Melky Cabrera PED suspension could impact Phillies offseason
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Melky Cabrera PED suspension could impact Phillies offseason
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
Melky Cabrera of the Giants has been suspended 50 games for testing positive for a banned substance. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
While Major League Baseball's announcement that it had suspended Melky Cabrera for 50 games for elevated levels of testosterone has more immediate impact on the Giants, who entered the day tied with the Dodgers atop the National League, the move could also have an effect on the Phillies' offseason decision making.
Cabrera will be a free agent after the season, and while he has spent 2012 as a corner outfielder, the majority of his time in the majors has been spent in center field, where the Phillies have a clear need. The Phillies kicked the tires on Cabrera before acquiring Hunter Pence last July, and he had done nothing since to lower his stock, hitting .346 with a .390 on base percentage, .516 slugging percentage and 11 home runs before the suspension.
A switch-hitter, Cabrera has eight home runs in 129 at-bats from the right side of the plate, where the Phillies are clearly in need of some power.
Comments (63)
Sign him! Cabrera & Galvis in 2013!— sonnybuoy01- we defintely need some power from the right side of the plate and at a position in the outfield. here is a good idea, lets trade away hunter pence. Trying to keep the faith. this offseason will say alot about the phils front office. right now, it appears they are only big spenders not good talent evaluators— sam.c
- Surprising they can still get these drugs. Should be a lifetime suspension reduced to 50 games if the violators give up their suppliers. That might make it more difficult to find.— rockinginthefreeworld
- Stick to milk, Melk!— dasher
- Cabrera's suspension will indeed negatively impact the Phils. He will most likely be one less option for the Phils in 2013. There are not a lot of other outfielders the Phils would really want to acquire from the 2013 class with the exception of Bourn who may be too expensive. The dilemma is Brown looks like the only outfielder who has an everyday position reserved for 2013, and even then, he will still be a work in progress. Pierre should have an outfield reseve position guaranteed. Mayberry is regressing rather than improving. His hitting, fielding, throwing and base running are not as good as they were in the two previous seasons, so he doesn't look like he'll be a part of the Phils 2013 plans. Schierholtz doesn't look like he'll be able to help the Phils next season either. Nix is also doubtful. What the Phils need to do now is what I suggested a while back. They need to acquire Alfonso Soriano by the end of the month. He's a freebie waiting to get claimed from the Cubs. The Phils should acquire him now and audition him along with the other outfielders for the rest of the year. If he doesn't pan out, the Phils will still be able to trade for or acquire free agent outfielders this off-season. But if he does pan out, the Phils wil have another power hitter and decent defensive outfielder to add to the lineup. He would become the new Raul UIbanez for 2013 and 2014. The Phils should also consider acquiring Scott Hairston, an affordable right-handed power hitting platoon for the outfield. Cabrera's suspenion may prove to be farther reaching than just the outfield for the Phils. If the Phils really feel the need to pay big bcks for Bourn, they may have to make a few trades they may have not have considered making otherwise. Lee could be one, and if Rollins continues to show an abject refusal to hustle or be moved out of the leadoff spot by someone like Bourn, he could be history also.— onthebucks
- Paragraphs — smfree31
- Shane 2013.— gho_matt
- Article title is a bit misleading, what is the impact? I think it's apparent, but you could have spent a few minutes providing details of the "impact/effect" on the phils decision making.— 46 and 2
- Brown still takes bad routes. Yesterday he broke bad and left a very catchable ball felt in front of him. Today, he was a little lazy fielding another fly ball that hung in there forever that any good OF would have caught. You could see the frustration in Doc's face after the play. He needs to learn a lot. RAJ said he'll be one of the OF next season. So far he hasn't convince me.— EL Zorro
- broke back, should read.— EL Zorro
- sign victorino and have him leadoff. put j-pop in the eighth spot.— zwarte piet
- Only impact is his price just went down. Give up suppliers? Testosternoe is legal if you have script for it, just banned by MLB so good luck on that one. Good news is Rollins is upping his value here in the 2nd half and we may be able to move him in the offseason and not have to eat much of that contract. Galvis is your SS next year. Utley also looks to have some pop left and may be a consideration from an AL club as a DH. Too bad we have a $25mm strike out machine at 1st who can't field either. Nice move on that one Booben. Trade Rollins to LA for Dee Gordon and a prospect, Bring in Bourn and Cabrera and trade Lee in the offseason to TX for Olt and Martin. Maybe even consider keeping Polly around one more year to platoon with Utley at 2nd. Bullpen arms are easy to find but if the Phils don't have a power bat at 3rd and one OF spot might as well mail in 2013 now. Stay away from Hamilton, he's a disaster waiting to happen.— JuanSamuel4prez
- Wait...let me get a pen.
Trade Rollins, Utley, and Howard (if we could find a team would want the leading HR hitter and RBI producer for the last 7 years).
And have a lineup with 7 of your 8 batters being:
Dee Gordon (.229, 1 HR, .280 OBP),
Freddie Galvis (.226, 3 HR, .254 OBP),
Michael Bourn (9 homers, will have over 150 K's),
Polanco (.255, 2 homers),
Melky Cabrera (after he is off the juice),
Mike Olt (6 career games, 3 singles, 4 strikeouts), and
Leonys Martin (.189, 0 homers, .250 OBP).
Sheer genius. How are you NOT a GM?— smfree31 - hahaha yeah, by this time next season we could be the Houston Astros. First of all, Dee Gordon shouldn't even be a name people are familiar with, let alone someone you'd wanna go out and get. Sure he's fast, but I would be too if I weighed 75 pounds soaking wet. Secondly, Utley will retire before going to the AL to DH. You can say what you will about Chase Utley, but that dude has always played the game the right way, and I don't think he can just sit in the dugout between at-bats and be fulfilled as a professional. Third, let's see if Galvis's back holds up and that he tests negative before throwing him back out in a full-time role. Rollins can still play, and for his current output he'e more or less earning his money, which to me says the Phils shouldn't trade him w/out any other trustworthy options (you want Galvis and his super sweet .215 AVG at SS?. I do agree on Hamilton. That dude is always probably one whisper in his ear from a relapse unfortunately. Personally I wish him the best, but business-wise? Let someone else sign him to a monster deal and hope it's the AL. And Cabrera? No. And No. his numbers pre-juice were mediocre at best and the dude can't run. Rule of thumb? When a guy goes from bench numbers to allstar numbers overnight? proooobably not all natural. In fact, I'd be relieved to hear that Ruiz has been tested and cleared, because his offensive numbers definitely have that suspicious spike. He's my favorite player on my favorite team and I hope it ain't so, I'm just saying he fts a pattern and I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it that I've seen. That's for another day.
— Momjeanz - To those San Fran bleacher fans with the Milk Man uniforms....you can
now take them to your next garage sale!..idiots!— Lynnwood
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