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The San Francisco Giants are "open" to re-signing outfielder Melky Cabrera this offseason, despite the executive decision to leave him off of their postseason roster, reports Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area:
Why not just release Cabrera? Well, from what I've been told, there is more openness within the Giants organization to the idea of re-signing Cabrera after this season.
It's hard to know how much the PED use fueled his incredible 4 1/2-month run, but many in the front office continue to view Cabrera as a talented two-way player coming into his prime. And now he'll be a relative bargain on the free-agent market, too.
The 28-year-old Cabrera was placed on the 40-man roster on Friday after completing his MLB-sanctioned 50-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.
The move was more a formality than anything as the team would have had to release Cabrera if they did not immediately reinstate him, but it also indicates an openness to negotiate with the outfielder once the offseason begins. By keeping Cabrera on their roster, the Giants will now get an exclusive negotiating window with switch-hitter before he hits the open market.
Cabrera was hitting .346/.390/.516 with eleven home runs through one hundred thirteen games when his positive PED test came through. While the Giants seemed to ostracize the outfielder initially, his move late in the season to remove himself from the batting title contention -- thus awarding it to teammate Buster Posey -- may have made amends between him and the team.