Nobody's confirmed the deal yet, but Jon Heyman's reporting that Bobby Abreu's about to sign with the Angels for $5 million plus maybe a little extra. Details and analysis:
Free agent outfielder Bobby Abreu and the Angels have an agreement on a one-year deal, SI.com has learned. The deal is worth a little more than $5 million and also includes incentives.
--snip--
For the Yankees last year Abreu hit .296 with 20 home runs and 100 RBIs. He is a solid defensive right fielder whose one perceived flaw, a reluctance to go near the wall, became an issue last year, especially in the media.
Abreu represents a nice replacement for Mark Teixeira, the Angels free-agent first baseman who signed with the Yankees, Abreu's old team. The Yankees decided against offering Abreu arbitration since he made $16 million last year and could have matched that mark in the arbitration process, based on his consistently excellent numbers, so no draft choice is attached to an Abreu signing.
Umm, no he's not. A solid defensive right fielder, I mean. Over the last three seasons, his average Ultimate Zone Rating was minus-12, which is hardly solid. Last year alone it was minus-26, which is simply dreadful. Maybe that number was anomalous. But probably not. He's probably just a really, really bad outfielder at this point in his career. Which is mostly why nobody wanted to pay him anything like the $16 million he made last year.
I do think he could be a pretty solid deal at $5 million, depending on the incentives and how often the Angels are able to slot him as their DH. But $5 million at this point in Abreu's career is not obviously a great bargain for the Angels; if he plays this year like he did last year, that's just about what he's worth. Funny how that worked out.
Rob Neyer
