"First of all, I want to apologize to everybody, I want to apologize to my teammates, to my fans, to my families, to the owner of the Detroit Tigers, to the teams. This is important to me, that's why I want to speak Spanish. I don't want to make any mistakes with my language, so ... [Cabrera starts to speak in Spanish with Al Avila nearby to interpret]
Avila's interpretation: "I just want to say that I'm very sorry for what I've done. I want to apologize to all my teammates, my owner, my family, my friends and everybody I let down. I've worked very hard for a period of time in overcoming this and I just want to get back and play and have everybody forgive me and I ask for forgiveness."
Avila's interpretation: "I'm very sorry and I want to apologize to the policeman for that night -- I acted in a bad way and I hope that they forgive me. I'm very sorry for what I did and I also thank them for the way they handled everything because at the end it came out to be the best way."
Avila's interpretation: "I believe in the American justice system and that it will it take its course and I believe in the end things will be cleared up and I will be good. I also want to regain my reputation, I will work hard to regain that respect and my reputation. I just want to get back to baseball and work hard and continue my career."
At this time the floor was opened up for some questions, which Miguel answered predominantly in Spanish and then again had Al Avila interpret for the group.
Question 1: What can you tell us about that night, the situation and the circumstances that led up to it?
Avila's interpretation of the answer: He says he was on his way to Lakeland, obviously, what happened happened, but he can't speak on the matter because it's still a legal matter.
Question 2: When did you start drinking again?
Avila's interpretation: It was just one bad decision on my part. I will continue my treatment and I will continue to see the doctors and follow what their recommendations are. Unfortunately, I made a mistake this one time, but I willl continue my treatment and I will continue my doctors' orders.
Question: What are chances you take steps Josh Hamilton has taken [in having a person follow his every move for support and assurance he won't make a similar mistake again]?
Avila's interpretation: He said that he's going to do everything the doctor's they tell him to do. That is one thing we're looking at and looking at who could be that person. That's something in the works.
Question: Is this the only time you drank in the last year?
Avila's interpretation: He understands he made a big mistake, he did it just this one time and he regrets the mistake.
Question: Can you guarantee an incident like this doesn't happen again?
Avila's interpretation: "He's received tremendous support from the entire team, the organization, his family, his friends, his teammates and he is going to do everything possible for this to never happen again and restore everybody's faith in him."
Cabrera answered a few other questions and, with Dombrowski, stressed he's ready to play when Leyland decides to put him in to the lineup.
Here's video of the first portion of the press conference with Cabrera's official statement (video courtesy of MLB Network):
Parts of the Q&A before my hand got tired and the questions got stupid: