Could Tigers give Miguel Cabrera $200 million?

This is my only forum, did I tell you I am getting my Tigers Tattoo on Sat. It will be my first and only tat.

That was my wife's response too... I guess I hang out with the young kids too much. They are impacting me. Either that or I am having a mid-life crisis, lol.

lol! what/where are you getting?

The olde english D on my arm (shoulder area). I have wanted it for years but my big ass is afraid of needles I am going to have to take my wife to hold my hand.

My DH can't stand needles or blood! Must be a gender thing!

I will send pics afterwards. As long as I go through with it

Not sure what I would get even if I had the balls to do it. Probably a Celtic design! since I am one of that tribe!

Nice...I have always wanted the D and never really thought about anything else.

well, more power 2 U, my friend! Send pics!

Well it will be at least another week. The Tattoo artist called and rescheduled. Boo....

just make sure everything is BEYOND clean and sterile!

Saturday, February 2, 2008
Lynn Henning: Baseball
Tigers' Cabrera commands big bucks

Among a few hundred issues of interest about to take shape at Tigers spring training will be the matter of Miguel Cabrera.

The Tigers and Cabrera's agent, Fernando Cuza, are expected to sit down as early as March to begin discussing Cabrera's long-term plans, which the Tigers hope will include Detroit.

There will be blowaway numbers exchanged. The Tigers will not have offered a contract for so many years and for so much money since the team tried to coax Juan Gonzalez into what could have been a franchise-crippling package in 2000 for eight years and $148 million.

In the six years since Dave Dombrowski took over, never have they discussed anything to match what will be laid on the table in an effort to secure Cabrera, 24, well into the next decade.

Based upon the market in 2008, and considering that the Tigers probably have a Hall of Fame-bound player in Cabrera if he remains healthy for most of his career, there are reasonable estimates for what Detroit will offer:

• Detroit will want a five-year extension, probably for something in the vicinity of $100 million.

• Six years for $125 million also is a possible neighborhood.

Will Cabrera and Cuza be interested?

Keeping him happy

Cabrera already is on record as saying he likes his first impressions of Detroit. He has a nice set of friendships developing with teammates, some of whom (Dontrelle Willis, Todd Jones and Pudge Rodriguez) he knew before the Tigers completed the mega-trade with the Marlins.

One also can deduce from his fairly tidy agreement on a contract ($11.3 million in 2008) that Cabrera is enthused about the Tigers. He was arbitration eligible and conceivably could have asked the arbiter for a raise beyond the $3.9 million he and the team agreed to.

The Tigers will work hard and quickly to make sure Cabrera is comfortable. They will want the money issues out of the way as soon as possible. They will want to stop the free-agent clock from ticking toward the autumn of 2009, when Cabrera can become a free agent.

It is anything but sure, however, that Cabrera -- or, more to the point, Cuza -- will be as inspired to get something done.

Cabrera already has invited historical and statistical comparisons to the game's best players. And if one of those players, Alex Rodriguez, is already in the $250 million range, what can Cabrera reasonably command two years from now when his previous four seasons have been breathtaking efforts in powerful and consistent hitting?

Competitive market

The reality in January 2008 is that the Tigers never will be able to match the Yankees and Red Sox in any kind of future salary auction -- not if New York's and Boston's sights are set on making him the ultimately impossible offer to refuse, which pretty much has been the recent pattern for the two richest teams in baseball.

And, so, it will get down to other matters for the Tigers, beginning with the knowledge Cabrera just might decide $100 million and another crack at free agency when he is 30 is worth sticking in Detroit through 2013.

This team, headed by a manager (Jim Leyland) whom players respect, suddenly is a marquee club. It now is hip to play for the Tigers. Cabrera had no problem with any of those allusions when he visited here last month.

Carlos Guillen, Cabrera's countryman from Venezuela, signed two extensions with the Tigers for less money than he might have received as a free agent. He simply believed playing for the Tigers was worth a few less shekels. Kenny Rogers did the same last winter.

The difference, however, is in the name and numbers.

Cabrera is 24. You must study his statistics from the past four years closely to begin to fathom his talent.

You also must be in the negotiating room with the Tigers and Cuza two months from now to begin to understand other numbers, money numbers that are unlike anything the Tigers ever have pondered for a player so young, and so talented.

Cabrera, Tigers discuss longterm deal
Four-time All-Star could fetch $20M-a-year contract

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Miguel Cabrera couldn't have picked a more perfect team to be traded to than the Tigers. Here, he is part of a Murderers' Row of locker stalls. Edgar Renteria is to Cabrera's right, and Gary Sheffield, countryman Carlos Guillen and boyhood idol Magglio Ordonez are to his left. If Cabrera ever felt unprotected in the Marlins' lineup, that won't happen here, where he is like everyone's little brother.

Cabrera, the 24-year-old wunderkind, already has slimmed down considerably since switching teams in the winter's biggest blockbuster trade -- one Marlins person who saw him recently swears he's shed 20-25 pounds -- and the fun-loving kid is said to be showing real signs of maturity. He is even talking aloud how about how he needs to "settle down.''

If settling down means he will be more focused on baseball, then that is a scary thought since he's hit at least .320 in his past three seasons and knocked in at least 110 runs in all four of his major-league seasons. Settling down also may mean that he believes he's found a permanent home. And perhaps he has.

The best thing Cabrera could do is sign a deal to stay a decade in Detroit, where he'd benefit from the wisdom of stable, mature stars such as Ordonez and Guillen, the positive influence of legendary manager Jim Leyland and the love and admiration of their baseball officials, including GM Dave Dombrowski and top assistant Al Avila, who as Marlins executives nine years ago discovered the 15-year-old baseball genius in Venezuela and beat the Dodgers and Yankees to sign him to a then-record bonus for a foreign amateur player, $1.8 million.

