San Francisco Giants: Why They Won't Miss Melky Cabrera



Ever since the Giants won the 2010 World Series, being a Giants fan has been pretty fun.
Fans got to celebrate a World Series title they craved so much. A band of misfits celebrated something they couldn't have imagined in their wildest dreams. A whole city was brought together, thanks to 25 guys hitting and throwing baseballs.
Then, after a somewhat disappointing season in 2011, the city was brought back together in 2012. A savior by the name of Melky Cabrera appeared out of nowhere, hitting .346 and smacking 11 homers for a team in desperate need of offense.
Giants fans loved Cabrera from the start, and they started calling him the "Melk Man." He stayed hot for the first four months of the season, and a group of lifelong Giants fans showed up at every home game dressed as Melk Men.
However, things have gone downhill. Cabrera was suspended 50 games for using performance-enhanding drugs. Then, according to ESPN.com, he was accused of creating a fake website to avoid a suspension. Now, a lot of Giants fans are mad at him for letting the team down.
His contract expires this year, and his chances of staying with the Giants have dramatically decreased. Teams will take a chance on him and see if Cabrera can still perform well without the influence of drugs, but I doubt the Giants will be one of those teams.
San Francisco has Hunter Pence, Angel Pagan and Gregor Blanco in its outfield right now. Top prospect Gary Brown played left field for the first time in his career Saturday, which could be a sign that Cabrera's days as a Giant are numbered. Right now, Justin Christian is the only reserve outfielder for San Francisco.
In 21 games with the Giants, Scutaro has two homers and 18 RBI. Pence struggled when he first arrived in a trade, but he's been hitting well in San Diego. Posey raised his batting average from .289 at the All-Star break to .333, and he now has 19 homers and 77 RBI. Sandoval's batting average has been hovering around .300 for the duration of the year.
Even though Cabrera's offense and outfield play will be missed, the Giants' offense will be fine. In the three games since his suspension, San Francisco has averaged more than seven runs per game. Marco Scutaro, Pence, Pagan, Buster Posey, Joaquin Arias and Pablo Sandoval have picked up the slack in Cabrera's absence.
San Francisco's offense has been on fire lately.. San Francisco is 2-1 without Cabrera, and even though that's a very small sample size, the Giants don't seem to miss him.
They have Posey, who's a sure MVP candidate. They have Pence and Sandoval, power hitters who play good defense. They have Pagan and Scutaro, who are good defensively and know how to get on base.
Add that to a superb pitching staff and a good bullpen, and you have a great baseball team.
Sure, they could've been a little better with Cabrera. However, the Giants will get him back if they go deep in the playoffs, and they're already a great team.
So, as long as every Giant continues to play like they're playing, the Giants will be fine without Cabrera. 
This article was originally published on Bleacher Report.

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