The Angels announced that they have released veteran Bobby Abreu. The outfielder was in the final season of his three-year contract extension with the Halos and is set to make $9MM.
The move will help pave the way for the promotion of Mike Trout, who is on his way from Triple-A, according to Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter). Manager Mike Scioscia says that Trout "will play", DiGiovanna tweets, while MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez tweets that it seems that the 20-year-old will play everyday.
The slugger has been outspoken about his reduced role with the club since the offseason and there has been a great deal of speculation that his tenure with the Angels was coming to an end. The 38-year-old was said to be warming up to his backup role at the start of the season but Jerry Dipoto & Co. were said to be "feverishly" shopping him.
The Halos appeared to have a taker for Abreu in late March when they had advanced discussions with the Indians. The deal apparently fell apart over how much of Abreu's $9MM salary would be covered by the Angels.
James Coughlin
They should release Pujols.
drumzalicious
if only they could release the contract to
Lunchbox45
amazing
CAD_Monkey
Well, there go my Abreu for relief help ideas
formerdraftpick 2
I wish the Angels would release the Kraken!
Matt Busche
Pretty sure that’s Jason Heyward.
Curtis Simmons
any reason given?
venn177
Clubhouse cancer this year, not doing all that hot, getting paid a lot, taking playing time away from better players?
TheLoLgen
Maybe to bring up that Trout guy
venn177
Nah I heard it was a Salmon they caught a while back.
Wilsonl
Tim Salmon, now Mike Trout?!?!?!?!
Jimimc
did you read more than the headline?
BDLugz
Recall Trout?
Wes Whitenack
Should of finished the trade with Cleveland and at least got something from him.
Mike
Angels should release the entire team they suck!
Aaron
Thank you!
jima-2
Reason? The guy isn’t producing and they have better options in the outfield and at DH.
mmiller54
Just picked up Trout in fantasy. Hopefully he will be called up.
Erik Andrew
get the poison out
Thurman8er
They should fire Hatcher and make Abreu the hitting coach. I’m serious.
jesse heiman
Think if they offered pujos to cardinals for beltre they’d bite?
TophersReds
I think you’re confused. The Cards have Beltran, the Rangers have Beltre.
venn177
Cardinals definitely would. Nothing like trading a player on another team to improve yours.
Cobby Box
Trout and Harper getting called on the same day, crazy times.
Hoosierdaddy92
The Tigers should pick this guy up to DH now that Delmon Young is likely to be put on the restricted list.
Claud Smoot
The Tigers have better options. Might be an okay pick up for the Jays though.
funkytime
They do? He’d be their best table settler by a long shot. And with Boesch and Dirks in the corners, I don’t even know who is left to DH, besides the career minor league slugger that they brought up recently. I’d rather see Abreu hit than Don Kelly any day.
jwsox
I wonder if this ends the Trumbo at 3rd debate and gets him more t bats at 1st and DH as a back up?
SoCalAngelsFan75
I think it means Wells (another Reagin’s aquisition) is on notice and better start performing or he’s next to get the axe to make permanent room for Trumbo in the OF.
start_wearing_purple
I seriously doubt any team would just cut a player they owe over $60M to.
Of course they could always hire Reagins to take a bat to Wells’ knees and kick back some of the insurance money.
websoulsurfer
Great move by Angels. Only question is why it took so long.
Abreu has been a malcontent since spring, isnt hitting and cant play the field. Now his ABs can go to Trumbo. A winning move all around.
pennypincher
Sign him Cashman (to a minor league contract, even though he probably isn’t willing to do that) ! please and thank you.
caseym
Rays should pick him up to play with Matsui at AAA until we need another Outfielder / DH to replace someone on the roster in case they get hurt. Andrew Friedman has long coveted Bobby Abreu.
User 4245925809
Last year it was Boston fans and David Ortiz they wanted released, but at least there was upside with him. Abreu offered -0- and especially with the DH position fully covered already with the team well before they broke camp.
Anaheim probably should have released him before ST even began. I don’t see a team biting on him anyway, not with Damon barely getting a nibble of a contract and Vlad unemployed.
dc21892
Well, serious Boston fans like me didn’t want Ortiz released. Not sure I remember an outcry for the release of Big Papi last year during one of his finer all around seasons in Boston.
User 4245925809
It was back around Early to mid May when Ortiz’s stat line was hovering around .150Avg and he had only a couple of HR’s. It was June before he turned it around and THEN he really caught fire, but the NE media (typically) was all over him.
TheDDG
You’re confusing last year with 2010. Ortiz had a HUGE May last year (10 HRS, .342) and hadn’t been nearly as bad in April as he had the prior two years. Boston fans were restless in 2010 because Ortiz also had an ice-cold start in 2009, but there was virtually no discontented discussion around Ortiz last year.
formerdraftpick 2
Japan, AAA or bust for Abreau. If Vlad, Magglio, Lee, Matsui, Drew and Tejeda are still free agents, I can’t really see Abreu extending his career either.
User 4245925809
Matsui signed a minor league deal with the Rays a few days ago and has about the exact same upside as does Abreu.. Little to none.
tycobb
This has the Blue Jays all over it!
thesultanofswingandmiss
The only thing that has Blue Jays all over it is my window.
ukJaysfan
Yeah, no.
MeowMeow
Looks like they should’ve covered how ever much the Indians wanted them too, because now they’re just on the hook for almost all of it. That team really just needs to start winning or the front office is going to have some serious problems on their hands. I thought the past couple starts for the Sox were bad, but 6-14 after spending all that money is just absurd.
Eddie Millhauser
Should have released Jepsen…
Jimmy W.
I hope bobby abreu signs with a good team hes not a terrible player right now