The Blue Jays have officially announced the signing of Melky Cabrera to a two-year, $16MM contract. Cabrera is represented by the ACES agency.
Cabrera served a season-ending 50 game suspension under the Joint Drug Program this past season. The 28-year-old was suspended for having elevated levels of testosterone, a performance-enhancing substance.
“My positive test was the result of my use of a substance I should not have used," Cabrera said at the time. "I am deeply sorry for my mistake and I apologize to my teammates, to the San Francisco Giants organization and to the fans for letting them down.”
Before his suspension, Cabrera was enjoying the best season of his career. He posted a .346/.390/.516 batting line with 11 home runs, 25 doubles and 10 triples in 501 plate appearances with the Giants. Cabrera played both corner outfield positions in 2012, generating approximately 4.6 wins above replacement according to the versions of the metric available at FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference.
Toronto's agreement with Cabrera pushes Anthony Gose, Moises Sierra and Rajai Davis down on the team's depth chart. The deal would be the most lucrative free agent contract since Alex Anthopoulos became the club's GM, surpassing the recent three-year, $10MM agreement with Maicer Izturis. Of course, the Blue Jays added significant payroll with a blockbuster trade earlier in the week, adding Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle.
Cabrera ranked 18th on MLBTR's list of the offseason's top free agents. His deal resembles the contracts signed by free agent outfielders Jason Kubel ($15MM for two years) and Coco Crisp ($14MM for two years) last offseason.
Enrique Rojas of ESPNdeportes.com was the first to report the agreement and the terms of the contract.
Photo courtesy of US Presswire.
