Cabrera To Join Team Today
Miguel Cabrera will join his Tigers teammates on Friday, the day after apologizing to his teammates, fans and ownership in a news conference.
Cabrera, who again stopped short of declaring himself an alcoholic, said he will comply with Major League Baseball's recommendation that he undergo an alcohol treatment program and will look in to having full-time supervision.
Speaking in his native Spanish and with the use of a translator, Cabrera said he is looking into having a representative, similar to Johnny Narron, who travels with Josh Hamilton and the Rangers.
"I'm going to follow everything the doctors tell me to do," Cabrera said through a translator. "It's one thing we're looking at, who could be that person. That's something that's in the works."
Narron has worked with Hamilton since the Reds selected Hamilton in the Rule 5 draft in December of 2006. At the time, Narron's brother Jerry, was the Reds manager. Johnny Narron and Hamilton had a relationship from Hamilton's youth baseball days in North Carolina. Johnny Narron was retained by the Reds, even after they fired his brother in the middle of the 2007 season. Hamilton was traded after that season and Narron went with him to Texas.
Hamilton is an admitted addict, but Cabrera wouldn't go that far on Thursday.
"I'm not a doctor, I can't tell you whether I am or not," Cabrera said. "The doctors with Major League Baseball who have evaluated me are the ones that know best."
Cabrera said he would try not to make a big speech when he comes to the clubhouse on Friday, instead preferring to apologize to his teammates "one-on-one" and "face-to-face."
Cabrera was charged with DUI and resisting arrest when police officers found him by his broken-down 2005 Land Rover on the side of a Florida highway. He also had an open container. Cabrera not only apologized to the officers who arrested him, but also thanked them.
CBSSports.com senior writer Danny Knobler says now the onus is on Cabrera to prove his apology is sincere, and that will take time.
-- C. Trent Rosecrans
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