At the end of the day, whilst 10-year contracts are terrible, Cabrera's contract is the most valuable of those that have been doled out recently. These contracts aren't being offered for 10 years, they're being offered for 4-5 years. Owners know they're not going to get $33m worth of production from a 40-year-old. They want the best player in the game for the current championship window (well, except Seattle) and they're prepared to pay dead money for it. Regardless of whether Detroit should or shouldn't have paid it, someone else was going to.