The Fayman has a nice little profile of Miguel Cairo in today’s paper:
A lot has gone wrong for the Reds this year, but it’s hard to argue with what Cairo has done. He’s hitting .269 with five home runs and 24 RBI in 175 at-bats and has played well defensively at third base in Scott Rolen’s stead.
Younger teammates give Cairo big points for leadership. Cairo, who is pretty vocal, will needle players with the best of them.
Most of the banter from Cairo is harmless chit-chat, but he occasionally will send a message. He kidded Johnny Cueto about being afraid to pitch against Tampa Bay’s David Price right before the All-Star break.
Cueto beat Price, and he mentioned Cairo’s motivational talk after the game.
I have no knowledge of Cairo on the leadership and clubhouse talk points. What I do know is this: Miguel Cairo has provided real value to the Reds the last two seasons. Last year, he was worth about one WAR, and this year, he is at 1.6. That’s outstanding, when you consider that he’s a sort-of super utility player and making only $1 million this year.
I thought signing Cairo to a two-year deal last offseason was silly, and at his age (37), there’s some likelihood that he will fall off a cliff at any moment. I remain skeptical about whether he can repeat this performance next year, in the second year of that contract. There can be no question, however, that Cairo has earned every dollar the Reds have paid him so far.
So, yeah, I was probably wrong about Miggy. I’m glad to have him around.