Orlando Cabrera: The OCAB Makes a Stop in Cleveland

As George Costanza once found out, “Bald men, who are unemployed, and live with their parents, don’t approach strange women.” And as Orlando Cabrera found out this offseason, aging shortstops, who have limited range and have seen their OPS decline three out of the last four years don’t garner much interest on the free agent market.

Cabrera was hoping to score one last payday, preferably with a contender, but it never happened. Instead, Cabrera has signed with the Cleveland Indians, a team that has very little chance of competing for a playoff spot in 2011.

Not only will Cabrera be playing with a non-contender to start the season, but he won’t even be playing shortstop. Word on the street is that Cabrera was brought in to compete for the second base job with Jason Donald and Luis Valbuena.

When a 36-year-old is asked to switch positions on a second-tier team, that’s when you know he had no market in the offseason. Terms of Cabrera’s deal have not yet been revealed, but I couldn’t imagine it being for more than one year and a couple of million.

I like Carbrera. I really do. I think he is winner. I think he offers a team more than stats, and I really don’t think it’s a coincidence that teams that he has been on since 2004 have made the postseason six out of those seven years.

However, we are in an era of stats, and when it comes to stats, Cabrera is no longer up to snuff. He has seen his OPS go from .742 to .705 to .705 to .657 and now has limited range at short. It also didn’t help that he only played in 123 games last season and showed signs of wearing down.

What the Indians are hoping for here is that Cabrera stays healthy and finds the fountain of youth, which would enable them to get something for him down the road. That’s certainly possible as I don’t see either Donald or Valbuena beating Cabrera out for a job in spring training.

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