Longtime major league outfielder Melky Cabrera announced his retirement this morning (h/t to Héctor Gómez of z 101). Cabrera last appeared in the majors in 2019 but had played winter ball in each of the past two years.
The announcement officially closes the book on Cabrera’s successful big league playing career. He broke into the majors with the Yankees halfway through the 2005 season, getting to the majors a bit before his 21st birthday. The switch-hitter emerged as a regular in the Bronx the following year, playing with the Yankees through their World Series-winning 2009 campaign.
The following offseason, New York traded Cabrera to the Braves. The Dominican Republic native struggled in Atlanta and was released after one year, but he bounced back after hooking on with the Royals the following season. After a solid year in Kansas City, he was traded to the Giants before the 2012 campaign. He’d only spend one year in the Bay Area as well, but that season proved to be the most productive of Cabrera’s career. He hit .346/.390/.516 across 501 plate appearances, earning his only All-Star nod in the process.
Down the stretch, however, Cabrera was suspended after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. That ban carried over into 2013, where he landed with the Blue Jays after signing a two-year deal over the winter. Cabrera struggled in the first season of that deal but bounced back with a very productive 2014 campaign. He proved a capable, high-contact bat for a good chunk of 30s, suiting up with the White Sox, Royals (for a second time), Indians and Pirates.
Cabrera’s run of productivity came to a close in 2019. Despite hitting .280 that year, his overall offensive output was 16 percentage points below the league average (by measure of wRC+) due to a lack of power and a minuscule 4.3% walk rate. Cabrera briefly caught on with the Mets in 2020 Summer Camp but was cut loose before the start of the season.
Altogether, Cabrera had a lengthy, impressive showing in the big leagues. He appeared in fifteen consecutive MLB seasons from 2005-19, donning the uniforms of eight different clubs. Over a bit more than 7,500 plate appearances, Cabrera hit .285/.334/.417, an overall slash line a hair above average by both wRC+ and OPS+. He hit 144 home runs, 383 doubles, drove in 854 runs and stole 101 bases. FanGraphs valued his career around 16 wins above replacement, while Baseball Reference pegged him around 21 wins. Cabrera tallied a bit more than $72MM in earnings, according to B-Ref. MLBTR congratulates the 37-year-old on a very fine run and wishes him the best in retirement.
Good luck in retirement Melky. I really enjoyed watching him play. One of the worst moves Cashman made was trading him. Nonetheless it was for Javier Vazquez’ 2nd failed trip to the Bronx. Cashman is such a turd sandwich.
Trading Melky wasn’t all that terrible, lest we forget the steroid scandal.
It wasn’t really a scandal. He tested positive, he faced the music, he was suspended and that was that.
He was still a solid player after the suspension, just not a batting champion.
It was a scandal to his teammates. He left without a word, never addressed the clubhouse, didn’t apologize to them. They didn’t want him back, and he was purposely left off the playoff roster when he was eligible.
He didn’t owe anyone an apology, and his suspension was up right at the end of the NLCS. Would you as a manager go with the guy who has been out of action for 50 games or go with someone like Gregor Blanco/ Xavier Nady who presumedly were more prepared.
Wasn’t a scandal? He set up a fake health website claiming he was duped by them
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. lol
Lol it wasn’t a scandal just a half assed attempt to get himself out of trouble. Not saying none of it happened, just disagreeing on what a scandal is.
Why poo poo his PED use? It was what made him anything more than a journeyman fourth outfielder. The story should have put it before not after his great first half with the Giants. Another cheater retired. Better for the sport Goodby and good luck.
Baines03. You gotta respect the commitment though.
Melky was only good when he juiced. He’s a perfect example of how steroids REALLY help weak players steal a better clean players job. The difference between clean Melky and cheating Melky is mammoth. He was frequently a release candidate when clean. Steroids gave him an OPS similar to MVP Freddie Freeman and allowed him to steal at least one batting title.
