Kuzul

It’s an exciting time for baseball fans.

Spring training games around MLB have begun, as fans now have the privilege of witnessing somewhat meaningful baseball for the first time since the World Series.

The Baltimore Orioles are hoping that the spring exhibition schedule provides some answers for the team’s roster construction. As much of the roster is already set and most players tend to know their roles, there are still a few openings and some questions to be solved.

Manager Buck Showalter will use his time this spring wisely to determine who deserves to head to Tampa Bay with the O’s for Opening Day on April 6.

Unfortunately for some guys, that means that they’re at risk of being cut or demoted by the team. But that’s the business, and the O’s are going to break camp with the best 25 ballplayers that they have.

Let’s take a look at some players who are at risk of being cut or demoted by the O’s due to the nature of roster battles in spring camp.

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San Diego Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera is facing charges of resisting arrest, according to The Associated Press, via Fox Sports.     

According to the AP report, Cabrera was pulled over based on suspicion of driving while under the influence of marijuana. The report offers more detail of the incident in question:

The San Diego County district attorney’s office said Thursday that the 27-year-old shortstop faces a maximum penalty of one year in jail if convicted of the misdemeanor. The office also cited him for possession of marijuana in a car, a vehicle code infraction that carries a fine of $100.

The California Highway Patrol arrested Cabrera on Sept. 3 on suspicion of driving under the influence of marijuana. Steve Walker, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, says prosecutors do not plan DUI charges.

Cabrera played in 90 games for the Padres this season, hitting .232 with three home runs, 20 RBI, 18 stolen bases and 36 runs. The shortstop has spent his entire six-year career with the Padres, making the All-Star Game in 2013 after hitting .283 and stealing 37 bag. 

That accomplishment was marred later in the year, however, as he was suspended 50 games for taking a banned substance.    

After a promising start to his career where he even finished eighth in the Rookie of the Year balloting in 2009, Cabrera has since made headlines for the wrong reasons. Of late, he has become more notorious for his indiscretions than for his play on the field. 

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San Diego Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera was reportedly arrested on Wednesday for operating a vehicle under the influence, according to TMZSports.com.

Per the report, Cabrera was under the influence of marijuana and arrested as a result. The incident happened just after midnight on September 3.

A rep for the California Highway Patrol confirms … U.S. border patrol agents initially made contact with the 27-year-old near a checkpoint on the 94 Freeway around 12:30 AM. 

We’re told the agents suspected something was wrong — and contacted the CHP to check things out. 

After CHP arrived to the scene, deputies were convinced Cabrera was under the influence of marijuana and arrested him for DUI. 

The Padres released a statement on the team’s website:

 “We were made aware of an incident involving Everth Cabrera this week, and we take this matter very seriously. We are in the process of gathering information and are in communication with Major League Baseball. We refrain from further comment at this time.”

After the arrest, per TMZ’s report, Cabrera had his blood drawn and was cited before officers released him to his mother-in-law. 

This isn’t the first off-field incident for Cabrera. Major League Baseball suspended him for 50 games during the 2013 season for being involved in the Biogenesis scandal. He told reporters at the time his punishment was handed down, via Corey Brock of MLB.com, that he took performance-enhancing drugs to recover from an injury:

In 2012, when I made the decision to take this, my shoulder wasn’t even at 50 percent, and I wanted to be healthy for the spring. 

…

My heart and my conscience were killing me. I knew it wasn’t the best decision to make.

Cabrera was in the midst of his best season as a professional last year before being sat down. He made the National League All-Star team and set career highs in average (.283), on-base percentage (.355) and slugging percentage (.381). 

He’s currently on the disabled list, though the team was hopeful to get him back soon. Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune quoted Padres manager Bud Black as saying the shortstop was due to begin a rehab assignment soon, but his hamstring wasn’t where they wanted it to be:

“We’re still formulating a plan for him moving forward,” Black said. “Hopefully Lake Elsinore can extend their season. When Cabby is ready and healthy (enough) to play, he can maybe jump on board there and get some at-bats.”

