Miguel Cabrera: Could Tigers’ Cabrera Lose Playing Time from Arrest Report?

Miguel Cabrera's Arrest Report Released, Could Slugger Miss Time With it's Revelations?

Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera was arrested and charged with a DUI right as Spring Training began this season, although the details of the arrest were never made clear. 

Now, according to an ESPN.com report, we have them, and frankly, they aren't pretty. 

"According to the report released by prosecutors, drivers Edward McCarthy and Mark Thomas said they saw an SUV traveling the same direction as their trucks. The SUV, while in the passing lane, started moving back to the right, forcing Thomas to move his tractor trailer onto the road's grass shoulder."

"Later, when the road narrowed from four lanes to two, the SUV kept heading west in the eastbound lane. The report said at one point, an oncoming car had to veer "totally off the roadway onto the grass shoulder in order not to hit the sport utility vehicle head on."

In other words, the sweet-swinging Tigers first baseman wasn't just parked on the side of the road with an overheated car. He had been driving the wrong way on the highway, forcing semis and other vehicles onto the shoulder to avoid hitting him. 

While the report does not say that the driver of the SUV was Cabrera, the odds of another driver in a dark SUV driving while intoxicated on the same stretch of highway, on the same night, are slim to none. 

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This changes the tenor of Cabrera's arrest significantly. Now, there's evidence that the slugger was endangering lives by driving recklessly. 

Let's assume that somehow, Cabrera escapes some sort of jail time from this charge. Would the team suspend him? 

I realize that behavior like this is unacceptable, and that it needs to be punished, but the fact is that suspending Cabrera for this incident would do more harm than good. He needs to be around his teammates, needs the distraction baseball provides from whatever is eating at him and causing him to drink, and needs the support his team can provide. Sending him home for a few days, or a week or two would only increase the likelihood he falls off the wagon again, and then we're back to square one. 

The best punishment the Tigers can levy on Miguel would be some sort of counseling for alcohol abuse, with his teammates around. That way, he's accountable to someone, and there can be consequences for failing to go to meetings. 

Typically, I would say that a suspension is the best answer for this, but given what we know of Miggy's history, it might actually make things worse than they already are, which is the last thing anyone wants.