Cabrera, Tigers agree to $11.3M, 1-year deal

Cabrera, Tigers agree to $11.3M, 1-year deal

DETROIT (AP) - Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers agreed Friday to a one-year contract worth $11.3 million, avoiding salary arbitration before the All-Star third baseman's first season with the team.

Cabrera and pitcher Dontrelle Willis joined Detroit as part of a trade with Florida in December. The Marlins received a package of six players, including two highly rated prospects: left-hander Andrew Miller and outfielder Cameron Maybin.

Cabrera, 24, can become a free agent after the 2009 season, but the Tigers hope to keep him long term.

Cabrera, one of the game's top sluggers, joins an imposing lineup that includes Magglio Ordonez, Gary Sheffield, Carlos Guillen, Ivan Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson and Placido Polanco. The Tigers also acquired shortstop Edgar Renteria, a five-time All-Star, in a trade with Atlanta this offseason.

In 157 games with the Marlins in 2007, Cabrera hit .320 with 91 runs scored, 38 doubles, two triples, 34 home runs and 119 RBI. Cabrera compiled a .313 batting average in five seasons with the club.

Detroit also agreed to a $780,000, one-year contract with pitcher Bobby Seay.

The 29-year-old left-hander was 3-0 with a 2.33 ERA in 58 games with the Tigers last season. In 134 major league appearances, he has posted a 4-1 record and 3.97 ERA.

He can make an additional $75,000 in performance bonuses: $20,000 for 55 games, $25,000 for 60 games and $30,000 for 63 games.

That is a start now we need to sign him to a long term deal...

01/18/2008 3:15 PM ET
Tigers ink Cabrera, Seay to contracts
Team, players avoid arbitration with one-year deals
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

DETROIT -- The Tigers avoided arbitration with third baseman Miguel Cabrera and left-handed reliever Bobby Seay on Friday, agreeing to terms with both of them on one-year contracts.

Cabrera will make $11.3 million this year, up from the $7.4 million salary he earned in Florida in 2007. The Tigers have expressed interest in a long-term contract with the 24-year-old slugger, who batted .320 with 34 home runs and 119 RBIs last year for the Marlins. The one-year deal, however, avoids the distraction of arbitration and allows the club and Cabrera's agents to work on something longer before the season begins.

"Dave [Dombrowski] has been pretty clear: Our preference has been to try to do a long-term deal on Miguel," said Tigers vice president and legal counsel John Westhoff, who handled the negotiations. "It was really the agents' preference to work out a one-year deal [first]. We have every intention of working on a longer-term deal."

Seay will earn just a little under $800,000 after becoming eligible for arbitration for the first time. The 29-year-old earned a full-time role as Detroit's left-handed specialist last year, posting a 3-0 record and 2.33 ERA in 46 1/3 innings of work. Left-handed hitters batted just .209 against him.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com.
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Fantasy Comparison:

	David Wright		2240
	Ryan Braun		1808
	Miguel Cabrera		1754
	Chipper Jones		1739
	Adrian Beltre		1591

Last Four Seasons:

Year Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG 2004 FLA 160 603 101 177 31 1 33 112 309 68 148 5 2 .366 .512 .294 2005 FLA 158 613 106 198 43 2 33 116 344 64 125 1 0 .385 .561 .323 2006 FLA 158 576 112 195 50 2 26 114 327 86 108 9 6 .430 .568 .339

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG
2007	157	588	91	188	38	2	34	119	332	79	127	2	1	.401	.565	.320
Career	720	2694	449	842	183	10	138	523	1459	322	592	17	11	.388	.542	.313

Miguel Cabrera avoids arbitration with Tigers, but bigger payday likely to come

January 19, 2008

BY JON PAUL MOROSI

FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

The long list had been whittled to two by the time John Westhoff arrived at Comerica Park on Friday morning.

The Tigers traded one of their arbitration-eligible players in November, non-tendered another in December and already signed the rest, except third baseman Miguel Cabrera and left-handed reliever Bobby Seay.

Faced with Friday's deadline to exchange salary figures, though, the team agreed to one-year deals with Cabrera ($11.3 million) and Seay ($780,000) by the middle of the afternoon. With that, a key phase of the team's off-season was complete.

"It was a lot of work, as it always is," said Westhoff, the Tigers' vice president/baseball legal counsel, referring to the monthslong process of preparing cases with the assistance of baseball operations director Mike Smith. "We're happy."

