10:32pm: The trade has a "50-50" chance of happening, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. A source says the two teams are negotiating how much of Abreu's salary will be covered by the Angels.
9:43pm: Peter Greenberg, Abreu's agent, hasn't gotten confirmation that his client has been dealt, tweets Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times. Jon Heyman notes that the trade would require permission from the Commissioner's Office, given the large amount of salary the Angels are very likely covering to make the deal happen.
8:34pm: The Indians and Angels are "on [the] verge" of a trade that would send Bobby Abreu to Cleveland, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (via Twitter).
With Vernon Wells and Torii Hunter filling the corner outfield spots, and Mark Trumbo and a seemingly healthy Kendrys Morales slated to play DH, Abreu was the odd man out in Los Angeles. Abreu was becoming increasingly vocal about his likely lack of playing time which could well have sealed his fate as an Angel. The 38-year-old is coming off his worst full season in the majors (a .253/.353/.365 line in 585 plate appearances) and will earn $9MM in 2012 after reaching enough plate appearances for a contract option to vest.
While the Indians were known to be looking for help in left or center field, Abreu is a bit of an odd fit. It seems Abreu will platoon with Shelley Duncan in left, but Abreu played just 28 games in the field last season and has been a below-average defender for years — he has a -8.3 lifetime UZR/150 rating. Abreu also adds yet another left-handed bat to the lefty-heavy Cleveland roster and he won't get much opportunity to play DH given Travis Hafner's presence. Still, since the Angels are undoubtedly paying most of Abreu's salary, the price is right for the Indians if Abreu is able to recapture some of his old form.
Why?
It is rather weird that the Indians would want him, but good for Abreu and the Angels.
good for abreu because he found someone that will tolerate him and good for the Angels to be rid of him lol
Needless to say the Indians will be picking up almost 0% of this deal and Anaheim will get nothing in return. It’s only slightly better than cutting him
it is better than cutting him because the angels get something in return (ptbnl) and the indians will at least have to pay the minimum salary, so that will save money, i hope the angels get a starting pitcher in return , (kevin slowey or fausto carmona/roberto hernandez
Who is Fausto Carmona?
The Angels will probably end up with a bag of chips to be named later out of this deal and be happy that they managed that.
Look for the Angels to eat all 9 million on this deal.
Shocking!
Good move for the Indians as long as they aren’t giving up much.
They are giving up their sanity (whatever you want to value that at)…
what is going on, how is this a good idea?
Angels are asking for 2 dozens baseballs in return. Plus they are paying over half the remaining salary.
That’s an overpay.
Plus a shrink to fix his fear of “The Wall”
Why would you trade for someone who’s pretty much 40?
This is the same guy who traded 4 prospects for Ubaldo ya? I don’t think there is an answer to your question.
Matt McBride was not a prospect
Hermie I normally agree with your posts but you are wrong here McBride was one of the Cleveland Indians top 20 prospects at the time of this deal.
We had a very weak prospect list outside of Pomeranz / White / Wolters / Washington & Barnes but Gardner was even listed in the top 20 and McBride in the top 20 within the organization.
I think Wade did not mean Major League top 100 prospect list but the Organizational top 20 with is listed within the Indians official site.
Indians are grabbing all the washed up, over paid players. First Derek Lowe, now Bobby Abreu. Surprised they didn’t jump after AJ Burnett.
They tried to do a Hafner for AJ trade but they could not get together with the Yankees on the money end then they tried to expand the deal to include Swisher which would have gave then their LF this year and the whole thing just feel apart.
Either way, it looks like the Angels were prepared to eat all of the 9M to get him off of the team. They would have taken some pine tar and a bag of practice balls. If they get a live body that’s a substantial +!
Bobby Abreu for a ‘Player to be named later’….Fausto Carmona!