That’s the dirty secret a lot of steroid player fans don’t like to mention. Don’t worry so much about the fact juiced players were sometimes competing with other juiced players to make it even in some circumstances. Worry about the more talented clean player who never even made it to the majors (costing him millions of dollars to do the RIGHT thing) who are still broke because people like Melky cheated to take their job. The sad thing is Melky was already a multi-millionair when he was stealing jobs from better, poorer, clean and honest players. There’s no excuse for that in my book.
Another guy I don’t think would have stood a chance without steroids was Marcus Giles. That guy came out if nowhere and hit over .320 as a second baseman with power during the steroid era even though he was so short. Once they started testing he lost a bunch of muscle mass and couldn’t even hit in the minors. Someone who didn’t cheat lost a lot of money because Marcus Giles took his job. The sad thing is Marcus’ entire family was already rich since his brother was a 7 year older proven MLB player named Brian Giles. The players whose jobs were stolen by guys like Melky Cabrera and Marcus Giles needed the money a lot more than them. They deserved it a lot more, too. The former Orioles catcher was talking about this in the player chat. He clearly doesn’t support PED users for this exact reason.
Hats off to Hammer. Thank you!
Frank Thomas you make a great point
The Yankees issue with Melky was his partying ways. That’s really what I was referring to below. Melky was a bad influence on each Cano, so the Yankees wanted to separate them by shipping out Melky. You can see when Mekly’s PED usage started, both in his stat line and by the eye test. For the Yankees he had a fairly anemic 86 OPS+. He was never known to be a workout rat during his Yankee years. Then he went to the Braves and showed up out of shape and had an 83 OPS+. These were not his PED years. Those started in year 7 when he arrived in Kansas City, showing up buff and ripped for the first time in his career. His PED years began, putting up a 121 OPS+. Then off to San Francisco and a 157 OPS+. and a forfeited batting title. I suspect he continued to dabble in PEDs thereafter, but he was more careful.
The Yankees were super anxious to show both Melky and Cano the door. We found out after they left why. Birds of a feather.
@RobM: They were right to do it. The Yankees have definitely had a bunch of cheaters on their team but I have to hand it to them. They really call them out once they discover they are cheating. I know old Steinbrenner called out Giambi and A-Rod once they were caught.
Another stupid move by Cash and the Yankees. The move to make with Cano was an extension but Cash/Hal were still sitting atop their mountain preaching the Yankees don’t negotiate prior to a player becoming a free agent. That worked out well. Could have had Cano for all his prime years without overpaying for the later years. But instead they went with Brian Roberts, Stephen Drew and Kelly Johnson to replace him lol.
@Lebron: Cano was never going to sign an extension for less than he did. The Yankees might have been able to buy out some arbitration years but Cano wasn’t going to sign an extension unless the Yankees also gave him at least $240 million for his post arbitration years.
I do agree with the stance that it’s pretty dumb for the Yankees to never extend players before they are finished with arb. They are basically saying they would have never done what the Braves did and paid $135 million for a total of 19 years if team control over Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna, Jr. It would be stupid for any team not to try and make that deal. Be glad they didn’t try it with Cano, though. Cano was never going to sign for as little as you think. He was going after as much money as possible and the Yankees would have had to pay that to extend him.
Well, when Cano looked across the infield at a festering pile of chemicals making a zillion dollars what would you expect him to do? Good lord.
Unfortunately, the government should have prosecuted PED fraud at the beginning. No different than a CLA cooking the books. If cheaters were subject to prison terms and the return of their ill gotten gains, this would have been stopped. Unfortunately MLB wanted the glory of the batting prowess and attention it brought.
@Hammer Cano also signed at the time with Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports to represent him. It was a new outfit and they were looking to make splashes with new superstar clients.
Whyhayzee, was that when he was playing the Red Sox and saw Manny across the field, or maybe Ortiz?
Rob, voters should not be voting for anyone they believe used. Tarnishes the HOF and keeps out others who are deserving. Evans, Munson, Tiant, Garvey and Murphy all belong in before Clemens, Bonds, Papi, etc. Very sad Piazza, Bagwell and others are already in but to just open the door wide open would make a bad situation worse. Records in baseball have become meaningless. Other sports too but in those instances, it’s mostly due to rule changes not cheating.
