete, you might as well throw in the towel and find another team to root for.

[CAVSTRIBEBROWNSin07!]

Yeah he sucks.

[bookelly]

As much as I respect the research involved in digging this up...can we just not go there right now? Let's enjoy the high before we kick each other in the nads dude.

That said. Droobs is a Demi-God.

[WiscTribeFan]

Bringing up the post would make a bit more sense if the person who went back and found it wouldn't have been basically poo-pooing A-Cab as a player who needs a great team around him so that you can ignore his shortcomings. Certainly not the case right now.

Before the A-Rod, Nomar, Jeter generation, most shortstops couldnt hit a lick. As Peeker said, so long as he's surrounded by a decent roster you dont notice his issues. Its when he's the 2nd best player on the team that his hitting becomes such a glaring problem.

BTW-I look like quite the wise man in my post. Props to me!

[skatingtripods]

He's been dinged up this season and really hasn't been able to get into a groove. He's a wizard in the field and he should be a solid .285 hitter. He's beyond adequate. He's an ideal 2 hitter.

Proud of my post in this thread.

[fairvis]

Proud of my post in this thread.

Yeah, so am I. I did research on it. Must've been drunk.

[motherscratcher]

Tim Kurkidgianinian wrote a nice little article on Asdrubal. Nothing groundbreaking or earth shattering here, but it's nice the dude is getting a little recognition for the phenomenal year he's put together so far.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=kurkjian_tim&id=6584412