Report: Cabrera launched fake website in ruse

Updated: August 19, 2012, 11:40 AM ET

ESPN.com news services

San Francisco Giants star outfielder Melky Cabrera mounted a campaign to avoid his 50-game suspension that included a fake website featuring a fictitious product in an effort that was quickly uncovered by MLB investigators before the discipline was handed down, the New York Daily News has reported.

Citing an anonymous source close to the case and an associate who told the newspaper he was "accepting responsibility for what everyone else already knows" concerning the fake site, the Daily News has reported famed investigator Jeff Novitzky and other federal agents have begun looking into the scheme purportedly hatched in July.

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"There was a product they said caused this positive," the source told the Daily News. "Baseball figured out the ruse pretty quickly."

Juan Nunez, who has been described by Cabrera's agents, Seth and Sam Levinson, as a "paid consultant" of their firm but not an "employee," is alleged to have paid $10,000 to purchase the fake website, according to the report.

The purpose was to fool MLB and the players' union, while presenting them with the website and resulting phony product information, into believing Cabrera had ordered a supplement fraudulently spiked with testosterone, therefore causing the positive drug test, the report says. Players who test positive are allowed, as part of the collective bargaining agreement that covers the MLB's drug program, to try and prove they ingested a banned substance through no fault of their own.

Cabrera will miss the final 45 games of the regular season and serve the remainder of the suspension at the start of next season or during the postseason, depending on whether the Giants make the playoffs and how far they advance.

The union had initially filed a grievance, which would have caused the case to go before an arbitrator, but then dropped it, a person familiar with the process told The Associated Press last week.

Cabrera leads the National League with 159 hits and is second in batting average behind Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen. Cabrera's penalty is the first for a high-profile player since last year's NL MVP, Ryan Braun, had his suspension overturned by an arbitrator last winter.

"My positive test was the result of my use of a substance I should not have used," Cabrera said in a statement released Wednesday by the union. "I accept my suspension under the Joint Drug Program and I will try to move on with my life. I am deeply sorry for my mistake and I apologize to my teammates, to the San Francisco Giants organization and to the fans for letting them down."

Cabrera is batting .346 with 11 home runs and 60 RBIs in his first season with San Francisco.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.