How They Got Here: The San Francisco Giants is a
one-by-one look at how each member of the 2012 World Series Champion San
Francisco Giants found their way to the squad. We'll look at all of the
players on the roster, as well as notable players who did not make the
postseason roster for whatever reason and the coaching staff and general
manager. Part twenty-four tells us of controversial outfielder Melky Cabrera.
Melky Cabrera was born on August 11, 1984, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He was an undrafted player, being first signed by the New York Yankees on November 14, 2001. He made his first professional appearances with the Staten Island Yankees of Staten Island, New York, in the Class A Short Season New York-Pennsylvania League. Here, he hit to a .283 batting average with two home runs and thirty-one runs batted in. He moved up to the Class A Midwest League in 2004, appearing in 42 games with the Battle Creek Yankees in Battle Creek, Michigan. Cabrera had a line of a .333 batting average with sixteen runs batted in before a promotion to the Class A Advanced Tampa Yankees of Tampa, Florida, in the Florida League. Here, he closed out the season hitting .288 with eight home runs and fifty-one runs batted in. He continued to progress rapidly, playing much of 2005 in the Class AA Eastern League with the Trenton Thunder in Trenton, New Jersey. Cabrera posted statistics reading .275 in batting average, as well as ten home runs and sixty runs batted in for the season at this level. This earned him a promotion to the Class AAA International League to play with the Columbus Clippers in Columbus, Ohio, where he stayed for nine games before a major league call up. He first appeared for the New York Yankees on July 7, 2005, but quickly wore out his welcome with a defensive miscue and a lack of hitting. He returned to Columbus after the short major league stint, and finished with a .248 batting average, three home runs, and seventeen runs batted in. He was sent back down to Trenton to end the year. In 2006, Cabrera played the beginning of the season with the Clippers, hitting to a sterling .385 batting average, with four home runs and twenty-four runs batted in, before being called up as an injury replacement for left fielder Hideki Matsui. He did not lose the major league job, finishing out the year with a .280 batting average and seven home runs as well as fifty runs batted in. His first home run came on June 15th. He also got his first taste of postseason baseball, appearing in two games against the Detroit Tigers in the American League Division Series, which the Yankees ultimately lost 3-1. For 2007, Cabrera spent the whole year with New York, hitting to a .273 average with eight home runs and seventy-three runs batted in while working as a fourth outfielder before getting the starting job in center field. He also proved himself valuable with a solid bat, strong throwing arm, and ability to draw walks. In 2008, he maintained all of his defensive assets, but his hitting disappeared a bit. He was relegated back to a fourth outfielder role before being sent down to the Yankees' new Class AAA affiliate in the International League, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees of Pennsylvania. He spent mid-August there, hitting .333 with five runs batted in, before earning a September call up. He closed out a disappointing season in New York, ending with a .248 batting average, eight home runs, and thirty-seven runs batted in. Cabrera regained his poise in 2009, including hitting the first walk-off hit at New Yankee Stadium on April 22nd. Competing with Brett Gardner for the center field job, Cabrera was able to prove himself despite being the underdog and took the job back. Cabrera's season reached a high point on August 2nd, as he became the first Yankee in nearly fourteen years to hit for the cycle, and to sweeten the day, he also hit his 200th run batted in. He closed out the regular season with a .274 average, thirteen home runs, and sixty-eight runs batted in. Cabrera was an easy choice for the postseason roster, with his biggest playoff game coming on October 20th, when he knocked in all four of his runs batted in against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the American League Championship Series. His effectiveness in the postseason was about the same as in the regular season, and he finished the playoffs with a .271 batting average, as well as a World Series title when the Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series. It wasn't enough for New York to keep him, and they traded Cabrera, reliever Mike Dunn, and pitching prospect Arodys Vizcaino to the Atlanta Braves for the disappointing starter Javier Vazquez and reliever Boone Logan on December 22, 2009. Atlanta felt like they were on the losing end of this deal though, as Cabrera did not do extremely well in 2010, hitting only .255 with four home runs and forty-two runs batted in. Cabrera was criticized for his size and lack of effort. After going hitless against the San Francisco Giants in the postseason, Cabrera was released. He signed with the Kansas City Royals as a free agent, in an attempt to revitalize his career. It worked, as he hit .305 in 2011, while supplying eighteen home runs and eighty-seven runs batted in. It was truly a career year for Cabrera, who hit new career highs in all of the major statistics categories. The Royals sold high on Cabrera, trading him to the San Francisco Giants for Jonathan Sanchez and Ryan Verdugo. Initially, this looked like an absolute fleecing in favor of San Francisco, as Cabrera excelled even more in 2012 while Sanchez struggled and was eventually flipped to Colorado. Cabrera's month of May was even more impressive, as he set a team record for any month with fifty-one hits. He earned a trip to the All-Star Game (coincidentally in Kansas City), and earned Most Valuable Player honors in the 8-0 National League win by hitting a two-run home run. However, in one of the crueler plot twists we've seen so far, Cabrera's season was cut short on August 15, 2012, with his final line reading a majors-leading .346 (which he requested be taken out of consideration for the batting title), as well as eleven home runs and sixty runs batted in. His season ended amid a controversy about a positive test for testosterone, indicating performance-enhancing drug usage. He served a fifty-game suspension from Major League Baseball, and was eligible to return for the National League Championship Series, but the Giants elected to not interfere with team chemistry, and Cabrera was not on the postseason roster at any point in the season. While he had nothing directly to do with their World Series title, and is not listed as a champion for the season, Cabrera did evoke memories of another San Francisco left fielder caught up in a performance-enhancing drugs scandal, Barry Bonds. It could be argued that San Francisco would never have gotten to the playoffs without Cabrera's likely tainted assistance, but since it didn't happen we will never know. Cabrera will attempt to move on from the scandal in 2013 by playing with a newly revitalized Toronto Blue Jays club, having signed with them just two days previous to this article.
Follow me on Twitter @KipperScorpion.
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