Cabrera and his new team have begun to talk, and it's possible that a coming deal could be for close to 100 times that first signing bonus. Considering the perfect fit, he shouldn't quibble over nickels. "I'd like to stay here. I'd love to play for this team for a lot of years,'' Cabrera told SI.com. "I'll learn a lot of baseball here. They've got a lot of experience here and a great manager.''

Everyone agrees: All the ingredients are there for a lovely marriage. Cabrera's with the right team and in the right town, too, where the temptations for an impressionable kid won't match Miami. "Here, it's not like the Marlins, who are a little young. And he's not coming to a party town,'' Ordonez said. "Detroit's a great place to play. The fans are waiting to welcome us, and they'll support you, generation after generation.''

None of the specifics of Cabrera's negotiations have hit the papers yet. But considering the market, you'd have to figure Cabrera, who amicably agreed to an $11.3 million contract for 2008 not long after arriving, could receive at least eight years at $20 million a year -- or more. Asked him if he'd like a 10-year deal, he said that "sounded interesting'' to him. Asked if he thought $20 million a year would be right, he said, "That sounds good.''

Negotiations won't be quite that simple, but despite the megadollars involved, no one should be shocked if this goes reasonably quick, maybe not too long after his agent Fern Cuza gets to town next week (reached by phone, Cuza declined to characterize current talks). Cabrera's only been donning Detroit's uniform for a week or so, but the Tigers, who are usually loathe to discuss their dealings, already are making their desire clear in this case. "We've known him for a long time and we like him a great deal,'' Dombrowski said. "We think he's a great player and want him as part of our organization for years to come.''

Cabrera should want that even more. People who saw him bloat to maybe 270 pounds in Miami say he appears rededicated playing for a contender again. He's fitting in by being fit here. Said Leyland, "He's been absolutely fantastic.''

With the great Ordonez here to mentor Cabrera, to prod him and to calm him -- "he's probably going to be the best player ever from Venezuela,'' said Ordonez, who is in the running for that honor himself -- Cabrera could reach new heights, even well beyond the numbers of 34 home runs, 119 RBIs and .320 batting average he put up in Miami last year.

Cabrera did extensive winter weight work for the first time in his career, a friend said. The result is that he lost his excess girth and already looks like a new man after four years in Florida that featured big stats, and by some accounts coming out of Miami, a few late nights as well. According to one longtime Cabrera watcher, he's "being challenged for probably the first time.''

Cabrera comes with a reputation for being a fun-loving kid, but Tigers people chalk up some of the late-night scuttlebutt to exaggeration. "He's had four great years. So people try to find something negative,'' Avila said. "Quite frankly, I think he's handled it well. He's growing as a man.''

Added Leyland, "He's 24, he's playing in the big leagues and he has a little money in his pocket; he's supposed to have a good time.''

Cabrera, meanwhile, suggested the good times he's thinking about now involve the sport he loves. "I'm going to learn a lot here. I'm going to settle down,'' Cabrera said. "You've got to want to do it in life. You can't throw it away. So I've got to focus. I can't wait until I'm 31 or 32. I've got to do it now.''

Judging by his fit look, those aren't just words, either.

GO MIGGY!
Hopefully we are smart and lock him in!

Quote :

Cabrera, meanwhile, suggested the good times
he's thinking about now involve the sport he loves. "I'm going to learn
a lot here. I'm going to settle down,'' Cabrera said. "You've got to
want to do it in life. You can't throw it away. So I've got to focus. I
can't wait until I'm 31 or 32. I've got to do it now.''

Judging by his fit look, those aren't just words, either.
_________________

I just have a good feeling about this guy, in Florida he was the big shot who could hit the ball well, now he is a student learning the complete game! Once he hones in on American League pitchers, and works on fielding (as he is now) look out world (and World Series)!

Sign the guy LONG TERM! Even if you have to use him in outfield, his bat is worth it!

I cna see Miggy being a cornerstone for this team...along with Grandy and Verlander, for many years to come. The Tigers will continue to build the team around him and our other young studs the same way they built the team around Tram and Whittaker, ore even Gibby for that matter.

Just a hunch...but I think DD and Mr. I will pay top dollar to keep him in Detroit for at least 10 yrs.

I think it was this week that his agent was going to be in town to talk contract terms....

Is right....and now that we know his agent isn't Boras...I feel a LOT better about our chances locking him up long term.

One of the gameday announcers was talking about Sheff's tiff with Boras....and he REALLY mispronounced Boras' last name...can't remember what it was but OMG those radio guys will say anything just to fill up air!

Yep, the news said this week:

Quote :

Negotiations won't be quite that simple, but despite the megadollars involved, no one should be shocked if this goes reasonably quick, maybe not too long after his agent Fern Cuza gets to town next week (reached by phone, Cuza declined to characterize current talks). Cabrera's only been donning Detroit's uniform for a week or so, but the Tigers, who are usually loathe to discuss their dealings, already are making their desire clear in this case. "We've known him for a long time and we like him a great deal,'' Dombrowski said. "We think he's a great player and want him as part of our organization for years to come.''

Quote :

None of the specifics of Cabrera's negotiations have hit the papers yet. But considering the market, you'd have to figure Cabrera, who amicably agreed to an $11.3 million contract for 2008 not long after arriving, could receive at least eight years at $20 million a year -- or more. Asked him if he'd like a 10-year deal, he said that "sounded interesting'' to him. Asked if he thought $20 million a year would be right, he said, "That sounds good.''