#94

Orlando Cabrera, SS

It was a deadline deal. On July 31, 2004, the Red Sox parted ways with the face of their franchise, Nomar Garciaparra. In return, they got Cabrera and 1B Doug Mientkiewicz (the three-way deal was more complicated, but those are the two players Boston received that day). The deal ended months of speculation about the future of Nomar. It also raised concerns about the future of the club. The seeds were sown in the winter of 2004 as the front office worked out a trade for Alex Rodriguez. Acquiring A-Rod would have set in motion a number of dominoes. One of those included the dealing of Garciaparra.

But this is not about #5. This is about the shortstop they got in return. Cabrera had been with the Expos since 1997. He had a career high average of .297 in 2003. On July 31, he was batting a whopping .246. What had Theo done?

It took a few weeks for Cabrera to start hitting. By the time the playoffs rolled around, he had hit .294 with six dingers in 58 games. More importantly, the defense on the left side of the infield had improved noticeably. Keep in mind that Nomar had missed all but 38 games to that point, and that injuries had dramatically reduced his range over the past few years.

Still...

So how does he get on this list? Cabrera left as a free agent almost as soon as the last out of the Series was recorded. What is important, though, is the impact he had in the most important playoff series, possibly, in baseball history. In the Sox dramatic seven-game victory over the Yankees, Cabrera hit .379 and committed exactly zero errors (he also played an erroless World Series). His timely hitting kept rallies alive, and he squelched every ball that came his way.

So, Orlando...we didn't know ya long, but we're glad you dropped by.