And it was a down year for Abreu. The guy is a stud and his power numbers are all still there. His launch angle took a dive in 2022, which seems very fixable.
I wonder if Verlander and Crane have a rough guess about the number it will take to re-sign him. And with that information, Crane pulled the trigger on Abreu. Whether Crane did that knowing he could still keep Verlander, or knowing it would cost too much. And is now looking to improve the lineup.
I think he was going to get Abreu regardless of Verlander. We can't expect Yuli to magically turn it on again during the playoffs. Abreu is an elite middle of the order type guy. Abreu protecting Tucker would be amazing.
Catcher situation is interesting - are Maldy and Korey Lee (Y Diaz) enough to go into the season with? Or will the Astros at a minimum sign another back-up? I think with the Abreu signing, Contreras isn't as important now.
Love this. Hopefully JV is back but either way I want Yuli back in a bench role and one of Conforto, Benintendi, or Brantley in LF. Altuve Peña Alvarez Bregman Tucker Abreu Brantley/FA Chaz Maldy Yuli Hensley Yainer Diaz Leon
I don’t know. The timing seems to suggest otherwise. It can’t be a coincidence that this Abreu gets done about an hour after the “Verlander to meet with the Dodgers” reports came out.
Verlander was always going to meet with the Dodgers. He would be stupid not to. Crane has a number in his head for Verlander and it's high enough where Verlander has to think about his options. It won't be the highest offer but it will be right up there. Crane will pay the tax for Verlander just not for 3 years guaranteed.
This is a great signing, guy had a 133 OPS+ this season and played 157 games he's a rock. (Yuli had a 84 ops+ this season).
I think a minor league deal for someone like Chirinos makes sense to bring in to act as insurance if Lee/Diaz aren’t ready.
I don't know if he still can, but a couple of years ago, he played 2B and 3B as needed. So it wouldn't be a matter of teaching him those positions - it's just a matter of whether he can still do it at his age.
If Vasquez was willing to split time, 7 million per year wouldn't be out of the question. He's an excellent defensive catcher.
My guess is Verlander takes a hike. I still say he is a high risk signing given his age and injury history. There is no guarantee that he is another Nolan Ryan. Pumped about the Abreu signing. Now we need to ink Vasquez.
I would much prefer Rizzo but can understand passing with the QO. I’ve read that Abreu struggled with velo in 2022 so there is some real downside there.
I was just looking at his Baseball Reference page and noticed that he's led the league in GIDP three out of the past four years. I expect to see a LOT of "here comes another GIDP" posts in the series threads the second half of the season.
