Going Deep: Melky Cabrera's past pushed aside in search of a title
Alex Anthopoulos was obviously willing to put the past behind him, especially if it meant signing a player who could help his team contend in the American League East. The willingness to sign a player who would normally command up to $13 million for one season also made sense because Anthopoulos could make the deal at a 50 percent discount.
In the middle of November, with the massive 12-player trade with the Miami Marlins still pending, the Toronto Blue Jays GM signed outfielder Melky Cabrera to a two-year $16 million deal. It was Anthopoulos’ second – albeit smaller than the first – statement to MLB and baseball fans around Toronto that he was looking to build a true contender for 2013.
Cabrera,of course is coming off a 50-game suspension for the use of performance enhancing drugs, but when he was in the lineup – dirty or not – he was an offensive force, batting .346/.390/.516 in 501 plate appearances and had 11 home runs and 60 RBI’s. He was named the MVP of the 2012 All-Star Game and was many observers’ National League MVP favourite.
“Being completely transparent, we think he can help us,” Anthopoulos told the media from Dunedin back in February. “The contract was right, the price was right for us. For greater certainty you’re going to be paying more. Rightfully so. That’s part of the risk we took and we’re out there on that, I understand that.
“The outfield was an area we wanted to improve but the rotation was where the priority needed to be, and when you look at comparisons to other outfielders that signed, we think there’s potential – that’s the key word, no guarantees – that the contract can have tremendous value for us. On the flip side, there’s a good amount of risk as well.”
Granted, Anthopoulos or anyone in the organization who was involved in the Cabrera signing can’t be expecting the 28-year-old to put up those kinds of numbers in 2013. Any way you look at the deal, whether you respect Cabrera or not, he’s nevertheless a massive upgrade for the Jays in left field.
Those who followed the team closely heading into and throughout the 2012 season recall the battle between Eric Thames and Travis Snider for the starting job in left field. Thames won the job in spring training, but only played 46 games with the Blue Jays before he was traded to Seattle at the end of July.
Ironically Snider was moved on the same day to Pittsburgh in exchange for right-handed reliever Brad Lincoln.
Rajai Davis was left to pick up the pieces having played fewer than 100 gamesat the position over the course of his career prior to the ousting of Thames and Snider. And though the 32-year-old did an admirable job, he isn’t a starting left fielder, especially on a team that’s hoping to contend for adivision title and potentially a World Series.
He may not be an American League MVP candidate come the end of the 2013 season, but if he can hit .284 and add 15 home runs and 60 RBI, which is what he’s averaged over the course of his career, Cabrera can be a helpful piece in the Jays lineup in 2013.
