Why pitch to Miguel Cabrera?

Recently, Detroit Tigers' manager Jim Leyland made an astounding statement. When asked if he was an opposing manager, would he consider "pitching around", if not intentionally walking Miguel Cabrera? Leyland replied he might, if there was a "singles" hitter batting behind Cabrera.

Well, no kidding. Give that man a Marlboro. If the good people in Oslo had a Nobel prize category for stating the obvious, Jimbo would win in a landslide.  But Leyland went on to say he wouldn't do it considering Prince Fielder bats behind Cabrera.

Really? Does that make sense? Or is Leyland up to yet another of his not-so-clever ploys? Let's take a closer look.

In a very recent snapshot, Miguel Cabrera was batting .360, with 43 home runs, and 130 RBIs. The man doesn't appear to have any weaknesses at the plate. Be they fastballs, sliders, curves, change-ups, doesn't matter. Besides anything in the strike zone, he can hit high, low, inside and outside pitches -- hard. Whether the pitcher is a righty or lefty doesn't seem to make any difference either. The man's a walking-talking wrecking machine when he steps into the batter's box. To boot, he's been on a home-run hitting tear since the All-Star game. It seems like every game -- there goes another one.

On the other hand, Prince Fielder had 20 homers, 88 RBIs, and was hitting about .260. A full hundred batting average points behind Cabrera. On top of that, Fielder isn't exactly fleet of foot.

The question would seem to be -- why pitch to a proven stud that can hurt you, when you can walk him and have a decent chance of the guy behind him grounding into a double play?

Yeah, Fielder's 2013 stats beat the hell of out, say, the numbers long-time Tiger Brandon Inge used to put up. But .260 doesn't exactly pose a clear and present danger.

If you're an opposing manager -- which guy would you rather pitch to?

I know what I'd do. Whatever happens, I am not, repeat NOT going to let the most dangerous hitter in the world hurt me. I'd put him on base every time and take my chances with the next guy.

Jim Leyland keeps hoping nobody else will figure that out.

We'll see.