Daniel Cabrera, 2004 Leaf #216

With the state of Texas failing all of us, I need to compose the most mature and gracious response I can muster for a Royals/Blue Jays ALCS. Here goes:

Baseball is dumb and we are all dumb for liking it. I didn't want to watch the stupid old ALCS anyway.

Daniel Cabrera, 2007 Upper Deck SP Authentic #55

My wife Janet and I are going to tonight's Orioles game, and I'm approaching it with a deeper sense of foreboding than usual. Buck Showalter was kind enough to shuffle the rotation to ensure that I'm saddled with a second consecutive start from the highly-compensated and monstrously inefficient Ubaldo Jimenez. The lanky ex-Rockie has 15 erratic games under his belt for the O's, and he's 2-8 with a 4.63 ERA and a league-high 51 walks in 81.2 innings (5.6 free passes per nine innings). He's yet to win a game at Camden Yards. When the Birds gave Ubaldo a four-year, $50 million deal, I'm sure they weren't expecting to get Daniel Cabrera with better composure. What exactly they did expect, given that he spent 2011 through the first half of 2013 scuffling along before beefing up on a soft slate of opponents in the later months of last season, is another matter. Anyhow, nothing is forever, and this evening's rubber game against the White Sox and crummy righthander Hector Noesi is as good an opportunity as any for Jimenez to pick up his first 'W' in front of the home crowd. Pretty please?

Daniel Cabrera, 2007 Upper Deck #63

In case you'd been wondering just where Daniel Cabrera has been hiding since he washed out of the major leagues in 2009, um...Manny Ramirez found him last night.

The now-40-year-old slugger made his Dominican Winter League season debut last night for Aguilas Cibaenas and went deep on the first pitch he saw from the 31-year-old Cabrera, a 91-mph meatball. That's a sellout crowd roaring for Manny's power display. The implication in this Big League Stew blog post is that the ex-Red Sox great is the one who put butts in the seats, but it's worth noting that his teammates include Bartolo Colon, our old friend Miguel Tejada, and one-time Marlins Rookie of the Year Chris Coghlan. All that plus Daniel Cabrera on the mound for the opposition! If that's not enough to pack the stands, I don't know what is.

Daniel Cabrera, 2006 Fleer #234

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.

Daniel Cabrera, 2003 Bowman #191

I'm in Frederick today as the girlfriend's wedding date. Here's something old (DCab's status as a rising young prospect), something new (I recently received this card in the mail), something borrowed (I assume that Daniel borrowed his hair from Miss Cleo), and something blue (the inner border of the card).

Daniel Cabrera, 2008 Upper Deck First Edition #143

While I was distracted this weekend with family Christmas parties, heartbreaking football games, and Internet outages, the Orioles cut ties with Daniel Cabrera, failing to tender him a contract by the midnight deadline on Friday night/Saturday morning. This ends the five-year tenure of one of the most frustrating performers ever to wear an O's uniform. A 6'8" pitcher with a nasty attitude and an arm speed of ninety-plus miles per hour will get all the chances in the world, and the Birds surely used up a lot of those chances. It doesn't matter how unhittable your pitches are if they seldom find the plate, but Danny's problems were compounded by an increase in hits by opposing batters. His velocity started to tail off, and the team was convinced that he was injured, though they couldn't find any concrete evidence. That was enough to scare them away from a probable $5 million contract for 2009. While I cannot fault Baltimore for settting Cabrera free, and I will not miss the few dozen headaches per year that he caused, there's still a nagging feeling that he will win 15-18 games somewhere and make us look bad. Who knows?

Daniel Cabrera, 2006 Topps #453

This Day in Orioles History: July 2, 2004


Orioles 7, Phillies 6 at Citizens Bank Park


The Orioles got some measure of revenge against the Phillies for their seventeen-inning loss the previous summer, topping the home team in a sixteen-inning marathon for their third straight win. It shouldn't have taken so long, as the Birds jumped out to a five-run lead in the first inning off of Phils starter Brett Myers. However, prospect-turned suspect Matt Riley gave those runs back quickly, lasting just two batters into the second inning. O's reliever John Parrish gave up the go-ahead run in the third inning, but the score held at 6-5 until the top of the seventh, when Miguel Tejada tied the game with a solo home run.

Both teams traded zeroes from the eighth through the fifteenth, though the Phillies left the bases loaded twice in extra frames and Miguel Tejada ended the top of the fourteenth by being thrown out at home by right fielder Bobby Abreu. Abreu was one of three batters to walk four times in the game; Rafael Palmeiro and Philly shortstop Jimmy Rollins were the others. In all, nine O's pitchers walked eighteen Phillies batters, but they also notched nineteen strikeouts. Tejada again played the hero in the decisive sixteenth inning, lining a single to center field to score David Newhan from second base. In the bottom of the inning, Baltimore turned to Daniel Cabrera, who made the only relief appearance to date in his now five-year career. Handed a one-run lead, the lanky Dominican allowed the tying and winning runs to reach base before inducing a foul pop off of the bat of Placido Polanco to save the first career win for Eddy Rodriguez. Eddy had scattered five walks and one hit in three scoreless innings of work to buy the Oriole bats enough time to scrape together a run.

Daniel Cabrera, 2007 Topps #54

What could Daniel Cabrera have to do with Valentine's Day? Like most Orioles fans, I usually experience nothing but pain and frustration when he takes the mound. But believe it or not, this lanky, erratic Dominican hurler once played an important part in one of the best dates I've ever had.

It was Friday, September 22, 2006. I was about a month into a relationship with a girl named Melissa. We had been friends for almost five years, and when we both found ourselves single and realized that there was mutual interest, things came together quickly, almost effortlessly. It was as though we'd been together for years. Most nights, we didn't even have to make concrete plans to have a good time. We'd just sit around my apartment or hers, watching TV, maybe playing cards or video games. It was very low-key. But on this particular night, I thought it would be nice to do something out-of-the-ordinary and catch an Orioles game.

We met up at Union Station after I got off of work and took the MARC train to Camden Yards. It was a Student Discount Night, so we grabbed some cheap upper reserve seats down the left field line and settled in to watch the Birds take on the Twins. It was a beautiful night, a calm 72 degrees with just the slightest breeze. I was in my element, and I couldn't help but show off, feeding Melissa bits of trivia about the ballpark and the players. I probably mentioned that Oriole Park was built very near to Babe Ruth's birthplace. I mentioned the Baltimore Sun's neon signage on top of the scoreboard, and pointed it out to her as the "H" blinked when a batter was credited with a base hit and the "E" blinked when a fielder was charged with an error.

For all of my baseball knowledge and enthusiasm, I'm sure the night still would have been lacking if the Orioles hadn't held up their end of the bargain. Fortunately, they started strong, touching up Carlos Silva for four runs in the first two innings. Most of the excitement came in the second inning, as Brian Roberts walloped a two-run home run and Nick Markakis drove in another run with the first of his two doubles. Given some offensive support, Daniel Cabrera shook off the effects of a long and disappointing season. He allowed only one run before tiring in the seventh inning, and struck out eight batters. Brian Burres pitched out of trouble in relief, and Chris Ray slammed the door shut in the ninth on just nine pitches, preserving Cabrera's eighth win by a 7-3 margin.

When a crisp autumn chill settled into the stadium as the evening wore on, I slipped into my Orioles windbreaker. I was grateful that Melissa had come along, and I pulled her closer to me to keep us both warm. Even though she called things off a month later, ending the relationship almost as abruptly as it began, we're still good friends. One of my fondest memories of our time together was that night out at the ballpark.