Cabrera to first, Guillen to third

After the game tonight, Jim Leyland announced that Miguel Cabrera is moving to first base and that Carlos Guillen is moving to third. He said "I have a major announcement to make" twice before giving us the news. He then refused to discuss it any further. It certainly was a major announcement and a big surprise but also a move I think can work out well.

Cabrera to first is a move for which I've been campaigning for a while so obviously I'm happy about that. it's been apparent that his off-season conditioning program has not helped his range which was among the worst in the majors for third basemen last year. Cabrera moving to first is something I figured would happen eventually but I wasn't expecting it this year.

I also was not expecting Guillen to move to third this year even if Cabrera was moved to first. I had envisioned Gary Sheffield going to the DL, Brandon Inge going to third, Cabrera moving to first and Guillen moving to DH. The Guillen switch to third does make sense though for two reasons: (1) he has not adjusted to first base very well. (2) he has played third before in Seattle. However, it's also true that Guillen is not the same defender he was a few years ago. He should have more mobility than Cabrera but he had trouble making throws from short to first last year so it remains to be seen how well he will handle the move to third