There are plenty of questions in the wake of Wednesday’s announcement that Melky Cabrera would be suspended for 50 games for testing positive for testosterone. For the Giants and their fans, the questions are of the “how could this happen?” and “what do we do now?” variety.

In Phoenix, or Los Angeles, the question being asked tonight is, “Why do they get to keep those wins?”

I understand that the answer is obvious, that there is no provision in the PED rules that would require a team to forfeit games played by a person who tests positive, but shouldn’t there be? Is it fair to the Dodgers and Diamondbacks that the Giants got 117 games of an enhanced player?

And if you’re loading up the “testosterone didn’t really help Melky” defense, don’t waste my time. If Melky thought he was capable of the season he’s having this year, and the one he had last year, without PED’s, he wouldn’t have used them. I trust his judgment on the matter, and think it’s ridiculous to try to make the case that his drug use didn’t have an impact on his play.

Cabrera was 18-for-39 this season against Arizona, with 2 homers, 6 RBI and 8 runs scored. The Giants have won four games against the D-Backs, and in those games he was 11-for-17 and scored four runs. If Arizona had won two of those games, they’d trail the Giants by 1.5 games rather than 5.5.  In the four games the Giants have won over the Dodgers, Cabrera was 5-for-15 with 3 runs scored.

According to CSN Bay Area’s Andy Baggerly, the failed test is said to have happened around the All-Star Break. That means Cabrera has played more than a month’s worth of games while he was appealing his suspension. Is that fair? Baseball has a pretty good idea that a player has an illegal edge over his opponents, and yet he gets to keep playing while they make sure?

There’s a strong current of opinion that Cabrera’s suspension is proof that baseball finally has a PED policy that works, and to a degree that’s true. A player who was trying to game the system was caught, and now he pays a penalty. In Cabrera’s case, the penalty is actually bigger than usual, because of his status as a free agent next season. It’s impossible to calculate how much money this escapade has cost him.

But while the policy punishes the guilty player, there’s no sanction against the team which benefited, either knowingly or not, from his presence in the lineup.