Melky Cabrera Willing to Re-Sign with San Francisco Giants

Lost in the news of the San Francisco Giants claiming ownage over the 2012 MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night was the comments Melky Cabrera made before the game about his long-term plans for the future of his MLB career.

MLB.com's Chris Haft is reporting that Cabrera is willing to re-sign with the Giants on a long-term deal in the near future.

""I'm a free agent next year, but the Giants organization is treating me very well," Cabrera said. "So I would welcome staying with the Giants.""

Cabrera currently leads the MLB in hits through the first half of the season, and the topic of re-signing with San Francisco has been on the table since he began to breakout with the Giants throughout the first half of the season.

""The [agent] knows what I want, so he'll talk to the Giants," Cabrera said."

However, the price on Cabrera may have just gone up.

After winning MVP honors in the 2012 MLB All-Star Game, the entire nation can finally take notice of what type of a season Cabrera is having.

Along with his major league-leading 119 hits, Cabrera is second in the NL in batting average (.353) and sixth in the NL in OBS.

Add those stats to the fact he was the star of the 2012 MLB All-Star Game and GM Brian Sabean will have his hands full with this one.

The presumed asking price for a player of Cabrera's caliber with a baseball career like his is around the $12 million per year range.

Baltimore Orioles' outfielder Adam Jones, a similar player to Cabrera, recently signed a six-year, $85.5 million contract extension—$14.5 million per year.

Cabrera will most likely garner a contract of close to that amount, and $12 million per year sounds like a reasonable number at this point in the season.

As for the long-term contract that Cabrera said he wants, that is up to Sabean and the Giants. 

Cabrera had a rough start to his career with the Yankees and Braves, and that may be a cause for concern when entertaining the possibility of signing him to a contract of over five years.

With the type of reputation the Giants have with long-term deals coming back to bite them, it may be smart to commit to Cabrera, but only for two to three years.

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