Melky Cabrera Suspended 50 Games For Testosterone

Remember when there was some (admittedly mild) speculation that when Melky Cabrera’s 50-game suspension expires, he might be added to the Giants’ postseason roster?

Well, we can probably stop speculating.

You’ve heard of the Halo Effect, right? Well, we need a corollary. In a recent article in The New Yorker, Ezra Klein pointed out that a great number of politicians would probably favor Obamacare’s “individual mandate” ... if only Obama and his allies weren’t for it. Seeing as how, you know, the individual mandate was originally a darling of conservatives everywhere.

I don’t know what to call this corollary, but it would explain a lot of the reactions that people have to just about anything associated with Allan H. “Bud” Selig, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball. It seems that no matter Selig does, somewhere between 50 and 80 percent of the cognoscenti will be against it ... if only because Selig is for it.

Manager Bruce Bochy met with Giants General Manager Brian Sabean Tuesday to define the 25-man roster for the best-of-five Division Series.

Cabrera, who is currently serving a 50-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, might be eligible to return, but the team is not considering adding him at any point.

What if Cabrera finished the season with the highest batting average in the National League?

When his season ended, Cabrera had a .346 batting average in 501 plate appearances ... one plate appearance short of qualifying for the batting title. Crisis averted! Except there’s a little-known (until) now codicil in the rules. According to Rule 10.22(a), a player’s batting average can be refigured with the addition of enough hitless plate appearances to reach 502.

Well. Shoot.

But the question that a lot of people are asking is “How much money did Melky lose?” Is there a way to put a number on it? Jayson Stark talked with a number of baseball executives to find out:

Investigators from Major League Baseball, hot on the trail for a product Melky Cabrera led them to believe caused him to inadvertently fail a drug test, traveled to the Dominican Republic, acquired a jar of it and sent the substance to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s testing labs in Utah before discovering weeks later it was only part of an elaborate cover-up, the New York Daily News has reported.The article goes on to describe how intricate that cover-up scheme was, involving the purchase of three websites to try to convince investigators that Cabrera hadn’t violated the policy intentionally, and how it was uncovered. But if you think this might result in further penalties for Cabrera beyond his current suspension, think again:

Perhaps that’ll be enough. But you never know, given the steps players have already been shown to take to try to get an edge.

Things are, uh, just a wee bit different now.

In the 2010 NLDS, he might have been the worst starting position player on either team. More than that, he looked like the worst starting position player on any team. He looked like he was swinging a 89-ounce bat that was velcroed to his shoulder, and he was out of shape. The Braves didn’t want to pay him what he’d win in arbitration, and neither did any of the other 29 teams. He was cut adrift years before he was supposed to be a free agent.

Well, unless his 50-game suspension is supplemented. Which it might be, according to Jon Heyman:

It would be nice to know what this source’s sources are. We’ve not seen the complete Collective Bargaining Agreement, so it’s hard to know if there really is a provision that covers cover-ups.

From the get-go, the 50-game suspension of San Francisco Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera looked like a basic open-and-shut case: positive drug test equals suspension. But things took a bizarre twist Sunday when the New York Daily News learned of a phony website and a nonexistent product, both created to prove Cabrera mistakenly took the banned substance that cause a positive test.

Cabrera’s plan, which according to Daily News sources was set up by associates and his entourage, “unraveled quickly” and obviously failed. Now, Cabrera’s cover-up plan is getting attention from federal investigators and MLB.

We live in an Amazing Age, friends, when a baseball player can get suspended, and less than 48 hours later we can listen to a kick-ass song about it ...

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The consensus, among the Knights of the Keyboard anyway, seems to be that answer to all of those questions is a flat no way in hell, mister.

Well, maybe. The funny thing, though, is that if you drill into the numbers past that ridiculous batting average, it’s hard to find anything to substantiate the notion that Cabrera has become a significantly stronger, better hitter than he was a few years ago.

Sabean spoke publicly about the suspension Thursday, telling the Associated Press he was “taken aback” when he heard the news.

“I was actually in the meeting with Bruce (Bochy) when he talked to the players and I kind of got emotional because I didn’t see something like this coming.” Sabean said, according to the Associated Press. “We’ve all been around this game a long time. You get used to making changes and adjustments. Things happen out of left field, a lot like life, and this was one of those things you’re punched in the stomach with. But you’ve got no choice but to figure out how to move on.”

Yes, suspended Melky Cabrera will finish the season with 501 plate appearances.

Yes, the cutoff for winning a batting title is 502 plate appearances.

Without a credible source, what should Baggarly do?

On the 27th of July, Baggarly did exactly what reporters are supposed to do: He asked Melky Cabrera directly about the rumor. I applaud Baggarly for doing that. I’m not so sure about what happened next.

The Giants’ every-day left fielder currently leads the first-place Giants in singles, doubles, and triples. For that matter, he leads the whole National League in hits.

The Giants’ every-day left fielder is also currently suspended for 50 games, the result of a failed drug test.

Melky Cabrera quickly became a fan favorite in San Francisco. He came over for Jonathan Sanchez, who completely imploded, and he led the National League in hits a year after leading the American League. Fans in “Melk Man” costumes were regularly shown on the Giants’ home broadcasts. The phenomenon might have peaked when Cabrera was named the All-Star MVP after surging past Ryan Braun in the final voting.

That seems ... oddly poetic now, for some reason.

Cabrera released the following statement:

Baggarly reported a rumor that Cabrera was being investigated for performance-enhancing drugs, and then followed that up with an earnest apology to Melky Cabrera and the Giants’ organization.

Cabrera has been having a career year for San Francisco, leading the National League with 159 hits, along with a .346 batting average, .390 on-base percentage and 60 RBI. This follows an substantial improvement in production last year with the Royals.

Cabrera was acquired by the Giants for Jonathan Sanchez, and the switch-hitting outfielder will be a free agent after this season.