Crying Over Spilt Leche: Aspects of the Post-Melky Era

Everyone in baseball seems to agree that the San Francisco Giants dodged a big bullet when suspended hitting star Melky Cabrera's agents turned down the Giant's overtures for a mid-season contract extension last July. CBSSports.com reported the Giants were poking around the 3 year $27 million range.With the mega-offensive season Cabrera was putting up, I couldn't imagine Cabrera's handlers would sign a hometown discount deal with the Giants. It would have been irrestible to take Cabrera into free agency, where he would likely get something more along the lines of four years at $48 million.At this point, the chances the Giants might activate Cabrera after his 50 game suspension are about equal to Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin getting invited to a Mensa meeting. But what if...What if the Giants had signed Melky Cabrera to an extended contract in July? They would have been essentially "forced" to activate and play him the day after his suspension ended. ...