Boys and girls, it pays to use anabolic steroids in Major League Baseball (MLB). It doesn’t matter if you get caught. It doesn’t matter if attempt to coverup your steroid use by fraudulent means. Melky Cabrera’s $16 million payday is proof that the ends justify the means when it comes to high-level performance.
The Toronto Blue Jays have reportedly signed Cabrera to a two-year contract that could worth as much as $16 million if he successfully meets specified incentives. Cabrera has not played since he returned from his 50-game suspension for a first-time violation of the MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program steroid testing program.
Cabrera tested positive for the use of the anabolic steroid testosterone when he played for the San Francisco Giants. He was voted the All-Star Game Most Valuable Player in what was a breakout year for Cabrera. Prior to his suspension, he led the league with 159 hits as the Giants’ most productive player.
The Giants ultimately won the World Series this year and realized they didn’t need Cabrera once he was eligible to play again. They chose not to activate him during their World Series-winning playoff run.
The Giants were apparently disillusioned by Cabrera’s fraudulent attempt to blame his positive steroid test on a dietary supplement. Some of Cabrera’s associates went as far as creating a fake website with fake supplements in order to explain the steroid positive.
This opened up an opportunity for the Blue Jays organization to acquire Cabrera. The high price they are reportedly offering him suggests that they may not have been the only team bidding for his services.
The steroid stigma may guarantee that baseball players don’t get inducted into the Hall of Fame but it certainly doesn’t prevent them from earning millions by actively playing in the sport.
Photo credit: X Wad via Wikipedia
Source:
McCarron, A. (November 16, 2012). With tainted stars, just suspend sense of virtue, like Blue Jays do with Melky Cabrera. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mccarron-don-surprised-jays-signing-melky-article-1.1203584
