Big, big news out of San Francisco that could have major playoff implications: Melky Cabrera has been suspended 50 games for a positive testosterone test.
That knocks him out for the rest of the season — the Giants only have 45 games left — and presumably the postseason. Though I’ll check to see whether suspensions can be counted off with postseason games. If they can. He’d be available for a theoretical NLCS.
Oh, and it appears that Melky lied to Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com about it too, so that’s fun.
Cabrera is hitting .346/.390/.516 on the year and, until Buster Posey’s hot streak of late, was the Giants’ offensive MVP for most of the season. Now … he’s gone. And it hurts not just the Giants: Cabrera will be a free agent after the season is over, and now his free agent money drive is all gone.
UPDATE: Cabrera just made a statement and he made no excuses:
“My positive test was the result of my use of a substance I should not have used. I accept my suspension under the Joint Drug Program and will try to move on with my life. I am deeply sorry for my mistake and I apologize to my teammates, to the San Francisco Giants organization and to the fans for letting them down.”
Wow. Can’t remember many violators who actually owned up without caveat.
