Cabrera relishes chance to play

Orlando Cabrera welcomed his trade to the San Francisco Giants because it will give him the opportunity to play regularly. The Giants acquired Cabrera from the Cleveland Indians Saturday night for Triple-A outfielder Thomas Neal. The 36-year-old Cabrera took a flight early Sunday morning from Cleveland to Cincinnati, arriving about 8:30 a.m., in time for Giants manager Bruce Bochy to put him in the starting lineup for the series finale against the Reds. That's exactly what Cabrera was looking for after losing his starting job to Cleveland rookie Jason Kipnis. ''I was just watching,'' said Cabrera, who hit .244 with four home runs and 38 RBIs in 91 games with the Indians. ''I like to play. I was happy they were trying to trade me because of the situation there, and I'm happy it was the Giants.'' The Giants are Cabrera's ninth team. He played Cincinnati last year, helping the Reds to their first division championship and postseason appearance since 1995. They were the fourth consecutive team and sixth in the last seven years he'd helped reach the playoffs. He said San Francisco was one of the teams he talked with before signing with Cleveland. ''Every time the world champion wants your services, you always have to feel flattered,'' said Cabrera, a 12-year veteran who won the 2004 World Series with Boston. ''Unfortunately, things didn't work out at that moment.'' Manager Bruce Bochy expects Cabrera to be the Giants' shortstop for quite a while. Miguel Tejada is eligible to come off the disabled list on Thursday, but Bochy doesn't expect Tejada to recover from his lower abdominal strain for several weeks. ''He's not able to move very much,'' Bochy said Sunday morning. ''He's at least a week away from playing games, and he's going to have to play games on his rehab to get ready.'' The Giants optioned rookie shortstop Brandon Crawford to Triple-A Fresno to make room on the roster for Cabrera.