*Roberto Hernandez
that’s a player to be re-named later
Uh. Well. They better not give up anything substantial to get him. Sure, if he can resemble himself from 2010 and before, I’ll take it, but 2011’s Abreu, I’m not excited about. Maybe if he was a righty I could get behind it. But, uh, he’s not. If he doesn’t cost much whatever, I don’t see him being phenomenally better than say, Shelley Duncan.
They will give something of value up if the Angels end up picking up 9 mil, they will have to give up something pretty good or the league offices will never approve the trade due to the reported 9 mil pick up of Abreu being part of the deal.
Why are the Indians trading for everyone’s grizzled old past-their-prime players? First Lowe and now this guy?
1st of all because…
2nd Bobby Abreu =’s “Ke-mo sah-bee.” for the Indians.
Huh?
Abreu is the lone ranger? He is not even a llanero( venezuelan cowboy)
They want to keep Shelly Duncan on the Bench so he can platoon with Hafner from the right side this year. Duncan most likely will take over at DH after this year.
They should just give the LF job to Canzler or Beau Mills but thye believe Canzlers true position is 1st base and they are still Holding the Bar fight that Mills was involved in a couple of years ago against him so he is not even getting a look after hitting 30 homers and hitting close to 300 at AAA last year.
Yesterday the Indians were 3 hit in a Split game Mills had 2 of the hits going 2 for 3. This was one of his rare appearances this Spring he was not even invited to big league camp.
They tried.
He’s going to be flopping around in the outfield on a semi regular basis…? Yuck
I love Bobby but I’d rather see him get playing time on another team than ride the bench in Anaheim. I wish him the best.
Abreu is old and slow, but what can he do? “Get on base”. -Billy Beane.
+1
.350 OBP even last year
It would make more sense if he was going to DH, but having him plod around in the outfield takes away any value you are getting from the only skill Abreu still possesses, which is getting on base.
Hafner can’t play more than 90 games though….so Abreu will get a lot of time at DH, or at least should.
Will depend on the money the Indians have to pay but could still work out. Consider the Tribe was looking at Spillbourghs, Cunningham or Pie as their LF option with Duncan and Abreu actually doesn’t seem that bad.
Not likely since he is also a left handed bat. Duncan or Santana will get all the AB’s that Hafner does not.
worst regular outfielder in baseball last five years. have fun tribe watching balls drop in front, in back, to the left, to the right!
Wasn’t a regular OFer the last 2 years so not sure how he was the worst “regular” outfielder in baseball the lats five years….hmm…
last five years he’s -54 runs vs average in RF, and I watched much of it with my own eyes, the guy is now a terrible fielder
Good thing then he won’t be playing any RF in Cleveland ;)
and last year was the first year he did not play over 100 games in the OF, because he was so bad
You must not have seen Duncan out there over the course of the last 3 years on and off this is why they are looking.
I myself would be very happy to watch a Lf that has power and hits Rhed make 10 errors in the field as long as he can hit 25 homers and knock in 85 and hit around 255.
Also, he may be slower but the guy did steal 21 bases last year. Was caught 5 times but still a decent baserunner. Cleveland also doesn’t have a big LF compared to many parks. Throw in the groundball staff of Lowe, Masterson, possibly Gomez and even Ubaldo (has been over 50% before) and having a poor LFer really isnt that big an issue.
Let’s not overlook that Shelley Duncan was slated to be the regular LFer as things stand….not exactly a swift footed, defensive wiz himself.
Man!!! I remember eleven years ago when I hoped my team would trade for Abreu….or is it 2001? nope just the Tribe……
Which Tigers fan has two thumbs and loves the idea of Delmon Young no longer being the worst defensive left fielder in the division? This guy!
Still angers me that Delmon won’t be the everyday DH. The world would be a much better place with Santiago at 2nd, Raburn in left, and Delmon not allowed to step in the outfield. Sigh…
Abreu is bad…but not sure even he is as bad as Young. At least Abreu has some speed.
