Melky Cabrera Reportedly Created Fake Website, Nonexistent Product in Attempt to Avoid PED Suspension

Melky Cabrera seemed to take the high road after getting pinched for a banned substance and suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball. But it looks like his confession and apology came only after he got tangled up in a web of lies.

According to the New York Daily News, Cabrera created a fictitious website and a nonexistent product in an effort to prove he inadvertently took the banned substance that caused a positive test under MLB's drug program.

Yes, you read that right. Cabrera apparently came up with some phony product and website to try to explain why his testosterone levels had risen. That effort failed, obviously, because baseball tends to look into those sort of things, and it was ultimately discovered that Cabrera was giving the run-around.

Cabrera's idea was reportedly to leave a trail that suggested the Giants outfielder had ordered a supplement that ended up causing the positive test. He would have relied on a clause in the collectively bargained drug program that allows a player in the wake of a positive test to prove he unknowingly ingested a banned substance.

Creative idea, I guess. But it didn't quite work out for Melky, as his cover story unraveled quickly. Now, according to the Daily News, what might have been a simple suspension has attracted further attention from federal investigators and MLB.

This scheme reportedly began in July upon the revelation of high testosterone levels in Cabrera. One of the outfielder's associate's, Juan Nunez (described as a "paid consultant" by Cabrera's agents), is alleged to have paid $10,000 to acquire the phony website, which was reportedly part of the presentation Cabrera and his representatives made to MLB and the players' union before the suspension was handed down.

So how did Major League Baseball discover that the product and website weren't legit? Well, the department of investigations, as you'd expect, reportedly began asking a few questions. You know, like: Where was the site operating from? Who owned it? What kind of product was it? Standard procedure.

Through those questions, it reportedly was discovered that an existing website had been altered, adding an ad for the product that didn't exist.

Hey, no one ever said Cabrera was the brightest bulb on the tree.

Thumbnail photo via Wikipedia/Melky Cabrera