Cabrera versus all-time Great Tigers

I've spoken my piece on Cabrera's fielding deficiencies but there is little question about his abilities as a hitter. Where does he stand versus the all-time best Tiger hitters? Table 1 presents the Tigers all-time leaders in OPS+ for players with at least 2,000 plate appearances. OPS+ is OPS (on base plus slugging) adjusted for league average and for ballpark. For example, Ty Cobb has an OPS+ of 171. This means his OPS was 71% better than league average. Adjustments need to made for league average because an OPS of .850 in 2007 , for example, is a lot different from an OPS of .850 in 1968 when pitchers dominated. Although these are all Tigers, adjustments need to made for ballpark because Bennett Park, Navin Field, Tiger Stadium and Comerica Park all have very different configurations and effects on the game.

Table 2 shows the all-time Tigers leaders in OWP (Offensive Winning Percentage). OWP is a Bill James statistic that projects what a team's winning percentage would be if each player on the team provided identical offense to that player and the team had average pitching and fielding. It is tracked in Lee Sinnis' Complete Baseball Encyclopedia. It is based on the Runs Created statistic and thus includes stolen bases as well as hitting. In comparison to OPS, it also gives more weight to walks.

In his five years with the Marlins, Cabrera has an OPS+ of 143 which places him behind just four Tiger greats: Ty Cobb (171), Hank Greenberg (161), Harry Heilmann (148), and Sam Crawford (144). Cabrera's .671 OWP would be sixth among Tigers all-time behind: Cobb(.789), Greenberg (.729), Heilmann (.708), Crawford (.689), and Norm Cash (.673).

So, Cabrera comes to the Tigers as their best hitter since Norm Cash who played for the Tigers between 1960-1974 and arguably the best since hank Greenberg (1930-1946). Whatever way you look at it, he should be the best Tigers hitter in a long time. One of the good things about Cabrera is that he is just 24 years old and is likely to get even better. If they can get him signed long term and he keeps producing as expected, he should go down as one of the greatest Tiger hitters ever.


Table 1: Tigers lifetime OPS+ Leaders

Player	Years with Tigers	OPS+
Ty Cobb	1905-1927	171
Hank Greenberg	1930-1946	161
Harry Heilmann	1914-1929	148
Sam Crawford	1903-1917	144
Miguel Cabrera	*********	143
Norm Cash	1960-1974	139
Mickey Tettleton	1991-1994	134
Al Kaline	1953-1974	134
Dick Wakefield	1941-1949	131
Carlos Guillen	2004-2007	130
Rocky Colavito	1960-1963	130
Bobby Veach	1912-1923	130
Ray Boone	1953-1958	130

Table 2: Tigers lifetime OWP leaders

Player	Years with Tigers	OWP
Ty Cobb	1905-1927	.789
Hank Greenberg	1930-1946	.729
Harry Heilmann	1914-1929	.708
Sam Crawford	1903-1917	.689
Norm Cash	1960-1974	.673
Miguel Cabrera	*********	.671
Dick Wakefield	1941-1949	.655
Al Kaline	1953-1974	.651
Mickey Tettleton	1991-1994	.646
Carlos Guillen	2004-2007	.635