Miguel Cabrera is one of the greatest right-handed hitters in the history of Major League Baseball and when all is said and done, he will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Despite that, many look at Cabrera’s current contract and shake their head.
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In 2014, the Detroit Tigers announced they had signed Miggy to an 8-year, 248 million contract extension. The extension, barring a trade, guaranteed the Tigers would be paying Cabrera a huge sum of money through 2023 when he is 40-years-old.
Cabrera recently told USA Today Sports that though he is aware of the naysayers when it comes to some of the long contracts in baseball, he is not about to apologize.
“I don’t know why people get mad at us,’’ Cabrera tells USA TODAY Sports. “They don’t like it when we get money. Why weren’t people mad the first five years when I wasn’t getting paid?
“People can say I’m not worth this contract. They can say whatever they want, really. But they’re not going to hurt my feelings.
“I’m not going to apologize. Why should anyone be sorry? I don’t see any teams losing money. They all have it.’’
Miggy also does not understand the hate for the recent contracts signed by Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.
“I don’t get it, it’s crazy,’’ Cabrera said. “These are great players. They are franchise players. You look at Harper and Manny. They’re already great players, and they’re not even in their prime yet. They’re still learning. We’ve got to open our eyes because they’re going to do some unbelievable things.’’
“You know how many people are going to go to their games?’’ Cabrera said. “You know how many people are going to show up on the road to see them? You know what this guy brings to a team?
“I remember when we were good those years in Detroit, it was unbelievable. Everywhere we went, it was full. Everyone wanted to see us play. It’ll be like that in Philly.”