Dewey, excellent, cogent points. I agree fully. Nice to see there are still those of us out there who won’t fall for the excuse, “You mean to tell me there isn’t anyone in the HOF who used?”
Yeah, okay, so let’s just throw the baby out with the bath water, right?
Bonds, ARoid, Petitte (as much as that one pains me), Clemons, Ortiz, Cano, Palmiero, Sosa, Big Red, and on and on and on…. Keep ‘em out.
Fully agree. Papi I loved watching but in hindsight, he had to be cheating in 16. Otherwise MLB would still be promoting it as the greatest 40 year old season ever. Why did Sox management change their retired numbers rule for Ortiz? Previously, it was only for HOFers. They likely thought we’d better do it now while we can promote and make a buck off it. If it gets proven he used, he likely won’t make to the HOF and we lose that opportunity.
Cashman knew he was using drugs. That’s why he was traded at the first place.
Got to see a lot of the “Melk Man” as a Pirate during his final season. It was obvious that many of his skills had eroded but he could still come up with some clutch hits. He was actually very good in the first half of the season before tailing off badly as he likely wore down. But his effort was there and he always seemed to really enjoy playing the game, which isn’t easy to do as a Pirate.
Melky you sure made 2012 an interesting year giants were hot as a pistol probably the best team they had in the three real World Series victories they had then boom all star break and you get popped for juicing. they stumbled around for the second half and managed to scrape it together to win it all. Said some weird things on his way out but was always great to the fans. Best of luck in retirement.
They were 63-53 on August 14th which I believe is when he was suspended. 31-15 the rest of the way with basically no stumbles.
I was way off lol musta had a stroke
He was definitely a fire plug for Gmen in the first half of the season. He also fired up the fan base too with their Milk Man outfits! Great times.
I’m not gonna lie, i thought he was already retired.
Congrats on a fine career Melky
This is so funny, because I thought so too! My first thought was… “Again?”
The league already retired him, this is just announcement that he’s finally faced that reality and is closing that chapter.
Great career. I would have guessed he retired years ago. He came in the league so young that it seems like he’d be older than 37 by now.
He probably is lol
based on?
Normally I don’t like speculation but in a case of a cheater, it’s warranted.
21bWAR that’s better than I would’ve thought
Tainted stats unfortunately
Another reason to disregard saberstats and use your eyes and brain when evaluating careers.
Always thought it was pretty curious they stripped him of the 2012 batting title after his PED suspension when the season before Braun was found to be using and still kept his MVP.
Melky personally asked that he wouldn’t be able to win the batting title, rightfully so, while Braun lied and played victim like the punk he always was…
I hate braun
Me too tstats. Me too.
It’s not personal with me so I wouldn’t say I “hate” him. But I definitely hate what he did. Not just the cheating – he cost a.young man his job when he questioned the manner in which the whole thing went down with the sames. Braun is a terrible person.
I prefer a Norelco…
…& that’s no Schick.
I highly doubt that Ryan Braun likes Ryan Braun very much.
That’s an awful retort. If Salvador Perez said he didn’t want to co-win the HR crown with Vlad Jr that doesn’t mean he didn’t co-lead the league in HRs. No reason Melky shouldn’t have a batting title.
I think we all knew Melky retired way before Melky knew he retired.
Hit .280 his last year, never struck out a 100 times in a season, stole a decent amount of bags in his earlier years. Decent defender, never hit below .249.
For a guy who fell in love with baseball before SABR, fWar and whatever else they use now to figure out what makes a ball player good, it was easy for me to appreciate the Melkman and his 1980’s style approach to offence.
Yeah? Did you appreciate his cheating?
I sort of did appreciate it in certain respects. . I mean, Cano got caught, what, three or four times? Melky only got caught once. The student has yet to surpass the teacher.
Cry me a river with the cheating bs, it’s been going on forever… when and it’s a big when, the league or anyone in the league isn’t cheating… then and only then will that argument mean anything. I love when people act like only the players caught cheating were the ones cheating lol he won the batting title over a bunch of other cheaters to therefore its a warranted batting title to me.
