The Case For/Against Everth Cabrera

Tuesday night was the deadline for teams to offer or non-tender players and the San Diego Padres made an interesting move by not offering a contract to shortstop Everth Cabrera. Cabrera is a 28 year old switch hitting shortstop with three years of team control left and a whole lot of baggage. Just like any free agent, and non-tender candidate, Cabrera would come with pros and cons and we plan to try and list those here.

Pros:

• ·         Switch hitter
• ·         28 years old, youthful
• ·         Three years of team control
• ·         Doesn’t gut the farm system to acquire
• ·         Made less than $2.5 million in 2014
• ·         Above average league rating per 9 and per game defensively
• ·         Has 40 stolen base speed

Cons:

• ·         Coming off a down 2014 season and a Biogenesis suspension
• ·         Had a DUI charge last season questioning his character
• ·         Walked only 20 times in 2014
• ·         Low BA, OBP, and OPS

As you can see Cabrera is not the complete package and would not bring the dynamic to the infield and the lineup that say a Troy Tulowitzki would but in the same breath is more than a simple band aid or stop gap. The farm system does not have a shortstop closer than three years away and the free agency market looks bleak for the foreseeable future at the position and Cabrera could fill the position until a more attractive player becomes available via free agency, in a trade or through the farm system (here’s looking at you Jorge Mateo). Cabrera is not Plan A but he is better than Stephen Drew or Brendan Ryan so if the team doesn’t have plans on acquiring Tulowitzki or a Starlin Castro type they may want to take a long and serious look at Cabrera in 2015.