Respectfully, I Disagree

If you happened to read the sports page in today’s Akron Beacon Journal, you may have noticed a front page article by ABJ staple Sheldon Ocker. With all due respect, I think the whole thing is just ridiculous.

He starts off by saying he may be the only media member that thinks the signing of Orlando Cabrera was a bad idea. Why do you think that is, Mr. Ocker? He argues that signing the veteran infielder is taking away playing time from younger players (similar to when Russell Branyan was brought in last year), and that Cabrera himself really isn’t that great anyway. Has he watched Luis Valbuena or Jayson Nix play second base? I’m beginning to wonder. He also says that it is foolish because Cabrera is a career shortstop who will be playing second base. You know, because Donald isn’t a career shortstop being forced to play second or third base or anything.

Well, I suppose signing Orlando does take away time from Nix/Valbuena/Jason Donald, but most who follow the Indians (which is Ocker’s job) know that none of those three are really in the team’s future plans anyway. The second and third base jobs are reserved for Jason Kipnis and Lonnie Chisenhall, respectively. So, Cabrera is taking playing time away from guys who really shouldn’t be on the field to begin with. Last year, Matt LaPorta was ready to assume his role at first base when healthy and there was no reason to have Branyan there as a stop-gap, because LaPorta was to be ready to go early in the season. Kipnis and Chisenhall will not be ready to take over their jobs until next year. I don’t think it hurts to have a veteran presence to influence these kids, as well as to help tutor Donald, since they are both natural shortstops forced into other roles.

Ocker uses inexperience as ammunition to attack Cabrera’s ability as second, citing that he has only played 24 games there in his career. He then mentions that Chris Antonetti and Manny Acta watched Cabrera as he came up in the Expos system (which Antonetti and Acta both worked for), and that they are more than sure he can get it done at the number four position. I’m assuming that they have seen Cabrera play not only in over one hundred games, but also spring training and workouts and other things where he may play out of position. Sheldon Ocker more than likely has seen Cabrera play in close to 50 games (a generous number, I think), all at shortstop. I’ll take the Indians brass’ opinion, thanks.

He goes on to praise Jayson Nix’s power hitting, though points out that he has some (gaping) holes in his swing that need to be fixed. I’m pretty sure the Indians once had a third baseman who could hit the ball 500 feet but struck out far too much, and after putting a lot of time in trying to fix the holes in his swing they traded him to the Reds for Ben Broussard, though they brought him back last year for some reason still unknown to me.

Lastly, in a valid point that my colleague Jon Rudder brought up in his last post, Cabrera can be used as trade fodder if needed. If he’s having a good year, a contender would love to have a utility guy with plenty of postseason experience. If Jason Kipnis shows that he is ready to play by mid-season, I doubt that the club will keep him down in favor of the older Cabrera. If that’s the case, and Cabrera isn’t traded, he would still be a great clubhouse guy as well as a backup in the middle infield.

And hey, in the way off chance that the Tribe is contending, Cabrera’s experience is something you can’t replace. Keep those fingers crossed, Tribe fans, April 1 is right around the corner.