Same with Sammy and Mac, everyone cry they were cheating and of course they were, but let’s not pretend like the mlb didn’t enjoy it? Like the mlb didn’t know they were cheating? They were getting so much tv time they didn’t care, so is that Sammy and macs fault? They were cutting regular TV to show mac and Sammy at bats because everyone wanted to watch. Then when it looked bad mlb hung em out to dry. Come on man don’t hang them now because they were cheating or anyone else. This is the mlb and how it’s always been in the 35 Years I been watching.
Not saying cheating is right, but don’t act like its the players fault and every accomplishment they ever had was only due to cheating. It’s weak and sheep minded
Guys are just retiring now to see if the Mets offer them a coaching job.
…so then can then turn it down.
Well played sir.
@RobM I turned the Mets down twice last week.
His first year in Toronto I think he had a tumour on his spine. But still played pretty good
“No, it’s not a ‘tumour’”…
Congrats on a solid career. Enjoy your family and $
I never realized that Melky requested to be disqualified from the 2012 batting title. that gives him a few points back in my book.
Agreed.
Cabrera had 501 PA in 2012. He needed 502.
Big difference between volunteered not to qualify and disqualified.
He wrote the commissioner’s office and MLB PA to be removed from consideration.
“I have no wish to win an award that would be tainted,” Cabrera said in a statement. “I believe it would be far better for someone more deserving to win. I asked the Players Association and the league to take the necessary steps to remove my name from consideration for the National League batting title.”
its called Rule 10.22(a). look it up.
Halo11Fan, I thought the same thing too. But then I remembered that they add at bats with no hits until they reach 502 and if you’re still ahead you win. At least that’s from my memory, I didn’t look it up.
Thank you Milkman for all you did for the Yankees. It was great to watch you play at the Stadium in 2009!
He’d be a great one to have for some MLBTR chats.
I’m sure they wouldn’t due to the amount of vitriol there might be over his steroid use.
why would the site care? he gets to pick which questions he asks.
I just told you why. I understand he gets to pick, but I’m sure he wouldn’t think it’s cool to be invited and then have to see a bunch of remarks about his PED use. He would still see them and that experience might prevent others from doing it. Remember, at least half of all major leaguers did roids back in the day, including guys you would be very surprised to learn about. For ex, did you know that at the end of his career Pedro Martinez tried them? Yep. I javelin a very good source on that. I’m sure you won’t believe me, but I’m telling you honest to God.
People love to act like only the players caught were the only ones using peds.
Pretty sure some of these guys have announced their retirement more than once lol.
Circa 2016 at a CWS game 1st row left field line after a rain delay Melky asked us to waive down the hot dog vendor which we did. We paid for the hot dog as the grounds crew was still raking the field and he stood there and ate it. Follow inning he ran out and gave us a bat.
Good luck in retirement. Thanks for helping bring #27 to the Bronx. Unfortunately traded away that off season in one of many Cashman bad trades since 2009.
Yeah, he was fun to watch with the Sox and had some big hits here and there.
I never feel bad when a PED cheater leaves the game. Good riddance.
Totally agree, Halo. There are plenty of men and women who perform without resorting to cheating that we can admire. Anyone who cheats is just holding up one big finger and saying “I’m doing it my own way. Too bad.”
@halosfan
That’s weak. Your opinions usually are
What percentage of “Announces Retirement” posts end with “… he last signed a minor-league contract with the New York Mets” or “… ended his career with 33 PAs with Mets, which resulted in one hit, a dribbler down the third baseline in his final at-bat”?
Queens, it’s where Yankees go to die
You forgot suffer. “Suffer and die”
He was lazy and slow in Atlanta and didn’t give a rat’s ass. I was glad to see him leave.
He probably wasn’t lazy; definitely slow because it was during an off-cycle and he was actually 40 years old at the time. Look at Ortiz, long-term use has crippling effects on the body as it ages.
72 million in career earnings = the PEDs were a sound investment.
Good luck Melky!
Good riddance Melky!
Good Melk, Melky!
