I’m not a “Giants’ Insider,” but I feel pretty strongly that Melky Cabrera’s suspension means we’ve seen the last of him in a Giants’ uniform. When the announcement was first made, it seemed that Giants fans rushed to their schedules to see how many games the team has left.
It doesn’t matter, folks. Cabrera is done.
Two things can happen the rest of the season. One is that the Giants pull together, hold off LA and Arizona for the Western Division title, and go deep into the playoffs. In which case, they don’t need Melky Cabrera anymore.
The other thing that could happen is that they miss the playoffs this season. While one of the things that makes baseball great is that one player is rarely the difference between a team achieving the post-season or not, if the Giants fail this season, the blame will like squarely at the feet of Melky Cabrera. Gone will be thoughts of the 117 games he played for San Francisco this season, or the 61 wins. This season will be all about the PED’s, and Cabrera’s willingness (or perhaps eagerness) to roll the dice and see how far he could get.
If that scenario comes true, I don’t see the Giants bringing Cabrera back next year. Even though his salary demands will be extremely low, there would be too much emotional baggage to have him around.
No, it’s “circle the wagons” time at AT&T Park, and Cabrera is definitely outside the circle. He’s on his own, to try to get someone to give him a contract next year. That team will not be the San Francisco Giants.
OTHER NOTES ON CABRERA:
1) If Cabrera had accepted his suspension when he was told about the test, which, according to CSN Bay Area’s Andy Baggerly was near the All-Star break, The Giants would have had three weeks to work a trade to replace his bat. There has been some speculation that the Hunter Pence signing was a more urgent matter because the Giants had gotten wind of Cabrera’s possible suspension. That can’t be true. The Giants have needed another bat for two years now, and Pence was supposed to replace Blanco in the lineup, not Cabrera.
2) Another benefit to Cabrera not appealing the suspension would have been that he would have come back with almost a month to play, which might have been a more appealing option to the Giants than activating him during the playoffs.
3) For anyone who looks at sportswriters and thinks “wow, those guys get paid to go to games!,” consider Baggerly’s role in this saga. On June 27th, Baggerly had been hearing on various social networking sites that Cabrera had failed a drug test and was looking at a suspension. Before writing anything about the rumors, Baggerly went to Cabrera, telling him what he was hearing and asking for a comment. Cabrera got upset, proclaiming his innocence and indicating that he didn’t know anything about anything. Baggerly felt that by even talking Cabrera about the story he had linked the player to PED’s, and he apologized in his column for mentioning it to Cabrera. Three weeks later, it turns out that the rumors were really leaks, not rumors, and Baggerly had the story right all along. Trouble is, he never ran with it. Talk about a no-win situation!