FRIDAY: Abreu cleared waivers and has been re-signed to a minor league deal, reports Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com (via Twitter).
SUNDAY, 9:05pm: The release of Abreu brings the competition for the Giants' last backup infield spot down to rookie Ehire Adrianza and non-roster invitee Brandon Hicks, reports Chris Haft of MLB.com. The Giants risk losing Adrianza if he doesn't make the team, as he's out of minor league options.
12:42pm: The Giants have requested release waivers on infielder Tony Abreu, tweets John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. The Giants cleared a 40-man roster spot with the move and are only responsible for one-quarter of Abreu's $745K salary, which was agreed to in January to avoid arbitration.
The 29-year-old split the 2013 season between the Giants and Triple-A Fresno. Abreu saw most of his action at second base for San Francisco slashing .268/.301/.442 in 147 plate appearances covering 53 games. Before his June callup, Abreu posted a .338/.366/.523 line at Fresno in 71 plate appearances covering 22 games.
Abreu has a MLB career line of .256/.285/.376 across five seasons with the Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Royals, and Giants.
Scutaro going on the DL and the Giants waive Tony Abreau. I’m I missing something or is another move coming?
Apparently, with the knowledge that this would probably happen, we have chosen Hicks over Abreu since we we did not want to lose Adrianza through waivers. Interesting since Aberu hit .268 for us last year.
A questionable move since Abreu at least hit a little bit, although he does get hurt quite a bit. Giants are hoping Adrianza can turn into something other than another Manny Burris, who was a high draft pick that never panned out, and could not hit. I hope this guy Hicks can take the backup spot after Arias.
Adrianza might never hit any more than Burris, but he definitely has a better glove.
Hicks’ minor league numbers aren’t real encouraging, but I’m rooting for the guy.
It all works out in the end. Giants go with Arias, Adrianza and Hicks, but keep Abreu in the system for depth
Both look pretty bad to me, should have kept Abreu.
Way off-topic but I’m probably the only person still playing MLB Front Office Manager on the PS3. It’s a game several years old and it wasn’t very popular when it was new, often relegated to $5 bins and it was one of the games Best Buy gave away for free if you bought one of the specific games for full price or close to it. All this to say, in the game, I grabbed Tony Abreu in the Rule V draft and he’s been a beast. Decent power and solid defense at second, short and third. Makes me wonder why the Dodgers, in the game, let him go.