In 2012, according to a report from Brent Schrotenboer of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Cabrera was arrested for domestic violence. The case was later dismissed and charges dropped before going to trial. 

This year has been the worst year of Cabrera’s career on the field with a paltry .232/.272/.300 slash line in 90 games. He’s still under team control to the Padres through 2016 and is making around $2.4 million. The team doesn’t have to tender him a contract after the season since he’s eligible for arbitration. 

There’s no denying Cabrera is a talented player. He’s not a dynamic offensive talent but has shown the ability to record stolen bases and play good defense at shortstop. His inability to get out of his own way has never been more evident after this latest incident. 

If you want to talk sports, hit me up on Twitter. 

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For all of you forward-thinking fantasy players, you’re probably way ahead of me in coming up with a list of players who’ve given you great value in the first half, but won’t come close to maintaining production for the remainder of the season. You’ll spend the next few weeks looking for the best trade before their value begins to dip too much.

If you need help identifying this year’s version of Asdrubal Cabrera (.286 BA, 11 HR, 42 RBI, 20 2B, 34 BB in 1st half of 2012; .251 BA, 5 HR, 26 RBI, 15 2B, 18 BB in 2nd half of 2012), let me give you some suggestions.

Here are seven players you should consider trading before midseason. 

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Yesterday the San Diego Padres made a deal with the Baltimore Orioles acquiring infielder Miguel Tejada for right handed pitching prospect Wynn Pelzer.

Tejada, 36, has had an average year with the last place Orioles batting .269, with seven home runs and 39 RBI’s.

Although Tejada’s numbers are not great they are better than the Padres current shortstop, Everth Cabrera, who has struggled to hit during his sophomore season.

Tejada is not only good on the field but is also good in the clubhouse and will provide some veteran leadership in the Padres clubhouse.

However Padres fans sounded less than thrilled about the acquisition of Tejada citing that his best years were behind him and this was not the type of impact move that could propel the Padres to the playoffs.

Tejada is not the superstar that he once was but we cannot forget that just a year ago he batted .313, knocked in 86 RBI’s and lead the National League in doubles.

So even though Tejada’s numbers in the American League this year might not support him being an impact player he did have quite a time hitting during inter-league play with an average of .346 and eight RBI’s in 18 games.

Yes it is a small sample size but he has proved over the last three years he has been able to hit National League pitching and why would that change now.

Padres fans this might not be the “big name” that you all wanted but it’s a move that has zero down side and makes the middle of your lineup better.

In my mind this move also allows for the pressure to be taken off of Everth Cabrera and allows him to go back down to the minor leagues and develop his hitting.

With the addition of Tejada, the Padres are better today than they were yesterday and didn’t give up anything of real value in return.

Isn’t that what you really want out of a trade Padres fans?

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While the San Diego Padres are locked in a scoreless battle with the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night, I figured we’d get an update on the team as they made what I would call a minor move earlier today.

According to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, via Twitter , the Padres acquired catcher/infielder Kyle Phillips from the Blue Jays for a player to be named later.

Phillips was said to be stuck behind several other players on Toronto’s depth chart, and it will also be a homecoming for him as he was born in San Diego.

It’s not yet known where he’ll fit in with the Padres or perhaps where they’ll play him, but with Chase Headley struggling over the past week and a half, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Phillips spell Headley at third from time to time as well as Everth Cabrera at shortstop.

Not much else going on in the way of trades for the Padres, and the team’s front office has kept their cards close to the vest and not revealed which way they’re prepared to go.

Jed Hoyer is, undoubtedly, doing his due diligence where the team is concerned, but we may not know what the team is going to do until the final hour of the deadline—just like last year where they shocked every Padre fan by dealing Jake Peavy to the White Sox for Clayton Richard and a few other players.

Stay tuned as we’ll bring you all the goings on with the Padres, the latest rumors, and any breaking news and trades that may come up with the team.

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