Pop quiz: Is Daniel Cabrera still an active player? I consider myself fairly plugged in when it comes to baseball news. I'm subscribed to Hardball Talk and Baseball Nation's blog feeds, I follow baseball writers and fans by the dozens on Twitter, and MLB Network is frequently on my TV. Yet somehow, I was surprised by the news that Baltimore's favorite erratic 6'7" pitcher had recently signed a minor-league contract with the Pirates. I did know that Cabrera hadn't been seen in the major leagues since 2009, when he walked 42 batters and struck out only 23 in 51 innings for the Nationals and Diamondbacks. I had a vague memory of the White Sox giving him a go, but Ozzie Guillen and company set him adrift in the middle of spring training in 2010. He didn't catch on with another team until that June, when the Angels picked him up. He appeared in 11 games between AA and AAA with sufficiently awful results (0-3, 7.09 ERA, 20 K/16 BB in 26.2 IP). Baseball Reference has no record of Daniel playing anywhere in 2011, which brings us to the present day. Even considering the lowly state of the Pirates, Cabrera has to be considered the longest of long shots to return to a big league mound in 2012. If he does, I have one friendly suggestion for baseball fans in Pittsburgh: duck.
42 walks against 23 strikeouts. The batters didn't even need to bring a bat to the plate with them.
ReplyDeleteIf you've seen Danny "hit", you know that he doesn't need to bring a bat to the plate either: 0-for-26 for his career with 2 BB and 24 K. The two walks? Hayden Penn and Clayton Kershaw! Mitchell Boggs plunked him, too.
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