Bobby F-ing Abreu.

The Angels fired up the hot stove on Wednesday afternoon, and signed soon-to-be 35 year old Aragua, Venezuela native Bobby Abreu to a one year deal worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 million. The left handed slugger will be bringing a powerful bat the the Halo lineup, or at least that's the idea. The Big B.A. hit .296 with 20 jacks and 100 RBI for the Evil Empire last season with a .371 OBP. Over the last 3 seasons, Abreu hit for an average of .296, .283, and .303, and he has pounded out jacks of 20, 16, and 15 (with 24 in 2005). Bobby would have led the Angels in RBI by 9 (Vlad led the squad with 91) in 2008, and he also would have been a different kind of base stealer (his 22 would have ranked 2nd on the squad behind Chone's 34). But the obvious question is: Will this 35 year old former Yankee be able to provide the pop that will shut up the "we need a big bat" red hat fans? Or, will he disrupt what looked like a solid clubhouse, and fizzle on the West Coast?

Even though I just typed all of that, I can't really believe that Bobby Abreu is even on the Angels. Not that I'm so happy that it happened (as I would have been if the Halos got Ken Griffey Jr. back in the year 2000), but more that I'm surprised that a guy like B.A. would all of the sudden be on the squad without me catching a single rumor. By the way, Wikipedia reports that Abreu's nickname is "La Luche", which I think means "the fighter," and that will be his LSF name as well. With a career batting average of .300 even, you have to think that Luche is going to be a big help to the red hats, but in his rising years will he be declining? Let's go with RBI countdown over the years to see what we think. We'll watch from 2000 forward: 79, 110, 85, 101, 105, 102, 107, 101, 100. While there has been a decline of sorts since his 2001 season in Philly (.316/31/110), he's still been holding pretty strong with his 101-105-102-107-101-100 run right now. There isn't much of a reason to believe that he won't get something like .285/15/85, and that is kind of putting it on the conservative end of things, right? He doesn't seem injury prone (making it through 156 games in 2008, 158 games in 2007, 156 games in 2006, and 162 games in 2005), which is a huge plus. 

Of course, it is easy to show that this guy may make a difference, but the next question to explore is: Did we need to drop $5 million + on this guy to be a quality team? Well, he is a right fielder, and we are kind of stocked in the OF slots. We've currently got 6 players on the 40 man roster: Terry Evans, "Vlad Rad", Torii "Big Game", "Most Valuable Junior", "Good ol' JR", and "The Little Reggie That Could." Now we have 7, with La Luche. The everyday OF has to look like JR-Torii-Vlad, with GMJ and Reggie spelling when rest is needed, with Abreu taking hold of the DH position (thus eliminating all of that talk about Mike Napoli playing a grip of DH in 2009...thank God). Abreu could take over for Vlad in RF if needed, but it would be pretty surprising to see him out on the grass because of his declining defense over the recent years. The MLB Network just reported on "Hot Stove" that Mike Scioscia is planning to have Juan Rivera also play a little first base to free up some ABs for Abreu and company to give Kendry Morales a little rest, but then you are taking ABs away from Quinny. While the signing may provide some more pop, it is clear that "Lorii" Scioscia is going to have to be on top of his game (which we know he can't) with shuffling the lineup around to produce. Whoever is hot is in, whoever is not is out, and their can't be any excuses. Other than that, I'll point out that Bobby Abreu has a history (in Philly) of giving away 10,000 tickets to underprivileged fans, calling it "Abreu's Amigos." Seems like a good guy. 

So, while we'll have to see how this whole thing shakes out, it seems as though this Abreu thing will be alright, in my opinion. As long as he decides to go into the Hall of Fame as an Angel, rather than a Yank (oh yeah, I have to remember that this is just for one season). 

MLB Network is also reporting that Garret Anderson may be on the radar of the Los Angeles Dodgers, which would kind of crush me to see my former favorite Angel in a blue hat. Which reminds me, I now not only have to go on the hunt for a new "least favorite" Angels, but I have to search out my new favorite Angel as well. I smell a fun post coming up soon. 

I simply cannot believe that we are just 1 day, 14 hours, and 46 minutes away from the pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training camp. Thank you, Lord.