Angels reach agreement with Abreu

February 11, 10:05 AMMLB ExaminerAlex Brown

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The Los Angeles Angels have reached an agreement with free agent outfielder Bobby Abreu on a one-year deal worth $5M (plus performance incentives).  Abreu has a lifetime batting average of .300 and has knocked in 100 or more runs in seven seasons – he just became a free agent at the wrong time, apparently.

This signing helps salvage a poor offseason for the Angels thus far.  They lost two regular position players to free agency (Mark Teixeira and Garret Anderson) and needed to replace the offensive production.  Rumors circulated that they might be going after Manny Ramirez, but they were quickly shot down by GM Tony Reagins.  Adam Dunn was also in the picture, but the Angels prefer Abreu’s hitting style to Dunn’s. 

Abreu will fit in nicely with the rest of the Angels lineup – he gets on base frequently (.405 career percentage) and has good speed on the basepaths (318 career steals, and at least 20 in each year since 1999).  In fact, looking at these stats, it’s hard to picture Abreu signing for so little, but that’s the current market.  Here are some more interesting Abreu stats:

• He’s a consistent hitter: For his career, Abreu hits .280 or better in each month of the season.
• He’s the ultimate 3rd place hitter: He’s logged 5,439 at-bats in the 3-hole – next closest is 785 at-bats as a cleanup hitter.
• He works the count: Abreu’s batting average after a 2-1 count is .305 – after a 3-1 count it soars to .352.
• He’s a run producer: Abreu has hit .315 with RISP for his career.

The Angels will probably call it an offseason at this point.  They have essentially replaced Francisco Rodriguez (closer) and Mark Teixeira (number 3 hitter) with Brian Fuentes and Bobby Abreu, respectively.  There’s a downgrade there, to be sure, but they could have done a lot worse – in Abreu, at least they’ve got a player who will mesh well with their style of play.