Two years ago, Melky was languishing on the Braves. He put up numbers that weren’t even worthy of a major league roster spot. The Braves released him, then Kansas City (as the worst team in baseball with nothing to lose) took a flier on him for one year and $1.25m. If Melky failed that year, he was done. No more million dollar contracts. No more hundred thousand dollar contracts. Nothing.

So, if you think that the last two years were nothing but steroids, then you should believe that Melky is no better than he was going into the season fighting with Jeff Francoeur for a spot in MLB’s worst outfield.

What people are mad about is the fact that Melky make it clear that STEROIDS WORK. Now, every high school kid in the US has been shown that you are STUPID TO NOT TAKE STEROIDS. This is why congress cares so much about this issue. The point of all this regulation is not to take out our anger on Melky, it’s to show our youths that taking steroids is bad. Because as much as it doesn’t really matter whether or not a sinlge athlete is jeopardizing his health by cheating, it does matter that a million kids get to see his decision as savvy, rather than repugnant.

For example, states with the death penalty have higher murder rates that states without the death penalty, and states that instituted one did not see a decrease in their murder rates compared to states that did not institute one. In short, the potential of being killed is not a deterrent for those capable and willing to commit murder. The same likely is true of PED users….except, of course, that PED use is a relatively victimless crime.

In Melky’s case, there isn’t any evidence that PEDs helped him…unless you think they made him magically hit the ball were fielders were not standing….because the only difference between (allegedly) clean Melky and PED Melky was his BABIP.

He potentially lost 10s of millions of dollars via suspension and getting a shorter deal with a lower AAV by getting caught. He was already punished far more than someone committing a similar infraction in whatever their job is.

Whether we or the atheletes believe/or like it, they are role models. So cleaning up the sport and all sports is supposed to send a message to kids that cheating is not going to lead to rewards. Kids cannot differentiate and analyze the arguments made that Melky did get punished because he was banned then came back to make a lowly $8M/year when he should be making more. To a high school kid or much younger…that number jumps at you and none of it says “punishment” served and this is your lowly pay for cheating. They say, wow, $8M…it might be worth it.

There are many different angles to this topic. But think of the kids. Hell, I’m no way near being a kids age and that number still surprised me. So if they are role models, what does this message and action actually say to a kid.

OK, commence with your deep analysis!

It makes the giants and their fans angry because Melky wasn’t the player advertised. He was cheating

Anyone else find it ironic that the giants are angry about having a cheat on their team[Barry Bonds] I mean, we all thought it could happen to any team, but the Giants[Barry Bonds] When I think of the Giants, I think of hard work, dedication, and a particular eye to detail[Barry Bonds] Now that we know Cabrera was cheating, my whole world has been shattered[Barry Bonds]

Force the contracts down to some kind of scale, eliminate guaranteed contracts, improve the revenue sharing scale, restructure the all-star game rewards, and oust Jeff Loria. All this without a prolonged absense of baseball. Impossible, never going to happen and keep dreaming. Yes i know. But it is just a pleasant thought lol.

Maybe because every single thing you mentioned would just put added dollars into the owners pockets by taking them away from the players. Why would the MLBPA every agree to one of those ideas, let alone all of them?

Given the popularity of the NFL I’m assuming that fans don’t care about steroids either.

And Paper- what is the purpose of punishment? You may believe it is solely for retribution. You have to make it right by giving something up. But this should be a secondary reason.

The main goal of punishment should be deterrance. Make it so no one will want to do this again. If you make the punishment so extreme- then the player will determine that it isnt worth the risk of losing his living. Cabrera took the steriods to get a huge pay day- and he lost- but was that loss so bad it will stop another person from doing it?

As for the job- I can look at what I do. I am a lawyer right. If I went out and committed a robbery on someone, or stole from a client or broke ANY felonies. I would be banned from practicing ever again- won’t even get a second chance. That deters lawyers from doing this. (And historically this is true, as the bar got more strict- incidents of lawyer embezzlement has gone down as embezzlements from bookkeepers and bankers has gone up.

WTF are we doing in a world where school kids are taking classes in trailers while someone is being paid $30MM to throw a ball??

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/16/melky-cabrera-must-not-think-hes-a-340-hitter/

I know it’s not an apples to apples comparison, but let’s not start casting aspersions regarding other writer’s treatment of Melky just yet, shall we?

I think i heard that a dozen times on sportsradio.

So the fact that Cabrera is going to play AND make more than coco crisp- should make people angry.

However don’t blame the Blue Jay or any other team who was interested in the guy. Cabrera didn’t hold a gun (that we know of) to Anthopoulos’ head. Someone was going to take a chance on the guy one way or another.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles_Corey

Now if the mere mention of steroids flushes you with rage and indignation, and this kinda thing interests you, you can either read all about it in Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish, or you can order Braveheart from Netflix and just watch the last ten minutes. I understand not everyone has as much time on their hands as I do.

And even that would have been too good for Bartolo Colon and Melky Cabrera!

I wonder if the steroids feel like winners. Like “hey, man, see that, I made that dude appear manlier while making his nads shrink at the same time. If that’s not winning, I don’t know what is!”