Lower in lineup, Miggy on same page as Hinch

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Tigers’ lineup card for Monday’s Grapefruit League game against the Yankees looked a lot like a potential Opening Day starting nine, complete with Miguel Cabrera in the middle of the order.

It was a logical order, but it was notable that Cabrera was lower in the middle of that order than he has traditionally hit.

Handling a great player’s career as it winds down can be one of the toughest, most delicate tasks for a manager. It can be a balancing act between the inevitable acknowledgment of a player’s declining skill with age and the deserved respect of the player’s incredible accomplishments. The decisions made are usually less jarring than the Angels’ midseason release of Albert Pujols last year, or a reduction in playing time like what Pujols fought before that. Often, they’re as small as a change to the player’s spot in the batting order.

For Cabrera, the task is subtle, and not reflective of him as much as to the team around him. As he aged into his mid-30s, the four-time batting champion, two-time MVP and former Triple Crown winner remained in the heart of the Tigers batting order as the team embarked on its rebuild. He batted third in all 38 games he played in 2018 before a ruptured biceps tendon ended his season, then hit in the same spot for 101 games in 2019.

Cabrera is one of just five Major League hitters since 2010 to start 100 or more games in a season batting third in a lineup in their age-36 season or older, according to baseball-reference. Nelson Cruz did it in the same 2019 season for the Twins, as did Carlos Beltrán for the 2016 Yankees and Rangers, Alex Rodriguez for the 2015 Yankees and David Ortiz for the 2014 Red Sox.

After spending the pandemic-shortened 2020 season batting third again, Cabrera moved down to the cleanup spot last year. His 90 starts at cleanup in 2021 are tied for third most among players in their age-38 season or older since 2010. Only Ortiz (95) with the 2016 Red Sox and Pujols (94) with the 2018 Angels had more.

Cabrera has batted third or fourth for 10,140 of his 10,993 career MLB plate appearances, just over 92 percent. He has just 113 starts and 490 career plate appearances in the fifth spot. But indications suggest that could change soon. These are not the rebuilding Tigers anymore, and Detroit’s lineup has enough balance that the bottom third of the order could include impact offensive players, possibly top prospects Spencer Torkelson and/or Riley Greene.

Manager A.J. Hinch has tried not to make too much about batting orders. Even if who hits where doesn’t matter a ton, lineup balance matters. With Javier Báez now on board, the Tigers are heavy on right-handed hitters as run producers, increasing the importance of switch-hitters like Jeimer Candelario and Robbie Grossman.

“You start moving Miguel Cabrera down in the order and moving [Candelario] up, his responsibilities increase,” Hinch said Monday, hinting at the thinking.

Hinch has handled it with Cabrera the way he has handled virtually every question around the team since taking over as manager, discussing it honestly, up-front and with reasoning.

“I talked to him a while back about putting our lineup together and that he could hit fifth or sixth depending on the situation, and he’s all in on whatever we need to do to win the games,” Hinch said. “He has been great since Day 1 on stuff like that.

“I think when you add players, specifically Báez, to the middle of the order, somebody’s going to move, and Miggy’s very well aware of that. We had a good conversation, and then we haven’t talked about it since. I told him I was going to do it in the spring to see. I like to take a look at that structure and see where it fits -- and he’s all in, and I love that about him.”

Cabrera is not the first great hitter to encounter this as he neared 40. Hall of Famer Chipper Jones started everywhere from third to sixth at age 40 in his final season in 2012. Frank Thomas hit third nearly his entire Hall of Fame career but moved down to fifth for a good stretch of his age-39 season in 2007. Adrián Beltré moved down to the fifth spot in the Rangers lineup near the end of his final season in 2018 at age 39 after years of batting cleanup. Both were still productive but obviously off their peak seasons. Pujols began his transition down the Angels batting order in 2019, his age-39 season.

Cabrera’s willingness to do this isn’t surprising. More than milestones or personal accolades, he wants to be part of a winning team again. He made it clear when Spring Training began that he was fine playing less at first base and be primarily a DH to open a full-time spot for Torkelson.