Alex

Cabrera

Cabrera, who tied the Japanese record with 55 homers in 2002 and hit 50 more last year, played in just 64 games this year after suffering a broken forearm in an exhibition game. He still managed 25 homers and combined with RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka to help lift Seibu, Kaz Matsui’s former team, to its first title since 1992.

Cabrera, who had 80 at-bats for the Diamondbacks in 2000, is 12 days away from his 36th birthday and is coming off his worst season with Seibu (.295/.377/.512 with 27 homers in 501 at-bats). If he was going to come back to the U.S. as a regular first baseman, it needed to happen four years ago. We would have loved to have seen what he could do then. Right now, he’s not worthy of anything more than a minor league deal.

There was talk of Cabrera attempting to make a comeback in the U.S. next season, but that was before his name surfaced in the Mitchell Report. He’s a few years past his prime now anyway.

Cabrera, who used to play for the Diamondbacks, decided against returning to MLB in 2004. He wanted to get out of his contract with Seibu and return to the U.S. a year ago, but his feelings changed during the season and he ended up agreeing to a one-year extension to remain with the Lions.

We’d still like to see what he could do in the majors. Cabrera, who will remain with the Seibu Lions this year, is 7-for-18 with two homers and seven RBI for Venezuela, which moved to 4-0 with the victory. Landon Jacobsen (1 ER in 7 IP) earned the win by outdueling Diamondbacks prospect Edgar Gonzalez (3 ER in 7 IP).