“Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. ” – Ancient proverb
“Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising.” – Cyril Connolly

Melky Cabrera, it is said, is a talented player. What does that mean? Apparently, that he has a certain amount of physical ability which would allow him to hit the ball hard and run around the bases fast. That he doesn’t do these things, and in fact observation indicates that he is a slow, fat guy who has about as much business playing center field as he does piloting the space shuttle doesn’t seem to make those who have labeled him “talented” to reassess their opinion. Instead, they wonder why such a “talented” player isn’t putting up big numbers.

If it seems like we just went through this, it’s because it’s exactly the story of Jeff Francoeur, 2007-2009. I wrote about that, once or twice, you might recall. Eventually, I grew frustrated with the “talent” crowd, because 1) Francoeur had completely failed to apply his athletic ability towards becoming a useful professional baseball player by, for example, figuring out what pitches to swing at, and 2) said talent was not particularly evident, as what was appearing on my television set, every night, without fail, was a guy with a slow bat and slow legs and poor agility.

Even if you consider “talent” and “athletic ability” to be the same thing, which in a baseball context is debatable, Francoeur’s athletic ability had deteriorated to the point that he could no longer be considered “talented”. It had become time to begin using the past tense, as in “Jeff Francoeur was talented”. Or, now, “Melky Cabrera was talented”. Because it’s just not there anymore. Melky can not run, he can not field, he can not swing the bat hard. He can barely bend over. Saying that he’s talented is like saying that Willie Mays is talented. Exactly alike, as because it was once true but is no more, and is going to stay that way.