There's nothing better than a mystery team emptying a can of aerosol shock into the face of the baseball world. Well, not unless the mystery team comes equipped with a mystery strategy! Take it away, Jon Morosi:
Tigers had Miguel Cabrera get into shape to play third base, just in case, source says. Fielder 1B/DH, Cabrera 1B/3B/DH.
Let's see if I can get this right. Here's an approximation of a conversation that happened at some point early in the offseason:
Tigers: So we were thinking you should get in shape.Miguel Cabrera: Wait, what? You mean because I'm a professional athlete in whom you've invested over $100 million? Sez you.
Tigers: Don't be silly. We just need you to get in shape in case we spend $200 million on someone who plays your position.
Miguel Cabrera: /works on tummy crunches obediently
But there has to be some sort of contingency plan for when Victor Martinez, Cabrera, and Prince Fielder are all healthy at the same time, and Morosi says that the Tigers are already thinking ahead:
Tigers view third base as a better alternate position for Miguel Cabrera than left field, source says.
His source is probably MLB.tv, which is the source that fed me the same information. It looks like the Tigers will have some interesting decisions to make. The good news is that they'll have a looooooooooooong time to figure it out.