Miguel Cabrera Sustains Orbital Fracture

The Detroit Tigers were hoping that the bad hop that found its way to Miguel Cabrera’s right eye didn’t cause serious damage.  While Cabrera is expected to make a full recovery, the Tigers did report that their new third baseman has sustained a non-displaced fracture of the orbital floor in his right eye.  Any type of fracture to the face is alarming, but Cabrera is holding out hope that he’ll be included in Detroit’s Opening Day lineup.

Cabrera will take the week off before being re-examined by the team.  Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said the club is not considering Cabrera as a possibility for the disabled list.

After taking the grounder to the eye Monday afternoon, Cabrera required eight stitches.  Detroit and its fans feared the worst following news of Cabrera’s exit, but all-in-all the injury shouldn’t force the six-time All-Star to miss significant time.

Cabrera will be re-evaluated after his week off, as the club hopes the time away from live action will allow the swelling around the eye to go down.

Because the Tigers are not currently expecting Cabrera to hit the DL they have not made public alternative plans for the hot corner.  However, Audy Ciriaco replaced Cabrera at third Monday and Danny Worth got the start yesterday.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland said he has plenty of infielders that can fill in.  This may be true, but Detroit certainly got lucky with the diagnosis as they’re unlikely to find an American League batting champ among reserves.

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