When Melky Cabrera was tagged with his 50-game suspension for failing a drug test, it was a crucial blow to the San Francisco Giants. Sure, they might still be in first place, but it was a potential dagger to a once very-promising season.
So it makes sense that the Giants front office is mad at Melky. They could be so mad, in fact, that they're all but ruled out the idea of letting him play in the postseason (he'd be eligible after four games) or re-signing him.
That's according to Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, who wrote Monday that the chances of Melky playing another game as a Giant are "close to nil."
"I’m getting a strong sense that the Giants’ higher-ups are so angry with Cabrera for taking a performance enhancing drug and sticking a knife into their playoff hopes, that the chances they would let him appear in any postseason games this year, if he’s eligible, or re-sign him for 2013 are close to nil," Schulman writes.
See, there's one school of thought that says the Giants should consider re-signing Melky, mainly because he'd come at a fraction of the cost they expected when they considered extending him. Depending on how much of Melky's production was actually PED-related, he could end up providing an impressive value.
But there's another school of thought at play here, and it involves the Giants history with PED users. The Giants don't want to continue and perpetuate the stigma that San Francisco is a haven for the people who use those enhancers.
They also might simply be furious at Melky. Throughout the season they were discussing a potential new extension for the outfielder (can you imagine if they'd signed him to that??) and they thought Melky was really fitting in as a Giant and a potential building block for a potent lineup.
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Cabrera betrayed them, essentially, and it shouldn't be that surprising if the Giants would prefer the current lineup to gel, let the clubhouse rally around each other, and do their best to win another title without worrying about whether or not Melky can return.
