The Muscle Melk Man - Building Numbers, Breaking Hearts

Imagine one night you decide not to go to a party, but instead opt to have a quiet evening at a coffee shop. And you meet this girl, who seems pretty and nice and fairly easy to talk to. But after you go out with her a few times, you just can't get enough of her. She's smart, funny, and she seems to get even better looking each time you notice her. Great skin, gorgeous eyes, and an hourglass figure you wouldn't believe. And my god, she's into you too! That never happens! Moreover, you found out from your friends that that party you didn't go to wasn't even that great (so you didn't even give up a lot for the chance to meet this chick). All your friends are like "jebus, how the hell did you score THAT girl?" And you're all like "I know, right?" And after explaining how she didn't used to be this good looking, but it all came together for her a couple years ago, you slyly add,  "and by the way, they're real and they're spectacular".

And then you find out Melky Cabrera tested positive for PEDs. 

Turns out Melky had numbers-enhancement surgery and didn't tell any of us. Personally, I would guess it happened two years ago before he put together a very good season with Kansas City. But this year with the Giants, it was going to a new level. Talk about your all-time too-goo-to-be-true's. The Giants will be without their hit factory for the remainder of the regular season, and the first 5 games of the post-season, if they make it that far. There's no way around it: This. Is. Devastating. 

I'm pretty mad at Melky for this. For making us believe in this great story. For getting our hopes up that he could hit .350 for the rest of the year. I feel sorry for the Melk Men and Maids for idolizing a cheater. [Side note: before you get all puffed up and try to call me out for being a hypocrite because I only have nice things to say about Barry Bonds, remember that Bonds never broke any rules. Melky did]. He broke our hearts, too. 

He was leading the league in hits and runs. By one statistical measure (Baseball Reference's Wins Above Replacement), he is the 4th best player in the league*. There's no way the Giants can replace that kind of production. Buster Posey's shot at 100 RBIs probably just vanished. For the Giants to make the playoffs, everyone will have to step it up. And that includes the pitching. It would be very unwise to count this team out, but also naive to think this isn't a blow to morale. 

Just when things looked like they were falling into place, too. During Tuesday night's win against the Nationals, I remarked to myself "this is probably the best line-up the Giants have put out there this year. Probably in years." A white-hot Posey, Scutaro in for Theriot, Pablo off the DL, Belt on an up-swing of his pendulum season, Hunter Pence figuring things out, and of course Melky, who was the beacon of consistent awesomeness. (McCovey Chronicles, as always, beat me to this point, here and here). 

However, after sorting through all my anger and disappointment, I think I've arrived at a place of "is what it is" nonchalance. After all, if you had told me after the Jonathan Sanchez trade that Melky would be a 4.7 win player in 2012, I would have been thrilled. We already got all the production out of him that we could have expected going into the year. If the Giants fail to make the playoffs, it won't be because of Melky Cabrera. It will be because they weren't good enough, as a team. There's room for improvement with the players already in place that can fill the Melky void. Belt can stay hot. The bullpen can pitch better. Timmy can find mediocrity. Pablo is back. 

Still, this sucks.


*Not to mention the All-Star Game MVP, helping the National League get home field advantage in the World Series. Will the American League representative demand that the All-Star game be replayed? Maybe then Mets fans can do a better job of voting David Wright in.