Keeping Miguel Cabrera - 3B Eligibility WHIR

[slomojo]

I'm in a keeper league and one of my keepers will be Miguel Cabrera.

It's no mystery that Cabrera will be a 3B this season. But how do I draft accordingly?

My league has a UTIL spot. Do I draft a legit 3B on draft day and play Cabrera at UTIL all year?

Or do I punt 3B on draft day, take the best available hitter for UTIL, and wait for Cabrera to get 3B status?

How long does it take for him to get 3B eligibility? I guess it depends on my Yahoo league ...

WHIR!

[MashinSpuds]

Could you draft a 1B, stick him in Util, and then punt 3B by getting a 3B scrub in the last round? That might work in this scenario.

[MaudDib]

It totally depends on how long it will take Cabrera to get that eligibility. If it is something like 5 games, then I think you would be ok drafting Cabrera as a util and punting 3B. Anything more than that and I would draft Cabrera as a 1B and draft like Cabrera won't get that eligibility. So if/when it happens you can than trade from depth if you want but your team won't be hurt if it doesn't happen.

I think a lot of people are relying on this to happen when it is still spring training. There is a good chance that Detroit puts Cabrera in a rotation at 3B which means he might get 1-2 starts per week at 3B, 1-2 at 1B and 1-2 at DH. If that happens and your league requires 10-15 games at a position to be eligible, then it could be June before he could fill that role for you. At that point, you could already be out of the championship.

I think this is something to look forward to next year if/when he has dual eligibility but at this point I wouldn't draft expecting it to happen quickly.

[Element]

I did this last season with Youkilis. He only had 1B eligibility until 5 games played (standard Yahoo). I drafted Chipper Jones toward the end and more or less dropped him after a week.

[silverZ]

Punt 3B unless a 3B happens to be the best available player. If you end up with an extra 3B just trade him once MCab gets 3B.

[slomojo]

Cool. Yeah, my league only has a 5 game minimum before Miggy gets 3B eligibility. The only way I draft a 3B is if he's the best player available.