I think that this isn’t that bad of a move. Although he is getting older and might not produce monster numbers but his vetern presence and approach at the plate will greatly help the emergence of young guys like Kipnis, Chisenhall and Brantley. Angela will probably eat some cash and not get anything of real value, so in the long run I think the Tribe will greatly benefit from this.
I really don’t understand this move. The Indians go after ANOTHER left handed at bat with little defensive prowess, slim offensive power, and a whiner and complainer, yet Vlad Guerrero isn’t an option!? Vlad is younger, more power, better defensively (not by much, but still), and a Hall of Famer! This move just comes to show the sad state the Indians are in right now…
I’m an Indians fan and I agree 100% with you.
Abreu > Guerrero defensively even now. I think some people are forgetting the 2010 world series…..
And Abreu put up a .350 OBP last year. Guerrero wouldn’t be an upgrade at any spot right now. Abreu may be a lefty, but he’s better than Vlad is now offensively.
Not a big fan of the move, though will depend on what’s given up/cash received…
As an Indians fan………………I have no idea what is going on right now.
How the hell is this a positive move for the Indians? At this point in their careers Shelly Duncan and Bobby Abreu are essential the same player. Below average in the field, minimal impact at the plate. Neither is an everyday player. I would much rather keep Duncan’s right handed bat every day as well as Crowe for some organizational depth at CF. The mistake on the lake lives again!
First you say Duncan isn’t an everyday player…then you say you want to play him everyday?
Crowe isn’t on the 40 man roster by the way, was never a real option and believe he only got like 13 at-bats in Major League spring training games. Plus, while he is a depth option in CF, I’d put money on Jason Donald being a better defensive CFer at this point than Crowe. I still like Crowe and think he could end up an ok 4th/5th outfielder, but not a big loss. Heck, he already cleared waivers so could go to AAA if they don’t trade him.
Text from friend… “maybe we’ll get the guy that stands in the back row of bleachers wearing the big feather hat banging the big drum… good deal”
Watching the movie Major League a lil too much…
Someone is seriously going to have to fill me in on why the entire world hates Bobby Abreu. He’s really old in baseball years and not as good as he used to be, I get it. His defense probably is pretty poor by now, and his power’s mostly gone. That said, he’s still putting up 13% walk rates and with a decent batting average, that puts his OBP over .350.
I get that he doesn’t have a place on the Angels because they have better hitters for the DH spot and a really full OF, but I don’t get how that turns into baseball fans everywhere thinking Abreu is useless. He’s not “good” anymore, but he’d be passable as a DH if another team has no better options.
Rumors got out that he was whining about ABs and stuff so everyone starts thinking he’s greedy
That’s fair. I know jack about his personality and such. I guess I should have asked why do people think he’s useless instead of why is he hated.
He’s not useless at all. But on the Angels roster, he makes little sense. Look at this as the first step in forgetting the Tony Reagins Era. Benching Wells for Trout will be the next step.
Definitely useless to the Angels, but I’m mostly confused as to why a bunch of people here that I know aren’t Angels fans think Abreu has got nothing left. He’s got nothing to offer the Angels because they have better options at every spot Abreu could occupy. In a vacuum (like if we don’t worry about money, fighting for playing time, etc) I think he can still be decent, but lots of people seem to disagree.
I completely agree TDKnies as an Angels fan.
Good for the city of Cleveland, now they replace the hole left by Lebron’s ego.
assuming Sizemore comes back at some point this season the Left Field hole will be plugged. Then you’ll have Abreu, Hafner and Duncan fighting for the scraps at DH. Assuming the Trio don’t all get hurt before then.
This wouldn’t be a bad move if Abreu accepted that he is nothing more than a bench player.
Seeing as he refuses to accept that and that they still have Vernon Wells, getting rid of Abreu of any means necessary is a positive move for Anaheim.
The Tribe rolling the dice again on a just-about-past-it-vet having an indian summer? Would obviously prefer to see them take a gamble on a young player with some potential instead, like Travis Snider maybe. But no, hard to get excited about this, unless you’re an Angels fan.