It’s Been Real, Melky

Goodbye, Melky.

While I was busy being heart-healthy, the Giants made their statements on Melky. The short-version: they’re not bringing him back. The longer version:

“We’ve moved on and so we’re going to move forward without Melky.” — Bruce Bochy

“While I am disappointed that I won’t have the chance to join my team in the playoffs, I wish my teammates the best in the postseason and I’ll be rooting hard for them to bring another World Championship to San Francisco!” — Melky Cabrera

From a PR perspective, ever since Melky bolted from the team and had a fake site exposed, he’s made an effort to make it look like he does care about how he is perceived to the baseball community. Still, there are a lot of people that couldn’t be happier to see him gone.

Personally, as one of the leaders of the Melky bandwagon, it did break my heart to see him suspended and for so many people to just say that his bat is “not needed” in a lineup that’s heading to the playoffs. Since I’ve always been a fan of hitting and defense, but on the flip side do not get to see the clubhouse environment with and without Cabrera, I would imagine there’s still a solid group of fans that are with me on this one.

I mean, in 501 PA, he gets 11 HR, 13 SB, on pace for 200 H, .387 wOBA, .379 BABIP — which maybe means he was due for regression anyway — and some memorable grins from the outfield, how do you not need that in your lineup, I ask those who say such things. He also took himself out of contention from the batting title, which was odd, but another PR move on his part.

Jon Miller brought up a good point in today’s game that I believe he said was discussed, that if hypothetically the Giants won their NLDS in less than five games, and wanted Melky on the NLCS roster, they would have to play a man short until he’s eligible for at least one game. While you may not see Bochy use every bat on his bench in one game, I don’t think the FO was too on board with the idea of playing with 24 for a couple of games, if that situation came to fruition. Fair to say though that I don’t think that was the only reason he was not brought back.

I believe that this is the end for Melky with the Giants. Some team will pick him up on the cheap (rest assured it won’t be the Dodgers), and I will wish the Giants had signed him. So, Melky, it was fun. Should you come back instead of Pagan or Pence (unlikely, in my opinion), I’ll welcome you back, but I know I’ll be in the minority. I just hope you’re done trying to cheat the system, even though I know there’s no hard data proving that PED usage helped you get all your hits and BABIP.