Abreu: three more years likely
Bobby Abreu’s contract option for a third year is well within his reach, if his durability holds up, likely tying him to the Angels through 2012.
After he draws $9 million for each of the next two seasons, Abreu has a 2012 option for $9 million that kicks in if he makes 550 plate appearances in 2011 or a combined 1,100 plate appearances in 2010 and 2011, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts.
If he doesn’t reach either of those numbers, the club can buy him out for $1 million.
Given that he has had at least 667 plate appearances for 11 consecutive seasons and keeps himself in prime condition, Abreu appears to be a relatively safe bet to fulfill the three years.
If that happens, factoring in the $6 million (with $1 million in incentives reached for plate appearances) he earned this season, Abreu will average $8.25 million for four seasons in Anaheim.
That, in today’s market, would appear to be a fair and equitable figure for a man with Abreu’s production and leadership.
With Juan Rivera in left and Torii Hunter in center, and Vladimir Guerrero yearning to return to right field, this probably means the end of Guerrero’s remarkable six-year run with the Angels.
There are those who are writing off Guerrero as over-the-hill, but he had no real chance this season to get his legs under him. With a winter to heal, there’s no reason why he can’t be a productive, effective player on the field as well as at the plate in 2010.
It’s highly possible Guerrero will be next season’s Abreu, emerging as a major bargain for the club that signs him. Never underestimate Vlad’s tremendous pride, which showed up during the postseason when he re-established himself as a force in the heart of a lineup.
rallymonkeys 
if vlad is not signed, angels should go after taegyun kim of
south korea who happens to be a fa. he showed his ability in wbc and had a pretty good season
I really like the Abreu signing. This guy is an amazing hitter and really goes under the radar. But if you watch him play, he is really consistent in his approach and makes solid contact most of the time. He won’t give you out of this world power numbers, but he’s a solid singles and double hitter.
Out of all of the Angel free agents out there, I think they will really only have a shot to bring back Lackey (and maybe not even him), Oliver, & maybe Escobar. Here is my reasoning:
Figgie will be heavily pursued, especially by the white sox driving up the price so much that the angels will drop out of the race and let someone else overpay. They have Brandon Wood sitting there and next year might just be the year he gets his shot.
Lackey is going to ask for either CC Sabathia or AJ Burnett money. I don’t think he will get CC money, but definitely will get AJ money since in my opinion he’s better than AJ. So this is a toss up as to whether the Angels will pony up that kind of money. Let’s face it, the Angels ponied up for Kevim Escobar and they really only got 1 good year from him. So you really have to watch out with pitchers. The last 2 seasons he has been on the bench collecting his big pay check. Since Lackey has been injured the past couple of seasons, I think it will come down to the demand by other teams and whether Lackey wants to come back. Like Figgins if it is too much, the Angels will take a pass let someone else overpay. Besides, they have 4 solid starters in Santana, Saunders, Kazmir, & Weaver. They can go with a 4 man rotation or fill the 5th spot with either O’Sullivan or Trevor Bell (assuming they do not make a move to acquire another less expensive free agent pitcher).
Vlady wants to play right field again. It’s clear with the Abreu signing that it will not be with the Angels. I just wish he would be ok with being a DH. If he was, I think the Angels should bring him back. Some AL team will probably take a flier on him and worse case he’s DH’ing for them if he gets injured again. I wouldn’t think any NL team would be interested. So this one if a 50/50. To be honest, if I had to guess, he won’t be back.
The Angels will bring back Oliver. He was the best they had in the bullpen this past season and I see no reason why the Angels wouldn’t make sure to lock him up. His age is an issue and might be with other teams as well, probably keeping the price tag low. So I think the Angel bring him back.
Quinlan will be gone next year. With first base locked up by Kendry Morales, I don’t see the Angels making much of a push to bring him back. His hitting this past year was average at best and he is not a speed guy off the bench.
The Angels will let it play out with Escobar, I don’t see a lot of teams offering up big money for him since he has not played much in 2 seasons. If he is still around late in the off season, I could see the Angels picking him up for cheap and perhaps utilizing him in the bullpen to start the season. Who knows, perhaps he can come back to prior form and fill the 5th spot in the rotation should Lackey not come back.
All in my opinion. I do think that if Vlad does not come back (very likely), that they will need another power bat. But I am not sure who. Would be nice for the Angels to make a push for Matt Holliday and then move Rivera to DH. So we’ll see what happens.
Go Angels!
Three more years for Abreu sounds good!…bitter sweet..this pretty much means good bye to Vlad and his mommas cooking. I just a fan, but i bet the rest of the players will miss mrs. guerrero’s cooking and we’ll miss Vlad too. I hope that Vlad wants to come back that would be open to part time outfield or dh. I feel that the best spot for Abreu this coming year will be no.2 in the batting order, we need a bit more power out of the #3 spot. Here’s how i see it. 1)Aybar 2)Abreu 3)………..4)Morales 5)Hunter 6)Rivera 7)Kendrick 8)Napoli DH full time 9)Mathis…..this leaves 3rd base open…because who are we kidding Figgy is gone…..trade for an available 3rd baseman with power or trust Wood and bump everyone down one slot and have wood hit 9th. This could be a problem depending on how Napoli and Mathis hit…because now you have 3 swing= and miss guys at the bottom of the line up……though i did like the way Mathis hit in the play offs and Napoli is a guy that if he plays every day can carry a that part of the order.. i would love to see Napoli be in the line up on a daily basis…..Go Angels and i also hope we can get Lackey back…
Big signing obviously bobbys a big player and leader vocally and by example, hes another torri hunter to the angel club. So now lets go win a championship! this offseason is definitely a trading offseason. so i think we need to resign Figgins, probably a 4 year $42 could do it. and now angels keep that one two punch of figgy and abreu which is close to the best in the league. Now, with the money we got make some big trades, and with all the transactions i think we could be looking at this…
1. Chone Figgins Swh 3B
2. Bobby Abreu Lh RF
3. Torii Hunter RH CF
4. Kendry Morales Swh 1B
5. Paul Konerko RH DH
6. Howie Kendrick RH 2B
7. Carl Crawford LH LF
8. Jeff Mathis RH C
9. Erick Aybar Swh SS
SP. Roy Halladay
Ok, so the Angels signed Matsui for DH and he wants to play the field which I respect. But his knees are in pretty bad condition, so we still need to sign Vladdy, not only to help in he DH role but to help in the outfield remember he doesn’t have just a great bat but he has a cannon for an arm. Imagine the possibilty of having Matsui batting clean up and then facing Vladdy, wow, torture for the other side. Then your looking at having Hunter in the 6th spot or even the 3rd spot, oh yeah I forgot about Abreu batting 2nd, that would be one nasty line up!
Reagins please take my advise we would be the most feared line up in the Majors!!! That’s a power hitting line up that would be unstoppable and we would have a sell out crowd.