The Detroit Tigers signed free agent slugger Prince Fielder today. Yawn, I know. Nobody is celebrating and everyone is dying to know what this means for Brandon Inge, I'm sure.
Well, news is not good for him. According to MLIVE, Miguel Cabrera will be moving back to his "natural" position -- Inge's position:
Cabrera confirmed the addition of Fielder will result in him shifting to third base in 2012 -- a position he last played in 2008.
"Return to third base," Cabrera told the Lider's César Augusto Márque, "that is my natural position."
The Tigers reportedly approached Cabrera about Fielder prior to the deal to gauge his interest in shifting to third and Cabrera expressed no hesitation.
Cabrera is a better first baseman than Fielder, but Cabrera has played over 3,000 innings at third base in his career, so having him move to the other corner obviously makes the most sense. Now, he has a negative UZR and drops the Tigers into the bottom third of the league amongst defensive third baseman, a regression from the middle of the pack in terms of that metric, but keep in mind that Cabrera's best season at third base was better than Brandon Inge last season (granted it was in about 500 fewer innings). Still, poor Brandon Inge.
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