Another cheater gone
When Gardner came up, there was a question of whether the Yankees would be better off keeping both, or selling. Cabrera was thought to be more valuable, but had to be including in the absurd trade for Vazquez’s second opportunity to fail in The Bronx. I didn’t really think Gardner would have had a substantially better career, but it’s Gardy went Yard
Boone Logan turned out to be a pretty useful LOOGY. I never felt that Gardy and him were competing. Gardy had great speed and stole a ton of bases.even in the minors. Melky didn’t hit for enough power as a corner outfielder. His plus was youth and having a decent arm. But yeah Vazquez was terrible once again.
Didn’t Melky steal Jeter’s glove? or maybe I’m mixing him up with someone else.
Ruben Rivera
He stole Mary Carey’s heart
Gardy should jump on the Melk diet. He could come back, play CF for another few years, probably hit 20-30 bombs per year, and our problem is solved by 40-year-old Brett Gardner. It’s a win-win of sorts.
roids don’t make 40 year Olds into players they never were while they were in there 20s and on roids
So is he gonna be the Padres’ starting LF in 2022 then?
definitely belongs in the watered down hall of fame
also I find it hilarious that Melly gets the PED treatment, but no one cares about it when the discussion is about Nelson Cruz.
Absolutely agree. Also funny how Bonds gets treated like an alien since it’s rumored he took steroids(not taking a side here myself) but then there are guys who are known to have taken steroids who still make the HOF. My money says Ortiz gets in first ballot
You’re insinuating Ortiz got caught or failed a test for PEDs that’s simply not true.
There may be others who are as big as a Sox fan as myself but not many bigger. I’m constantly arguing how Papi belongs in the City of Boston. HOF for what he did in 13 bring everyone together but his enshrinement would further stain Cooperstown. Only way for it to be stopped is if current HOFers tell the hall they will not appear for the services if PED or suspected users are voted in. Imagine Papi at an induction ceremony where Yaz, Fisk, Eckersley, et al boycott. We all talk about it but how many actually watch the ceremonies today? They’ve ruined what years ago was must see TV.
All of that is well and good but Ortiz was never accused of anything. I think people assume because Manny Ramirez was eventually suspended for PED’s that Ortiz must have been doing it too.
I am reminded of a quote by Kevin Millar from i think 2004 where he was asked if he thought or knew if anyone on the team was using and he made some comment like “other than Kapler, the rest of us look like beer league softball players with our shirts off”
But there are current Hall of Famers that cheated. No, I don’t have proof but logic says there must be.
He used in my view his entire Sox career and again, I’m as a big a fan as there is. Eventually someone looking to make a buck or get 15 more minutes of fame, will right another tell all book.
So just ignore things and allow everyone in? If you can’t change the past, the future can still be fixed. I just think of those deserving who never got in, those who never made it because of lost chances and those in between who were hurt financially because cheaters stole money and opportunities. imagine if these “superstars” were golfers and were suppose to self report.
@dewey
Amd when that tell all book comes out, exposing more players in the hall, and players who have been voted in recently or still playing. Then what? Do we kick people out of the hof? It will happen, lot more people used then were exposed, it’s common sense I don’t need a book written by someone else to tell me that.
Stop blaming the players, blame the league, and since it’s the mlb hof and the mlb made it so they could all cheat and made the game what it was and is, what’s the dif if they in or not?? They are hof players in the mlb. To the players who didn’t cheat and didn’t make that money boohoo. The teams that signed the players to those contracts gave physicals, they knew what was happening. So is it the teams fault that they didn’t wanna sign a guy who was capable of this production clean, or this production dirty if the league doesn’t care? They are paid to win, they make more money when they win. They are judged on W/L. Not the players faults
Actually, he did test positive.
Announces it 8 years since he played
Thanks for the memories Melky Mantle.
Good. This dude straight roid raged in the outfield when he was with the Giants. I remember a game when he caught a fly ball in the outfield and challenged the runner two tag up on him, throwing his hands in the air when the runner didn’t go. Took one look at his .340 BA after collecting 200 hits with KC the year before. Think a month later he was suspended and cut. If your going to cheat, don’t do it like Alex, do it like david
Good luck Mr Mary Carey
Next stop Cooperstown.
Man… he only needs 40 hits to reach 2,000. That stinks.