River Avenue Blues

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Supporting the Abreu case

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It’s tough to find past evidence to support my Abreu claim, because he has been so damn consistent over his career. His OPB has always been good, and his batting average doesn’t fluctuate too much — except when he’s hitting like .350 and is coming back to earth. This may be a more recent development. Supporting that are a few instances in the past few years.

April 13, 2005
Pitcher faced: Dontrelle Willis
Went 8 for his next 41 (.195) with 10 walks and 0 extra base hits.

September 17, 2005
Pitcher faced: Dontrelle Willis
Went 6 for the rest of the season (45 at bats, .133 BA) with 9 walks and two doubles.

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In which I apologize to Bob

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Dear Mr. Abreu,

I owe you one big apology, and this afternoon, you made me feel even worse. I sat in the Tier Reserve this afternoon as you went 4 for 4 with a triple, double, two singles, a walk, four runs scored, three RBIs and a stolen base. While A-Rod hitting behind you may have belted two monstrous home runs, you were my vote for YES Network’s Player of the Game.

You’re also showing me the lesson of sample size. In May, you were terrible. In fact, it was the worst month of your excellent Major League career. You hit .208 with a .267 and a .274 slugging. We thought that maybe you, with your career .300/.400/.500 line, may be on the decline. Your bad fielding in Boston capped things off.

At the end of May, you were hitting .228/.313/.289 at were benched in Toronto because you clearly needed a day off. Well, let me just needed a new slate, a day off, a new calendar month. Because, wow, have you delivered.

In June, Bobby, you’re hitting the cover off of the ball. In 10 games, you have 38 at bats and 19 hits. You have walked in every game but one and have 10 base-on-balls for the month. Eight of your 19 hits are extra bases. So you’re offensive line for the mont is .500/.604/.789.

You’ve raised your total line this season to .272/.364/.370. That’s quite a raise in 10 games.

So I’m sorry, Bobby. I’m sorry I doubted you. Welcome back. This team, once left for dead but now 9.5 games behind Boston and in fourth place in the Wild Card, needs you. Go, Bobby.

Bobby Abreu in June

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More tomorrow about tonight’s excellent win — and man, did Alex crush that ball in the 9th or what? — but for now, let’s look at the much-maligned Bobby Abreu. When last we saw Señor Abreu, he was struggling mightily. And then the calendar flipped from May to June. This month, Abreu has come to the plate 24 times. He’s been on base 15 times. He’s 9 for 18 which, for the mathematically challenged among us, is .500. His four doubles gives him a slugging percentage of .722.

So about that Jermaine Dye-for-Bobby Abreu rumor? Yeah, let’s not do that, ok?

Just to mix things up

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Apparently, the Yanks were talking to the White Sox about a Abreu for Jermaine Dye swap. Neither is hitting particularly well. Abreu has the advantage of his usually-high OBP. Jermaine Dye is more of a power hitter.

At this point, 1) it can’t get much worse and 2) we could use another power bat. At worst it’s a wash. If this is a real possibility, I urge Cashman to pursue it. There is nothing to lose at this point.

Get that man out of the two hole

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That was one uninspiring effort by the Yanks tonight and another unnecessarily quick Darrell Rasner hook by Joe Torre. Furthermore, Joe decided to bench the Yankees’ hottest hitter — Doug Mientkiewicz — in favor of Josh Phelps. Torre wouldn’t play Phelps when Mientkiewicz was struggling, but now that Doug is smokin’ the ball, Torre decides he needs a night off? That’s brilliant.

This team is floundering right now. They’ve dipped back to two games under .500, and Roger Clemens isn’t going to be the answer. As we’ve mentioned over the last few days, we’re less than enamored with Bobby Abreu. While the Yanks sadly won’t be trading or replacing Abreu any time soon, something’s gotta give. The two hole just isn’t the answer for Abreu.

Tonight marked the third game in which Abreu hit second. He is now a whopping 1 for 12 in the two hole and has reached base once batting in front of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. Meanwhile, Jeter, in the same stretch of games, is 5 for 9 but never gets to bat with anyone on base in front of him.

Bobby Abreu in the two hole is solving nothing, and Oblivious Joe will just keep filling out that lineup card day after day in such a way that makes it impossible for the Yanks to score runs. Nothing new. Nothing to see here. Just another loss.

Is Bobby Abreu really this bad?

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Yeah, it’s early. Yeah, guys hit slumps. But ask yourself: does it look like Abreu is proactive in changing what’s wrong? He looks lazy at the plate, and he’s completely out of rhythm (i.e., his leg and bat are out of sync, and they don’t even go to a rhythm individually).

And then there’s his fielding habits, which are atrocious. He’s afraid of the wall, and completely lacks the ability to go back for a ball. Today it looked like Jason Giambi could have done a better job in right.

What do you guys think? Is there any way to turn Bobby around? This certainly transcends most slumps.