Everth Cabrera - There's no questioning Cabrera's raw speed, but you could certainly question everything else about him. Cabrera had a mere handful of AB's above A-ball before last year's decent showing in San Diego, but the decency was masked by a BABIP that was almost 60 points above where you might expect given his LD%, and even then he only hit .255. He has virtually no power and strikes out a ton (101 K's in A-ball two years ago, already 10 in 31 AB's this season), so although he will likely give you very solid SB numbers, I can't help thinking that on the whole he is substantially overrated, and there isn't even a whole lot of expectation for growth because there's little power potential.
Andy LaRoche - That's back to back multi-hit games for LaRoche, who still seems to be flying under the radar a bit (understandable perhaps, since he's in Pittsburgh). LaRoche is still only 26, and he hit 18 homers in basically half of a season three years ago, so there's some power in there that no one has seen at the big league level to this point. Some guys don't respond well to the roller coaster between AAA and the majors if they don't succeed quickly, so now that LaRoche is fairly firmly entrenched at the hot corner in Pittsburgh, we might finally see the once-hyped prospect break out a bit. Our forecast seems optimistic relative to others, but I think it's a fairly realistic one.
Johnny Cueto - Disclaimer: I own Cueto in every single league that I'm in. That said, I think Cueto is likely a solid buy-low candidate right now. His first two starts have been fairly poor efforts, especially from a strikeout perspective. I do see some positive signs though, as his fastball velocity is up a small fraction from last year (averaging roughly 93 mph), and he's using his changeup quite a bit more, and more effectively to boot, as the speed separation has increased by a few mph from his fastball velocity. With the Pirates, Padres, and Astros next on the agenda for Cueto, I'm still optimistic.
David Freese - Freese picked up a single and a double yesterday in the Cards' 5-0 win over Houston. Turning age 27 this year, Freese is definitely a bit of a sleeper, but his excellent minor league line (308/384/531 in almost 1500 AB's) does come with a few warts. Freese struck out 162 times in 664 AB's at AAA, so contact is going to be an issue, as are GIDP's (Freese grounded into 12 last year in just 258 AB's). For a 27 year old to have that sort of an issue, it's usually a sign that he won't age well. I wouldn't be surprised to see Freese become, well, maybe a homeless man's Mark Reynolds, but I would say that is the best-case scenario, and even then likely only for a few seasons.
Chris Snyder - Snyder is indeed going to provide some value over the next month or so with Montero needing surgery for a torn meniscus, so get ready for some strikeouts, walks, and homers (probably in that order). Roughly 50% of Snyder's AB's end with one of those three results, so while his AVG is probably going to be a bit of a drag, his OBP and SLG tend to be adequate for 2nd catcher production. He's a worthwhile add in NL-only and deeper mixed formats.
