The Dodgers have reached agreement on a deal with Bobby Abreu, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). The Peter E. Greenberg & Associates client will serve as a bat off of the bench and a part-time outfielder.
On Wednesday, we learned that the Dodgers were in serious talks with the 38-year-old. The Angels released Abreu one week ago and will be on the hook for the remainder of his $9MM salary. Abreu's new deal could be for as little as the pro-rated portion of the MLB minimum.
Abreu took a step back in 2011 as he hit .253/.353/.365 with eight homers in 142 games. He openly complained about his reduced role with the club and got off to a slow start in 2012, prompting his release. The Angels appeared to have struck a deal for Abreu with the Indians in March but Cleveland balked at the portion of his salary they were being asked to pay.
The slugger hopes to play for two or three more seasons, according to Heyman (via Twitter).
Im glad he found a new home. Its an interesting fit obvious now that the dodgers are completely serious about this year.
seems like a good fit . Im interested to see if he gets hot against NL pitching
Without a DH slot, I don’t know if I’d go as far as calling it a “good” fit. More like a “meh” one, but at least they didn’t risk anything.
Interleague?
When i saw this article i thought it said Mets, Bobby Abreu agree to deal.
I got depressed for a moment
Is this a fit just for inter league play and after that a couple of pinch hitting appearances a week? he doesn’t bring much else to the table for a NL team.
Dodgers are that weak in left field. Their only good left handed hitter is Ethier. They also haven’t had a good person to man the second spot in the order in a while (used to use Casey Blake and a bunch of other failed experiments). I don’t think it will take much for Abreu to play his way into a reasonable amount of starts with Gwynn sporting a .327obp/.638ops and Rivera a .286obp/.629ops. If Abreu doesn’t hit, then oh well since the dodgers are only paying him the min and can easily dump him and go back to the drawing board.
I don’t see Abreu batting second, at least not on any regular basis. Where he fits in when he starts I’d guess is 5-6. Besides M. Ellis has done an excellent job in the 2 slot. Gwynn was never supposed to be the solution for LF so with Rivera only marginally healthy, Abreu becomes the starting left fielder by default.
Its a solid signing for the Dodgers. He’s an upgrade as a LH bat off the bench to Kennedy or Gwynn and could still be useful in a platoon in LF.
Hope this means that Kennedy is DFA’d.
I wonder if he will complain about limited playing time. It seems like he is in the same situation, he was in before. At least with the Dodgers current LF and 1b situation, he has the chance to break into the lineup at either position.
atleast he doesn’t have to sit on the bench and watch vernon wells start game after game
No, Instead he has to watch Juan Rivera who isn’t that much better than Wells.
abreu and rivera *should* be platooned in LF.
Contracts may not agree, but Rivera > Wells.
Tony Reagins rejects your claim.
Hopefully the dodgers bat him second when he does start. Nothing like having Kemp behind you to get some good pitches to hit to turn around that slump.
See if this turns out to be a smart baseball move. Abreu angry at LAA may play well for LAD, but his skills may not allow for that.
NL pitching is weaker, he’ll be starting only vs righties, he’ll likely be batting in front of Kemp, he doesn’t have to move, and he gets to stick it to the Angels in about a month. Sounds like an easy sell no wonder he signed. Low risk move for the Dodgers. He gets to play for Mattingly, a great left handed hitter in his day and a pretty good hitting coach.
That my friend is a myth. The NL is not a separate baseball nation that draws players from a different pool.
They should have released Adam K. Instead of sending Justin S. down.
Sending down Sellers? Not feeling well now.
Apparently Uribe did not go on the DL, which would have preserved the roster spot for Sellers. He will be back at some point, no doubt.
happy with him as a bench guy. not happy with optioning sellers instead of DFAing Kennedy.
your right abreu is a nice bench guy cuz he has power.kennedy should have been dfa and sellers shouldve stayed.
From a roster and payroll standpoint they did the obvious thing. A DFA for Kennedy is probably salary down a rat hole. They may have to go that route eventually but that decision can be put off until another time. Meanwhile Sellers can come back whenever needed.
fair enough, but can you really say that Kennedy on the roster is worth more in dollars than Kennedy getting DFA’d and possibly picked up somewhere else?
No, just that it’s a decision that can be made later, so I can see why they punted on Kennedy.
sellers will probably come back if uribe is place on the dl
What I said was, the smartest move would be to release McD or Coffey, but knowing Bellasario would be back soon, they would have to release someone else anyway. So Bellasario came back and they got rid of McD.
Then I said what probably will happen is that they send Sellers back to the minors, when they should have considered releasing Kennedy. So Sellers is back in the minors, and Kennedy stays.
Problem is, Sellers is the only real back up for Dee. Hairston has to worry about backing up 3B, 2B, and LF, and Sellers is the only other guy with a glove the caliber of Dee and Ellis. The only up shot is that Sellers is young and really should be playing everday. With Ellis playing so well, it would be hard to argue that Sellers should start over Ellis right not, so the move to AAA is not a bad thing for Sellers, but it may be bad for the Dodgers in the short run (I don’t trust Kennedy to be a good choice to back up the IF).
So maybe Sellers gets some more seasoning at AAA, MLB pitchers forget how they should pitch to him and he can come back in the second half and be fine, if Kennedy continues to be worthless. But even is Kennedy is tossed, if they dont toss Coffey soon and with Abreu in, it will be harder for guys like Sellers, Sands, Van Slyke, and Eovaldi to come up/stay in the 25-man roster.
We won’t see Hairston in the outfield much now. I doubt he worries about how he’s used but management should be concerned about overuse. As for Kennedy vs. Sellers, it isn’t like either one of them is making an impression at the plate at the moment. Kennedy at least from his career we know is capable. The rookie may have shot his bolt already, you never know. This new ownership I believe is prepared to throw anybody overboard, but smart baseball management dictates that you do it only when you know the alternative is better.
Yeah, tats what I meant by “Hairston has to worry,” not that he’s actually worried about anything, rather overuse is now a concern (maybe not for him, but management and me as a fan).
Lets sign a clubhouse cancer while we are in first place. SMART!