LAKELAND, Fla. – Miguel Cabrera was the American League's most valuable player in 2012, but one teammate says Cabrera should have made himself even more valuable.

Octavio Dotel, the Detroit Tigers' veteran reliever, is still bothered over what he saw as a lack of leadership when Cabrera refused to agree to a team meeting after some devastating postseason defeats last October.

"You have to step up and say something," Dotel told Yahoo! Sports. "Miggy's more about his game. I don't see him as a leader."

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Dotel says he approached Cabrera to suggest a players' only meeting after a heart-wrenching Game 4 loss in the American League Division Series to Oakland. He was rebuffed. Then, after losing Games 1 and 2 to San Francisco in the World Series, Dotel hoped again for a meeting. It didn't happen. The Tigers got swept.

Now, in a new season, Dotel hopes Cabrera takes a stronger off-field role on the team.

"Everybody," Dotel said, "has their eyes on Miggy Cabrera."

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Dotel, 39, is well-respected in the clubhouse and around the league. He's one of the few Tigers (along with Cabrera) who has a World Series ring. He was clear in stating Cabrera's leadership on the field is beyond doubt. He compared the 2012 Triple Crown winner favorably with Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez, both former teammates. "If we didn't have Miggy," he said, "I don't know what would happen to us. Miggy is special."

Yet Dotel is still miffed about the superstar's response – or lack thereof – to the team's postseason collapse. Dotel said he asked Cabrera for a team gathering on the eve of the deciding ALDS Game 5.

"He didn't give me that support," Dotel said. "So I didn't try no more."

On Thursday, Dotel reportedly apologized to Cabrera for his comments to Yahoo! Sports on the third baseman's leadership. "I apologized to Miguel," Dotel told the Detroit News. "I didn't mean to make him mad. I hope he's not upset. I didn't mean for those comments to come out that way." Cabrera accepted the peace offering.

The larger question is this: Do the Tigers need more clubhouse leadership, and is Cabrera the one who should be giving it to them? He is known as light-hearted with teammates and quiet in public, yet his incredible hitting has turned him into a face of the franchise. Should a bigger voice go along with that?

Cabrera is the hitter the Tigers clearly depend on, even with Prince Fielder backing him up. That requires responsibility away from the plate, and Cabrera knows it. But the extent of that responsibility is up for debate.

General manager Dave Dombrowski said Cabrera's role is based on his performance on the field, and that’s fine by him. "He's a determined leader," Dombrowski said, "just not a vocal leader."

So who is the team's vocal leader?

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