A Job Opportunity For Felix Doubront

Ten starts into the season, Red Sox fans have to be feeling pretty good about Felix Doubront.

By far Boston's most consistent starter, Doubront has shown some real flashes of brilliance on the mound. Aside from a couple mediocre games around the turn of the month, Doubront has had impressive swing-and-miss stuff which, combined with an ability to drop his curveball in for strikes and paint corners has him ranked fourth amongst American League starters in strikeout rate.

We saw him at his best yesterday against the Detroit Tigers, utilizing a late-tailing fastball to pick up the majority of 15 swing-and-misses, which brings me to the job opportunity I mentioned above. If this starter thing doesn't work out--though it certainly seems to be so far--Doubront might just have a job opportunity in Detroit. Not for the Tigers, mind you, but against the Tigers.

Any team that comes into Detroit has to be concerned by the bat of Miguel Cabrera. Few and far between are the hitters capable of changing the entire complexion of a game with one swing of the bat as regularly as Cabrera does.

Against Doubront, he looked like Nick Punto.

Oh, sure, he had a loud fly ball in the fourth inning, but even then Doubront managed to get inside on him, and in Comerica Park that's not even close to being dangerous. And in the other two at bats? Blind as a bat.

Five of Doubront's swinging strikes came against Miguel Cabrera, who couldn't catch up to one of those tailing fastballs in the first (even at just 93 MPH), striking out on what sounded like a foul tip, and then after seeing four straight heaters to start his third at bat, went chasing a curveball for strike three.

For what it's worth, he also got Prince Fielder to pound the ball into the ground three straight times.

Now, should Doubront quit his day job to become a freelance Miguel Cabrera specialist? No, because he'll probably make more money doing what he's doing right now, and I'm also pretty sure MLB contracts don't work that way.

But it was a nice exclamation mark on a very impressive day of work.