Cabrera Says He's Ready, Hoping for Good Evaluation on Tuesday

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

After taking a wicked hop to the face off a solidly struck Hunter Pence hit, Detroit Tigers Miguel Cabrera feared the worse, not being able to play this season. Once the ball had hit his sunglasses he quickly tossed them aside and according to Brandon Inge, he "started to panic" when he saw the amount of blood coming from his upper cheek.

The Tigers trainer Kevin Rand sprinted to Cabrera to towel off the blood and calm the slugger down as they walked him off the field and into the Joker Marchant Stadium locker room. Once inside the club house the paramedics were called and Cabrera was transported to the nearest hospital to receive stitches and x-rays.

After being stitched up the doctors reviewed the x-rays and determined that Cabrera had suffered a fracture of the orbital floor of his right eye. This injury, while frightening, will not hold Cabrera out for the season and according to those in Lakeland, Fla. with the Tigers it isn't stopping the Tigers third baseman from attempting to get back into games already.

As much as Manager Jim Leyland would have loved to have penciled in Cabrera's name into one of his roster sheets this past week he followed the doctors orders and held Cabrera out of all team activities as to not aggravate his injury.

When he was taken to the hospital last Monday the doctors told Cabrera that he was not to participate in any physical activities with the team for one week and then be reevaluated, Mar. 27, to determine if he was healthy enough to rejoin the team.

If Cabrera would have had any say in things he would have been on the field days ago - with the swelling down Cabrera says he feels fine and wants to get back into the game as soon as he can. The Tigers and Cabrera can only wait and hope that the doctors agree with their slugger and he can trot out onto the field a few more times before heading north.

 

Cabrera Sidelined Up to Two Weeks

In the first inning of the Detroit Tigers game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday, Hunter Pence hit a line drive towards third base that took a hop just before reaching Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera had reached the perfect position to play the ball but once it took the hop it ricocheted up and into his cheek just below his right eye.

It was a scary scene as the slugger tossed away his sunglasses and began to notice the blood streaming down his face and soaking his uniform. Brandon Inge quickly got over to his teammate to attempt to calm him down, saying that once Cabrera noticed the amount of blood he began to panic.

Inge and pitcher Max Scherzer calmed Cabrera as Tigers trainer Kevin Rand raced out to help the slugger. The ball had impacted Cabrera's sunglasses even leaving seam marks impressed on the plastic frames. Doctors at the hospital where Cabrera was transported said that he was lucky to have had the glasses on as they may have saved him from a full orbital fracture.

Tigers General Manager Dave Dombrowski said that while Cabrera was at the hospital he received eight stitches in his cheek and x-ray's revealed a slight fracture in the orbital floor under his right eye. The fracture, known as a non-displaced orbital fracture, will sideline Cabrera anywhere from a week to two weeks.

Cabrera will be held from activities for a week at which time he will be reevaluated to check the healing process of the orbital bone, if he is cleared he could resume drills and activities in a week or two.

Things could have been much worse for Cabrera and the Tigers as he had only begun wearing sunglasses in the last few game prior to the injury. He began wearing the Oakley sunglasses after teammate Ramon Santiago told him that he might be able to be a better fielder if he started wearing shades.

The sunglasses had only recently arrived and Cabrera was only wearing them for the third time, needless to say he will need a new pair. It is safe to say that because he was wearing the sunglasses Cabrera may have saved not only his season but his vision. Injuries to the orbital bone can typically effect the vision.

Manager Jim Leyland said that Cabrera looked like a prizefighter who wasn't doing so well after taking the liner to the face but reiterated to the ESPN crew that was interviewing him that Cabrera was his third baseman and that the ball would have caught any third baseman in the face.

While having the American League batting champion sitting on the bench is not what the Tigers want, it is better than the alternative of having him on an operating table and an eye patch on for the entirety of the season.