The other MCab...

[Russell James]

Is Melky Cabrera a sleeper?

Sounds odd calling him a sleeper, but I was just looking at his stats and I think this guy is capable of 20 HR, .300 AVG, 100 R and 20 SB. He is in a potent lineup so he will get plenty of pitches to hit.

He had 13 steals last year and did not play a full season. This year he is the Yankees Center Fielder so he is going to get his ABs if he stays healthy.

Does this guy have 20 Steal potential?

[Matthias]

Not the way Girardi has been keeping the Yankees off of the basepaths.

[Russell James]

He's already got 3 steals.

Don't forget that Han-Ram stole over 50 under Girardi. Obviously HanRam is a bit different then Melky, but it could happen.

[chipper]

Cabrera is the prototype for why I wait to draft my outfield (outside of grabbing 1 stud that falls to far). While he's nothing to write home about, he's also not that far off from what people are drafting fairly early. Those numbers you projected are close to attainable, and yeah the fact that he's still young is good. I remember last year he was the highest scoring player in my Points league for over a month.

[bigh0rt]

Are you guys expecting him to get moved into the 1 or 2 hole in the lineup? I know the 9 hitter in the AL is sometimes considered the 2nd lead-off man, but there's just no way he scores 100 Runs batting there, even in that lineup.

[Noggy]

He had 13 steals last year and did not play a full season. This year he is the Yankees Center Fielder so he is going to get his ABs if he stays healthy.

He was never not a starter last season. And honestly, he's not all that fast. I don't think he steals many more bases than he did last season. I think he'll be closer to 15 than 20.

As for power, he's not really doing anything differently this year than he did last year or the year before. 2 of his 3 dingers were cheap Yankee Stadium homeruns that would have been easy flyouts almost anywhere else. Other than that, he only has two extra base hits on the season. As a Yankee fan, I wish he was capable of 20 HRs, but I don't see it happening. I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if he hits more than 10-12 HRs this year.

Are you guys expecting him to get moved into the 1 or 2 hole in the lineup?

Barring injuries to Damon, Jeter and/or Abreu, I highly, HIGHLY doubt it. Damon's currently hitting in the .240s and he still has a higher OBP than Cabrera.

[chipper]

Agreed, I say 15-15 is more his ceiling, but would not surprise me if he approached 20 in either of those.

As far as his spot in the lineup, the Yankees offense really took off last year when they moved him to leadoff. I'm not sure with a healthy Damon that they would ever do that, but it's something to note.