For virtually his entire career, Miguel Cabrera has been elite. Coming into 2015, he had driven in 100 runs every season of his career (excepting his abbreviated rookie campaign), hit below .310 exactly once, and had never spent a day on the disabled list. This combination of perennial excellence and durability made him one of the surest bets in fantasy baseball.

Unfortunately, Cabrera suffered a leg injury in July and missed a little over a month of action. He was typically outstanding when he did play, hitting .338/.440/.534 and walking nearly as often as he struck out. The missed time and a September slump, however, left him with the least impressive counting stats of his career. After hitting 44 homers each in back-to-back MVP seasons in 2012 and 2013, Cabrera has hit 43 homers total in the last two years. His .196 isolated power was the worst mark he's ever posted. Entering his age-33 season - and the first season of a massive eight-year extension that the Tigers seem doomed to regret - are Miggy's best days behind him?

That may be a bit premature to say, but it's closer to reality than it's ever been. Cabrera remains a preternaturally gifted hitter. After all, this was one of his worst major-league seasons, and he won the freaking batting title. Obviously, context is important. As you might suspect, that average was supported by a high BABIP. .384, to be precise. While Miggy has consistently maintained high BABIP figures over the years (owing to the fact that, in analytical terms, he hits the crap out of the ball), that's still almost 40 points above his career mark. So some pullback there is a reasonable expectation.

The real concern is injury. Cabrera has never exactly been a guy who prizes personal conditioning. While his alcohol issues appear to be under control, he remains a player with a body type that is cause for concern. And though this year's stint on the disabled list was a first, he played through injury down the stretch in 2014 as well. In both instances, the infirmities appeared to sap some of his power. Of course, when you're starting from the point of being on the short list for best hitter in baseball, you've got a long way to fall before you stop being a fantasy asset. Cabrera should continue to be fantastic when he's on the field. It just feels prudent to bake a higher likelihood of physical issues into our expectations going forward.

Also worth noting is the state of the team around him. The Tigers just posted their worst season since losing 119 games in 2003. While a leaky pitching staff bears its share of the blame for that decline, the offense also failed to score 700 runs for the first time since - you guessed it - Frank Stallone 2003. Miggy averaged 102 runs scored and 121 RBI in his first seven seasons in the Motor City. Last season he tallied just 64 runs and 76 RBI. Even if you prorate those numbers to a full season, the totals are 82 and 96. Still excellent, but no longer otherworldly.

In my home league, I've owned Cabrera every season since 2011, when we adopted our current draft settings. I kept him the first three years, and outbid others for his service in the last two drafts when he was too expensive to keep. Next year may well end up being the first time I don't enter the draft planning to do this. Though part of that is due to other factors like roster construction, there are enough red flags to give me pause.

Miggy's been a fantasy stud for over a decade, but every run of greatness eventually ends. Maybe it won't be this year, or even next year. But with the miles piling up and the supporting cast getting weaker, he no longer seems quite as safe an investment.

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