Following up on Miguel (DWI) Cabrera

Miguel Cabrera: Hits baseballs, hits bottles.

The Tigers general manager and their field manager have, let us say, rather different reactions to this week's DWI arrest of Miguel Cabrera.

From GM Dave Dombrowski:

We have an issue here that needs to be addressed and helped — and we're going to help him. We fully support him in trying to get help. But it also can be tough help sometimes.

From manager Jim Leyland:

It has no effect. It might make some dramatic reading material. It’s not going to do (bleep). Believe me. Nothing.

Nothing to see here. Move along.

From all indications, Cabrera isn't looking at jail time out of this. He didn't get in an accident, he didn't kill or injure anybody. Which is just lucky, I guess. 

But the Tigers have committed $106 million to this doofus, and they need him in the lineup. But they also need to be able to rely on him, and off his 2009 incident and this one, I can't regard him as reliable. Leyland may not care if Cabrera has a drinking problem as long as he hits .320 with 40 homers, but if the Tigers take the hands-off approach he appears inclined toward, this is going to end badly. And if they take an aggressive, lets-get-this-fixed approach, Cabrera may miss considerable time this season.