Cabrera's deal is believed to be the richest one-year contract for a player in his second year of salary arbitration. He made $7.4 million last season.

He still could agree to another deal before Opening Day, for several more years and many more millions. The Tigers remain hopeful he will sign a long-term extension.

"We do want to continue discussions on a multiyear deal," Westhoff said. "Hopefully, we will get something done before the season."

Westhoff said Cabrera's representatives preferred to focus on the 2008 contract before beginning serious talks on a long-term deal. Cabrera is on track to enter free agency after 2009, and this winter's market suggests he would make at least $20 million a year.

Cabrera, 24, is on a Hall of Fame course at this early stage of his career. He has had three seasons of 30 home runs and four of 110 RBIs, along with a .313 career batting average.

The Tigers had eight arbitration-eligible players when the off-season began. Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis joined the group after arriving in last month's trade with the Marlins.

Omar Infante (traded) and Chad Durbin (non-tendered) are no longer with the organization. Willis and Nate Robertson signed three-year extensions. The other six -- Cabrera, Seay, Tim Byrdak, Ramon Santiago, Marcus Thames and Timo Perez -- agreed to one-year deals.

For Seay, the contract represented a career milestone of sorts, coming off his first full season in the majors. He was the team's most frequently used left-handed reliever and went 3-0 with a 2.33 ERA in a career-high 58 appearances. Todd Jones was the only Tiger to pitch in more games.

Seay, 29, seems to have found a niche in Detroit, after struggling for years to establish himself with Tampa Bay.

"It feels like a family to me," Seay said when asked about Detroit. "It's a great place to play, a place where I'd like to make my career."

Seay's contract includes an incentive package worth a possible $75,000. He will get $20,000 if he appears in 55 games, $25,000 if he appears in 60 games and $30,000 if he appears in 63.

Seay said he was eager to watch Cabrera and the other hitters in what should be one of baseball's best lineups. Seay has reported to Lakeland, Fla., periodically this off-season from his home outside St. Petersburg, and already has started throwing.

"The downtime is over," Seay said. "It's time to get back to work."

Contact JON PAUL MOROSI at 313-223-4097 or jmorosi@freepress.com.

Saturday, January 19, 2008
Tigers
Cabrera to get $11.3M in '08
He'll be fifth-richest on Tigers' team payroll; relief pitcher Seay signs for one year, $800,000.
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Short of a long-term contract, the Tigers kept Miguel Cabrera as happy as they possibly could.

That even nudged him ahead of Albert Pujols on the so-called bragging list.

Working wonders again while avoiding the pitfalls of arbitration for the seventh consecutive offseason, Tigers vice president John Westhoff hammered out a pair of one-year agreements Friday: one with Cabrera for $11.3 million, the other with reliever Bobby Seay for more than $800,000 if the incentives of the contract are met.

Seay nearly doubled his salary.

But the impact signing was Cabrera's because it involved such a huge amount -- and also because it surpassed the $11.25 million the Cardinals paid Pujols at a similar point in his career.

"When you negotiate contracts of this nature," said Westhoff, "you tend to target the precedents."

In other words, if you can bump your star ahead of another one without breaking the bank, do it.

The Tigers' bank seems far from broken, though. Once upon a time, they couldn't have envisioned being as financially competitive as they are now. Then again, once upon a time, $11.3 million also would have vaulted Cabrera to the top of anyone's payroll.

Not so anymore.

Instead of being the highest-paid Tiger in 2008, Cabrera will be the fifth-highest. Magglio Ordonez leads the way at $15 million. Gary Sheffield will make $14 million, Pudge Rodriguez $13 million and Carlos Guillen $12 million.

However, the Tigers knew full well when they acquired Cabrera from the Marlins that he was arbitration-eligible and would command a salary of more than $10 million, but that didn't deter them.

They also haven't been, and won't be, deterred from pursuing a multi-year contract with him -- to which the Cabrera side appears amenable. But as Westhoff said, "Cabrera's agents wanted to get this one-year contract out of the way first."

With more money than Pujols earned after his fourth season.

Not a whole lot more, but enough to give a one-year pact extra appeal before the monstrous mega-multi-year pact comes along -- which the Tigers hope eventually will.

"We have every intention," Westhoff said, "of working in that direction."

You can reach Tom Gage at tom.gage@detnews.com.