New York Nine

So this is the response from the mighty Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim after losing out Mark Texiera, they sign 35 year old Bobby Abreu to a one year 5 million deal, yes they should be fine. Okay I'm being unfair about Bobby, he was an excelent and very valuable part of the yankees the last two and a half years and in truth they got him at a bargin. A few months ago, it was seen as unbelievable that the Yankees didn't offer him arbitration that would have given him a cool 16 million, but instead he's taking his laudable skills to Anaheim for a 69% pay cut. Yet when you consider the offense they lost in allowing Texiera to walk and the current gaping hole at first you have to wonder if the Angels are just not going to be that good this year.


As I said earlier, the Angels are getting a great deal of value in return for their 5 million investment in Bobby. He's a guy that does many things well, hits for power, hits for average, steals bases and isn't afraid to take a walk or two. Indeed, Abreu throughout his career has done many things well as he is the only player in major-league history with 200 home runs, 300 stolen bases, a .400 on-base percentage and a .300 batting average, not even Barry Bonds or Rickey Henderson can say that. But in reality, this is not the player that the Angels are getting exactly, Bobby's days of big power numbers and even big on-base numbers seem to be something of the past, in the last two years his OBP dipping below .400 for the first two times in his career and his slugging % into the mid .400s after being a career .500 slugger his whole career. And what's more you have to figure even those modest numbers will see a drop even further as Bobby moves to much weaker lineup and hitting at a park that is not as advantageous to left handed hitters as yankee stadium was. Of course you could point to the fact that he has driven in a 100 runs every season for the last 7 years, but I consider this a bi-product of hitting in the middle of the order of good lineups (come on, he's been the yankees 3 hitter for the last years, i think its pretty hard not to drive a 100 runs in with that lineup).


Defensively, Abreu is a liability is as well. Well known for his reputation of being scared of the outfield wall, his reputation seems to jive with his fielding metrics. Bill James' fielding bible rates him as the worst right fielder in the game defensively, and now a year older I don't see him getting any better.


The other issue for the Angels is where the hell is he going to play for them. As I write the Angels already have four very well paid outfielders, torii hunter, juan rivera, gary matthews jr., and vlad (as well as a very talented reggie willits), what are they going to do with all of them? you could slot vlad at DH and bobby in right field but that still leaves left field to deal with, where are all these highly paid guys going to play? For a team that cried poverty when Texiera was demanding more years they certainly have a lot of money wasted on superfluous players.


Finally, there is the issue of the gaping hole left by Mark Texiera. Manny gets all the press for his second half surge with the dodgers but Mark was no slouch either for the angels, posting a crazy .358/.449/.632 line, i mean that's ridiclous. Now you take that out of their lineup and try to bandage it wtih a guy who didn't even slug .450 and an unproven first baseman in kendry morales you have to wonder if the Angels are going to have some problems scoring runs this year.


Now I might be viewing this move too critically. After all, everyone has their financial limits and its hard to compete with the yankees when they want someone on the free agent market. As a consequence the angels went out and got a guy who does many of the things texiera did well, hit for average and get on base, while at the fraction of the cost. Whats more is that the angels always seem to defy statistical analysis, seemingly able to stomp the competition while not having a potent lineup but instead relying on a fantastic pitching staff and speed in the field and on the bases, they just find ways to win regardless. But with a considerably weaker lineup and stalwarts like vlad a year older and garret anderson seemingly gone you have to wonder if their ability to defy convention any longer.