Miguel Cabrera: Will He Be the Worst Sabermetric Third Baseman of All-Time?

Baseball is perhaps the most interesting sport that exists today.  This is because everything that occurs on the diamond is critically analyzed and evaluated in order to find reason and cause for certain events.  In order to do this, sabermetrics were invented.

Fans and media alike are always crunching the numbers in order to determine which team will win what game or series.  Therefore, the career of a professional baseball player can often be summed up by the statistics; as everyone knows, the "stats" don't lie.

Perhaps Jim Leyland, Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers are getting tired of answering questions about Cabrera's ability to field the position effectively this season and for many more.  Unfortunately for them, Cabrera has given them cause to ask.  Peter Kerasotis, a writer for the NY Times, recently wrote an article about Cabrera's shift to third base.  In the article, he quoted John Dewan, author of The Fielding Bible: Volume III, as saying that this move is "...a train wreck waiting to happen."

While he has not been the worst third baseman in the league throughout his career, he has certainly not given anyone cause to throw a Gold Glove his way anytime soon. During his nine year career with both the Florida Marlins and Detroit Tigers, Cabrera has played a total of 3273.2 innings at third base, which is roughly 2,000 less than he has played at first base.

In those innings at third base, Cabrera has committed 48 errors, which is actually only six more than he has committed at first base. He has also had 977 defensive chances, which is the sum of his putouts, assists, and errors.  By using this number, we can easily determine his fielding percentage; in order to do so, we divide his total of putouts and assists (929) by his total amount of defensive chances, and that number is .951.  Most every baseball fan knows that this is not a great fielding percentage; however, one cannot simply be judged by this number.

Another interesting sabermetric statistic is the Rtot, which is the number of runs above or below average that the player was worth and is determined based upon how many plays that player made.  Using this number allows us to see how many runs Cabrera will cost or bring to the team based upon his ability to field the position.  Throughout his career, Cabrera's Rtot per year is -7.  Therefore, he is costing the team 7 runs per year while playing third base. However, it is a safe assumption that he will more than make up for those 7 runs with his ability at the plate.

Now, to determine if Cabrera will be the worst sabermetric third basemen in history, it is important to compare his abilities to other third basemen in the league.  To do so, let's take a look at Baltimore Orioles' third baseman Mark Reynolds, as Reynolds and Cabrera have both spent 5 years at third base but have logged a different amount of innings.  He has been in the league for 5 years and has accumulated 5454.2 innings at third base.  He has committed 108  total errors and has a fielding percentage of .930, which is much less than Cabrera's fielding percentage. Finally, Reynolds' Rtot per year is -9, which means he is giving up 2 more runs than Cabrera does each year.

Therefore, based upon these numbers, it is safe to say that Cabrera will not be the worst sabermetric third basemen of all time.  In fact, he may end up being an above average third baseman, as the league fielding percentage at third base usually hovers right around .955. 

With his work ethic and desire to play the position, Cabrera will prove many of his doubters wrong during the 2012 season.  While third base may be the most difficult position to play in baseball, Cabrera has definitely not been the worst player to patrol the hot corner. 

All statistics retrieved from http://www.baseball-reference.com/