Another take on Melky

[msgkings322]

Maybe not that different but more details than I knew

From Hank Shulman

Why one of America’s best baseball writers is wrong about Melky Cabrera | San Francisco Giants: The Splash | an SFGate.com blog

 

[gp956]

This is the only thing that really matters:

Nobody aside from a few of Cabrera’s closest friends want him back. When confronted with the rumor that he failed a drug test, he lied to everybody in that room — friends, trainers, coaches, etc…

Not only has Cabrera not apologized, he hasn’t even spoken to anyone on the team — even his friends who have reached out to him.

That said, if Melky were as good as Barry Bonds in his "prime," he'd be back, even if he killed Bochy's dog on his way out the door to serve his suspension.

 

[msgkings322]

I also think the baseball gods like how we handled him, hence their smiling on us in Cinci and SF. I hope they keep at it!

 

[filosofy29]

Maybe not that different but more details than I knew

From Hank Shulman

Why one of America’s best baseball writers is wrong about Melky Cabrera | San Francisco Giants: The Splash | an SFGate.com blog

Thanks msg, this was more information than I knew as well. What an interesting saga all the way around. I think (gut feeling, no inside info) Melky is a nice guy and probably means well. However, he's seemed to make some troubled decisions and worse yet, seems to have a shady group of advisors/agents. He's made a lot of poor choices/decisions about how he's handled things.

TBH, I'm not so against his cheating.....I think it's wrong, but I definitely don't blame players for doing it. If you're a fringe player and it seems like "everybody else is doing it", if you're a poor kid from a poor country staring millions of dollars and a chance to help out your family in the face.....I definitely understand the temptations. It's more about how you act once you are caught. Screw the fans and the ownership, we're going to be here no matter what and we can form our own opinions. That said, he owes it to his teammates and coaches, people he interacted with daily to own up to a mistake/lie/whatever. While I do applaud him for giving up his right to a batting title, it's hard to not think that his Agents urged him to do that as a face-saving hail mary to get a contract after this season (once again, zero proof of this, just a gut feel). In a locker room, once you lose respect/trust, it's a hard, hard, hard thing to earn back.....especially when you won't even do your teammates a solid and look them in the eyes and say sorry and admit your sin.

A tough situation for all involved. I think Blanco has probably had it the worst. Getting a friends back and fighting for somebody who won't even return a call. There's a cliche that says that "sports doesn't build character, it reveals it". I don't believe that to be 100% true as I think there are always exceptions (I think people can learn/grow from mistakes, but also devolve from them), but I do believe it has some merit. Regardless, it makes the front office and the coaches decision on Melky a lot easier to see for the fans with hindsight 20/20.