As part of their move to suddenly be a competitor, the Toronto Blue Jays have signed the maligned Melky Cabrera.  Cabrera was busted for steroid use during the 2012 season and was suspended for 50 games.  He was eligible for return during the NLCS, but the San Francisco Giants did not want him back.  He did not play again after the suspension, but that's not stopping the Blue Jays.  They have signed him to a two-year deal.

According to ESPN Deportes' Enrique Rojas reports that the Toronto Blue Jays have signed free agent outfielder, Melky Cabrera, to a two-year deal.  The contract is reportedly worth $16 million.  It's a sizable contract for a player that may or may not perform as well as he did the last two seasons.



Cabrera hit a league-high .346 this season, but Major League Baseball changed the qualifying rule for a batting title to disallow Cabrera from winning the title.  Instead, his teammate Buster Posey won the National League batting title.  In each of the last two seasons, Cabrera has hit over .300.  However, it's not clear how much of it mat be attributed to performance enhancing drugs.  To write Cabrera's success of entirely, though, would be a mistake.

Ryan Braun was busted at the end of the 2011 season.  He ultimately won his appeal, but there is little doubt across baseball that he did in fact test positive for elevated testosterone.  Nevertheless, Braun followed his 2011 season with possibly an even better year in 2012.  If he was taking anything during the 2011 season, it would have been foolish to take anything in 2012 after being busted.  So, most believe there was no enhancement to Braun's 2012 season.  The same could happen with Cabrera, and the Toronto Blue Jays are betting on him.

Toronto is building a competitor this offseason.  They were part of the mega-blockbuster with the Miami Marlins.  Toronto suddenly has Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, and Melky Cabrera to go along with Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista.  There really isn't much reason why they shouldn't compete.  Cabrera could help, or he could be a distraction.  Time will tell.
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