Name: Orlando Cabrera

Rank: 174

Position: SS

Year With White Sox: 2008

On November 19, 2007, Orlando Cabrera was traded to the White Sox from the Angels in exchange for Jon Garland.  The thinking was that Cabrera, fresh off a Gold Glove season, would help to stabilize the left side of the infield.  Unfortunately, stabilize is not quite what he did.

In May, Cabrera made waves by calling the press box to complain about two errors that were charged against him.  When questioned about the calls, Cabrera claimed that he had no choice as manager Ozzie Guillen was not supporting him.

In July, he got in to a dugout confrontation with Jermaine Dye over stealing third base while Dye was at bat.  Cabrera had to be restrained by Jose Contreras before the argument spilled in to the clubhouse.

As September was coming to an end, and the White Sox were the Twins for the AL Central title, Cabrera again became a distraction, this time calling out his teammates for not having the right attitude going in to games.  A little more than a week later, Cabrera tried to start something with Ray’s pitcher Grant Balfour in the 7th inning of game 1 of the ALDS.  Down 6-3 with the bases loaded and 2 out, Cabrera, for reasons that I’m sure made sense to him, took exception to an outside pitch, causing a bit of a brouhaha.  Once tempers calmed, Balfour struck out Cabrera and the Rays went on to win the game, and, eventually, the series, ending Cabrera’s tenure with the White Sox.  He left as a free agent after the season.

Cabrera’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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