Bobby Abreu: 2012 in Review
Are Bobby Abreu’s autograph signing days coming to an end?
The sad part of Bobby Abreu’s 2012 season is that the most important thing he did all year long was get released by the Angels, thereby clearing room for uber prospect Mike Trout, who would go on to make history.
It was definitely a season of flux for the aging Abreu. After the Halos cut him loose to help ease their OF/DH type crunch, he didn’t have far to travel before landing with the Dodgers as a free agent on May 4. The 38-year-old stuck around in LA for a few months until the club acquired Shane Victorino and would up designating Abreu for assignment on August 1.
The veteran Venezuelan accepted his assignment and went down to Triple-A and then was back in LA for September after getting added back onto the 40-man roster. Down the stretch, Abreu only appeared as a pinch-hitter.
While his time in Anaheim this season was extraordinarily brief, it was clear he was struggling with the stick. Abreu was better with the Dodgers and certainly given much more rope and proved he is still capable of drawing plenty of walks.
Overall, 2012 marked a season of transition for Abreu as he shifted into a part-time role. As mentioned, he remains a very steady OBP dude, but the lack of pop (which continued its decline), speed and (in the past few seasons) BA has really capped his Fantasy value to extremely deep single-league formats.
The left-handed hitting Abreu barely played against lefties this season, but he actually performed better against southpaws (.267/.340/.378) than he did against righties (.236/.353/.333), which makes you wonder if he could still be capable of playing on a more regular basis against lefties.
Still, the fact remains that he is now looking at a bench role, and one that he could excel at.
The 17-year-vet says he wants to play for another two or three seasons, and while he can still get on base at a nice clip, his days as a power-speed threat are pretty much over, negating his once ample Fantasy value.
It’s been an impressive run for Abreu, who is closing in on some lofty career numbers, including 2,500 games, 1,500 runs, 2,500 hits, 600 doubles, 300 homers, 1,500 RBI, 1,500 walks and 400 steals (he’s just one shy of that milestone).
It’s highly unlikely that Abreu will return to the Dodgers next season, especially with Carl Crawford expected back healthy to limit his options further.
Anyway, before you shed a tear for Abreu, take a look at his former pad. Boo hoo!
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