March 4, 2018

Free agent outfielder Melky Cabrera is a reliable veteran bat that could a replacement level player for a big league or fantasy team. Cabrera split 2017 between the White Sox and Royals, and he performed almost exactly as expected. His .285/.324/.423 slash line was nearly identical to his career .286/.335/.418 line, and he also hit 17 homers in 666 PA. He is essentially a league-average outfielder as far as the bat is concerned, but because he has averaged 654 PA over the last four seasons, he always racks up solid R/RBI totals (he supplied at least 70 R and 70 RBI in each of those four years). Cabrera does not make a significant impact in any one category, but he also does not hurt you anywhere other than steals. The 17 home runs saw Cabrera top 15 home runs for just the second time in his career (18 in 2011), but he has a .297 batting average since 2011. Cabrera had a very solid 28.9% hard hit ball rate in 2017 (and has not been under 27% since 2011), but his soft hit ball rate has seen a rise in each of the last five seasons. He also hit far too many ground balls in 2017 (48.9%), but had nearly a 89% contact rate (89.1%). Cabrera would be a good third or fourth outfield option for fantasy teams and real life teams alike, providing a safe floor and very little ceiling.--Chris Zolli