Detroit Tigers: Miguel Cabrera back this weekend? Reboot hits rough waters

The Detroit Tigers continue to flounder in the season’s final six weeks or so, and while a playoff bid is not seemingly imminent, perhaps the most compelling reason to still watch this team is to have the privilege of watching Miguel Cabrera on a daily basis.

Since July 3, we have been robbed of this luxury.

But it seems Miggy’s return is on the horizon. He hit and ran Tuesday night in Kansas City and told reporters if the team would let him, he’d be in the lineup right now. Of course that won’t happen just yet, but manager Brad Ausmus said a possible return could come as soon as this weekend when the Tigers face the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

MCB staffer Tom Zahari takes a look at how the reboot started off very strong for the Tigers, but turmoil has set in to form a bump in the rebooting road.

It has now been eight days since the termination of Dave Dombrowski and it seems the front office is finally settled for the foreseeable future. George Sipple outlines the moves from Tuesday.

Miguel Cabrera eager to play, could return to Detroit Tigers lineup as early as this weekend – Chris Iott, MLive

"Cabrera took live batting practice and ran the bases Tuesday afternoon. He could be back in the lineup as early as this weekend.“I thought he looked good,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. “He didn’t look much different than he would, I think, if he had hit a base hit to left and was running to first, rounding first and coming back. He didn’t look like he was favoring anything. He didn’t look like he was limping. So I was very encouraged.”Cabrera said he felt good running the bases and is eager to get back on the field.“I want to play,” said Cabrera, who repeated that phrase in most of his answers to questions from media members. “Right now, if it was me, I’d play tonight. It’s not my decision now. Let’s see how it feels tomorrow and we can say something tomorrow.”"

Reboot started smoothly, but quickly deteriorated – Tom Zahari, MCB special to Detroit Free Press

"When the Detroit Tigers’ started their reboot, things seemed to be looking up when Dave Dombrowski traded David Price, Yoenis Cespedes and Joakim Soria for a considerable return. Since July 31, the Tigers have parted ways with Dombrowski, promoted from within from Al Avila to general manager, had an intra-squad fight, and lost two of three games against the worst team in the American League.First, the Tigers showed that there was an organizational difference in opinion between the general manager and ownership in the direction of the franchise which probably led to the departure of Dombrowski.Instead of interviewing other candidates for the job, the Ilitch family gave Avila the job. If Avila was the best man for the job after long careful consideration of other candidates, I would not have as much of a problem declaring him Dombrowski’s successor. Instead of looking elsewhere to upgrade their organization, the Tigers got the band back together with Avila and David Chadd taking the general manger and the assistant general manager roles."

Tigers announce more front office job titles – George Sipple, Free Press

"New general manager Al Avila appointed Dave Littlefield as vice president of player development, Dick Egan as special assistant and Scott Reid as a senior advisor, according to a news release.Littlefield is in his first season with the organization, joining as a scout in October 2014. He has spent more than 26 seasons in the front office of various major league clubs, including as general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates for seven seasons. Before joining the Tigers, he spent seven seasons as a major league scout for the Chicago Cubs."

Next: 5 Best Moves of the Dave Dombrowski era