Upon the suspension of the San Francisco Giants all-star outfielder Melky Cabrera, one has to think when this era will ever end, if it will ever end. This new era of baseball has been deemed as the "steroid era." Another player has fallen victim to steroids and a suspension. Since 2005, 30 Major League Baseball players including Melky Cabrera have been caught and suspended because of the use of drugs. These 30 players do not even include Barry Bonds who has been victimized along with Alex Rodriguez. Melky Cabrera is just another player to go down with the use of illegal drugs to enhance his performance. This report stunned many and came as a huge surprise as well. Former teammate Derek Jeter said, "I enjoyed playing with him, I enjoyed watching him get better throughout the years. Yeah, it's too bad." Melky's best friend and former teammate Robinson Cano is devastated by the news as he said that he is "100 percent surprised" about Cabrera's suspension. He went on to say that it is a "sad day." Melky himself made a statement today apologizing for his actions. Will he ever move on from this? Is he reputation tarnished? These questions will be debated for a while and all Melky can do is live and learn from his mistakes.
Melky Cabrera was having a career year this season. He is batting .346 with 11 home runs, 60 runs batted in, and a .516 slugging percentage. With Melky's 50 game suspension for testing positive for testosterone, that all but ends his regular season. The Giants have 45 games left in the regular season and if they make the postseason he will finish his suspension then. This can also carry over to next season if the Giants do not make the playoffs or do not play five games in the postseason. Melky's career year continued by winning the All-Star game most valuable player award helping the National League secure home-field advantage in the World Series. Cabrera also surpassed Giant legend Willie Mays for most hits in a month in Giants history when Melky had 50 hits in May. Writers and fans want that record taken away from Melky. With this career year, it was also a contract year for Melky. This report has all but damaged his chances for big money. He was on pace for 215 hits this season and in line for a long-term, big money contract. Jayson Stark of ESPN said that this "costs him millions of dollars," going on to say, "he was set up to have a huge payday." Melky's reputation will also be very affected. He was a fan favorite and a well like teammate and respected player. Now? Who knows.
Melky's career just took a turn for the worse and it will be up to him to turn that around. He will have to take a small contract just to keep playing. He will also have to show teams that he can play without the steroids and play affectively. Melky is a career .269 hitter. His numbers went up every year since the start of his career. Is it because of the steroids? No one will know until he comes out and says when he first started using PEDs. Melky's incline in production could have been from hard work and maturity. However, now, it does not matter. All that matters is that he has been caught cheating.
Major League Baseball has upped their anty on the steroid front. They have been increasing their production every year and they keep catching more and more players. This however is not good for baseball. A feel good story has gone completely wrong. Players are ruining records which is the backbone of baseball because of steroids. This needs to stop and until it does, people will never know which records are for real and which records are tainted. Is this fair to think? No, but it is how everyone that is associated with baseball and follows baseball feels. This affects every player. Can the usage of steroids stop? Probably not but it must.
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