Blue Jays Think Melky Cabrera Is Clear From Biogenesis Suspension

Jun 26, 2013; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays left fielder Melky Cabrera (53) against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Biogenesis scandal is a black eye on the game of baseball and Major League Baseball is doing everything they can to swiftly punish those involved and put it all behind them.

Fortunately for the Toronto Blue Jays, all signs point to Melky Cabrera possibly escaping further punishment, according to manager John Gibbons (h/t Gregor Chisholm, MLB.com).

"“Major League Baseball is handling all that, so we don’t know. We think, because he served his time, it’s over with. I haven’t given it much thought and the GM hasn’t talked much about it.”"

Gibbons’ thought, is that Cabrera’s 50-game suspension at the end of the 2012 season is being viewed as the same offense that triggered his positive test for synthetic testosterone. Cabrera, Bartolo Colon of the Oakland Athletics, and Yasmani Grandal of the San Diego Padres were three of the players that appeared in the Biogenesis records, and all three served suspensions for use of synthetic testosterone in 2012 (Grandal served his suspension at the beginning of this season).

That seems to follow the thinking of most Blue Jays fans (and in the same regard, Athletics and Padres fans) who feel that these players would not likely be punished again for the same offense. ESPN goes further, citing article 3H of baseball’s Joint Drug Agreement, which states “players shall not be subjected to multiple disciplines as a result of the same use of a prohibited substance.” That basically indicates that if Major League Baseball were going to punish Cabrera under the Joint Drug Agreement, that they would be unsuccessful unless they can prove this to be a separate offence.

Then again, we learned yesterday that Major League Baseball is not above circumventing the Joint Drug Agreement. Yesterday we learned, from the New York Daily News, that Bud Selig could be prepared to punish Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, effectively meaning that any suspension is active, even if appealed, with Selig being the only person capable of hearing the appeal.

However, Major League Baseball is not likely to use such a clause on a small fish like Cabrera.

The 28-year-old Cabrera is in the first year of a 2-year, $16 million deal he signed with Toronto this past winter. In 86 games and 369 plate appearances, Melky has hit .281 with 3 home runs, 30 RBI, and a .684 OPS.