Miguel Cabrera arrives at Tigers' spring camp
LAKELAND, Fla. -- Coming off ankle surgery, Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera didn't have to show up early for spring camp, but he did anyway.
"I was excited to come here," Cabrera said while sitting on a picnic table outside the clubhouse. "Try to do my stuff, try to see my teammates, try to see how everybody's feeling."
Tigers manager Brad Ausmus was a little surprised to see him but not disappointed.
"It's good to see him," Ausmus said. "He looks good, walking-around good. He stayed in shape the whole time because I had talked to him and he sent me a picture. I could tell that he wasn't sitting on the couch eating Cheetos."
Cabrera, who turns 32 on April 18, is likely more than a little tired of rehabilitating injuries.
Last season, he was recovering from core-muscle surgery.
This year, he's on the mend from surgery on his right ankle to remove bone spurs and repair a stress fracture in his navicular bone.
Cabrera said he wasn't surprised the doctor found a broken bone.
"It was feel(ing) a lot of pain," Cabrera said.
Cabrera was forced to keep weight off his feet, limiting his offseason routine.
Even now that Dr. Robert Anderson -- the one who performed the surgery -- has cleared him for non-impact baseball activity, such as hitting and throwing, Cabrera has to be careful.
"I think the hard part is over," he said. "I was three months unable to walk, unable to do anything. I think that time is over.
"Right now I do what I like, go in the cage, hit, try to prepare myself to be ready for the time's coming.
"You gotta be patient. That kind of injury, you gotta be patient and wait for the right time to go on the field and do your stuff."
Cabrera didn't waste any time. He said as soon as he was cleared to hit, he found a cage in Miami and everything went well.
"I feel good," Cabrera said. "No pain. Nothing. No issues. It's a good sign."
Although Cabrera was limited in what he could do, he said he still did a lot.
"I was doing a lot with my legs but with no weight," Cabrera said. "I think it was more flexible, more getting my strength.
"I feel my power back with a lot of repetition, low-weight, high-rep. I was doing a lot of things ... The only thing I didn't do was run -- run the field, run the bases. That's the only thing I didn't do this offseason.
"Anyway, I don't run fast. I don't steal bases."
Ausmus said he expected the AlterG -- an anti-gravity treadmill -- to arrive Tuesday, when the full squad holds its first workout.
Cabrera said it would help a lot.
"I used it last year when I got the core (muscle surgery)," Cabrera said. "I think it's going to help me, Victor (Martinez). I think it's going to help the whole team because that machine take from you a lot of stress from your legs, and everybody's going to be able to work better and feel comfortable and work hard."
"Who knows? Everybody that sees me, I want to be ready for Opening Day," Cabrera said. "You don't know what's going to happen. I think it's too early to say that. Let's wait and see what happens."
Although Cabrera had to adjust his swing to compensate for the injury, he doesn't feel it will take much time to get his old, healthy swing back in order.
"With Jim (Leyland), he say we got to take 80 to 100 at-bats to get ready," Cabrera said. "Normally, you've got to take 50 to 60 at-bats. It depends on how you're feeling.
"It doesn't matter how much swings or how many at-bats you're going to take in spring training, when you step in the batter's box in April, it's a different feeling."
Cabrera hopes to have a much different feeling this year compared to the last two.
"I want to play free of pain, not feel any issue like last year," Cabrera said. "Hopefully, I can be healthy for the season."
Just as it's too early to tell whether Cabrera will be ready for the start of the season, he said it's hard to predict how the Tigers' season will go.
"We're undefeated right now," he said. "We've got to see how we're going to play in spring training. When we play, we can talk about how good we are going to be as a team."
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