Back in July Comcast SportsNet San Francisco sports writer Andrew Baggarly offered a public apology to former Royal Melky Cabrera, who was tearing it up for the San Francisco Giants. Baggerly tweeted a rumor that Cabrera failed a drug test and would be suspended for 50 games. Cabrera denied knowing about any failed drug test, and Baggarly wrote a column apologizing.

But the shoe’s on the other foot today, as Cabrera accepted a 50-game suspension from Major League Baseball for, you got it, failing a drug test.

“I stand by the apology column I wrote last month. Didn’t have story nailed down, shouldn’t have put it out there,” Baggarly tweeted today. “Now, if Melky Cabrera wants to apologize to me for lying when I asked him about it, that’s another matter.”

The Royals traded Cabrera in the off-season for pitcher Jonathan Sanchez, a deal that seemed a bust when Cabrera won All-Star Game MVP honors and Sanchez who went 1-6 with a 7.76 ERA in 12 starts. The traded him to the Colorado Rockies last month for pitcher Jeremy Guthrie. In three starts with Colorado, Sanchez went 0-3 with a 9.53 ERA. He’s since been put on the disabled list.

Still, while the trade looks a little bit better now, the Royals could have used Cabrera’s bat in the first half of the season. Then he could have gone on to join other juicing alumni like Benito Santiago and Juan Gonzalez.

(via Romenesko)