Jose Dariel Abreu

[moxie]

While it may true, I will believe it when I see it. MLBTR just today said that Texas was the front runner.

International Notes: Jose Abreu, Bryan De La Cruz: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com

More musings (this one says SF are the front runner) ...
Report: Giants favorite to sign Cuban slugger Abreu | CSN Bay Area

 

[MarcoPolo]

NOT ragging on you, moxie, but that article is why I think sports writers are lower than not just pond scum, but politicians as well. It's all rumor and innuendo. The closest to a 'source' is : "Sources say that San Francisco is the front runner to sign the 26-year-old first baseman, according to Joe Frisario of MLB.com".

Pure 'pulled it out my ass reporting, but I covered myself because I quoted somebody else'.

I searched the web, and went to : The Fish Pond . There's *this* article : Marlins all-in on pursuing Abreu

which is all about the Marlins, but which contains this ONE sentence concerning the Giants : "According to a source, the Giants are considered a favorite to land his services." First, note that Frisaro mentions SOURCE (singular) and not the plural. Second, that ONE sentence also has a 'just tossed it in after pulling it out my ass' smell to it. Lastly, I found a hell of a lot more links that simply used "Frisario heard the Giants are front-runners" as their 'justification' than any actual facts.

It might turn out to be true, but I am just going to ignore it for now. Fucking asshole sports reporters.

 

[moxie]

NOT ragging on you, moxie, but that article is why I think sports writers are lower than not just pond scum, but politicians as well. It's all rumor and innuendo. The closest to a 'source' is : "Sources say that San Francisco is the front runner to sign the 26-year-old first baseman, according to Joe Frisario of MLB.com".

Pure 'pulled it out my ass reporting, but I covered myself because I quoted somebody else'.

I searched the web, and went to : The Fish Pond . There's *this* article : Marlins all-in on pursuing Abreu

which is all about the Marlins, but which contains this ONE sentence concerning the Giants : "According to a source, the Giants are considered a favorite to land his services." First, note that Frisaro mentions SOURCE (singular) and not the plural. Second, that ONE sentence also has a 'just tossed it in after pulling it out my ass' smell to it. Lastly, I found a hell of a lot more links that simply used "Frisario heard the Giants are front-runners" as their 'justification' than any actual facts.

It might turn out to be true, but I am just going to ignore it for now. Fucking asshole sports reporters.

I agree with you 100%. I shouldn't have posted it without digging a little because it's just bullshit hearsay. Plus, it got me a little excited for absolutely nothing. Carry on... nothing to see here.

 

[GiantsPackersChamps2011]

NOT ragging on you, moxie, but that article is why I think sports writers are lower than not just pond scum, but politicians as well. It's all rumor and innuendo. The closest to a 'source' is : "Sources say that San Francisco is the front runner to sign the 26-year-old first baseman, according to Joe Frisario of MLB.com".

Pure 'pulled it out my ass reporting, but I covered myself because I quoted somebody else'.

I searched the web, and went to : The Fish Pond . There's *this* article : Marlins all-in on pursuing Abreu

which is all about the Marlins, but which contains this ONE sentence concerning the Giants : "According to a source, the Giants are considered a favorite to land his services." First, note that Frisaro mentions SOURCE (singular) and not the plural. Second, that ONE sentence also has a 'just tossed it in after pulling it out my ass' smell to it. Lastly, I found a hell of a lot more links that simply used "Frisario heard the Giants are front-runners" as their 'justification' than any actual facts.

It might turn out to be true, but I am just going to ignore it for now. Fucking asshole sports reporters.

 

[tzill]

Here's Jonah Keri's take on Abreu from last year:

Cuba's Jose Abreu migh be the best offensive weapon on the planet - Grantland

 

[Band of Brothers]

Larry Krueger from KNBR just said that he heard on the internet that the Giants are the favorites to get Abreu.

This is what we need. Let's go ! Get him ! Move Belt to left.

Go Giants !!

 

[msgkings322]

Larry Krueger from KNBR just said that he heard on the internet that the Giants are the favorites to get Abreu.

This is what we need. Let's go ! Get him ! Move Belt to left.

Go Giants !!

C'mon BoB, really? "heard on the internet"? You can't be that techno-naive...
We might be favorites, who knows. But "heard on the internet"...that's like "I got a guy whose cousin's dad's maid says...."

 

[MarcoPolo]

Abreu is rumored to be a two-tool player : AVG and power. No glove, no speed, no arm. The lack of arm would really only be an issue if a team wanted to move him to 3B or LF (like the Giants might want to).

Also, an article I read (sorry can't remember where) compared the cuban league level to about high-A minors. So the massive stats have to be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[tzill]

Agreed on the two tools, but per the Grantland article, those are two HUGE tools. I think he goes to the AL where he can DH

 

[MarcoPolo]

Agreed on the two tools, but per the Grantland article, those are two HUGE tools. I think he goes to the AL where he can DH

I really zeroed in on the "Cuban league is about the level of the California league" and "Cuban league has a canyon-sized gap between the best and worst Serie Nacional players, and uneven competition dominates league play".

So I'd start him in AA and move him to AAA if he kills it, and he could be getting a lot of those hits off of crappy pitching. If I were a team and scouting him, I'd like him to take batting practice off my ace pitcher.

I also think that he'd get a longer look by an AL team (or one that needs a 1B).

 

[GiantsPackersChamps2011]

So we are definitely out on Abreu. On to Guerrero and Tanaka!!!!

 

[calsnowskier]

So we are definitely out on Abreu. On to Guerrero and Tanaka!!!!

Jose Dariel Abreu About To Agree To $68 Million Deal: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com

Wow.

At that contract, I am glad we are not the winners. He looks like he will be good, but he is still a HUGE question mark. Paying him an All-Star level contract out of the gate is a HUGE risk.

 

[msgkings322]

Jose Dariel Abreu About To Agree To $68 Million Deal: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com

Wow.

At that contract, I am glad we are not the winners. He looks like he will be good, but he is still a HUGE question mark. Paying him an All-Star level contract out of the gate is a HUGE risk.

He looks like Adam Dunn v2.0, which is why the White Sox are the favorites to overpay him



They keep making it easier and easier for me to give up any allegiance i once had...

 

[Mays-Fan]

He looks like Adam Dunn v2.0, which is why the White Sox are the favorites to overpay him



They keep making it easier and easier for me to give up any allegiance i once had...

LOL. Plus, for us, he was an awkward fit. I don't like the idea of Belt in LF. It wouldn't be as bad as Huff playing RF, but it's along those lines. IMHO, optimally, if we get a hitter, I'd like a RHH LF with some power, or even a LHH LF who is fast, has a good glove, with gap power.

 

[msgkings322]

LOL. Plus, for us, he was an awkward fit. I don't like the idea of Belt in LF. It wouldn't be as bad as Huff playing RF, but it's along those lines. IMHO, optimally, if we get a hitter, I'd like a RHH LF with some power, or even a LHH LF who is fast, has a good glove, with gap power.

Preeeeeecisely...

 

[SFGRTB]

I think he'll fit better on the White Sox just because he can DH, which I think he's destined to do. If teh Giants had a DH spot, I would have wanted the Giants to sign him, even at that money. Given our situation, it wasn't the right fit.

 

[MarcoPolo]

With Konerko leaving this year, and Dunn leaving after next year, he's a great fit for the ChiSox. I think that they paid way too much for him, but that's been MLB for the past few years - fear of 'not getting the guy' has driven up salaries dramatically. He's signing for almost twice what the rumored contract was with the Dodgers.

 

[calsnowskier]

With Konerko leaving this year, and Dunn leaving after next year, he's a great fit for the ChiSox. I think that they paid way too much for him, but that's been MLB for the past few years - fear of 'not getting the guy' has driven up salaries dramatically. He's signing for almost twice what the rumored contract was with the Dodgers.

You are getting him confused with Guerrero, who reportedly had a 30M deal with the doggies. Abreu never had any reported deals (that I heard of).

 

[msgkings322]

With Konerko leaving this year, and Dunn leaving after next year, he's a great fit for the ChiSox. I think that they paid way too much for him, but that's been MLB for the past few years - fear of 'not getting the guy' has driven up salaries dramatically. He's signing for almost twice what the rumored contract was with the Dodgers.

Yeah I thought about it some more, the glass-half-full here is they are replacing Dunn with a potentially better, younger, cheaper one. With what Pence got paying a slugger 11 mil a year isn't that crazy. Billy Beane showed Cuban sluggers are the new Moneyball inefficiency, although this deal perhaps closes that particular underpricing.

And apparently there were actually 4 teams that were talking between 63-68 million so they didn't overpay that much.

 

[SF11704]

IMHO it's things like this that lead to and almost verify the changes in the payroll landscape. Look at the teams in the final 4. All of them are in the top tier of team salaries. Goes back to what some of us have been saying. If you have enough money you can put a damn good team together. Very good chances of making the playoffs. But that'sn where it ends. Once you enter the playoffs it becomes a crap shoot. Now it all comes down to how well you play in 19 games.

Even the idea of an elite powerhitter raises some questions about how a team is built. Remember when the Cards had Jack Clark? A proven power hitter, but pretty much the only real long ball threat that they had. Spent quite a bit of time being walked intentionally/unintentionally. We all remember Bonds. Over 200 walks in a season. Just didn't want to pitch to him and wouldn't. I'm thinking that ideally, if you relied on the long ball you'd want at least three proven hitters in the line-up. The 2002 Giants had Bonds, Kent, Saunders, Bell at 20HRs or better