A Good Start

The Yankees off season may have begun quite a bit sooner then they would have hoped for, but the real off season is about to get under way. The Yankees off season, unlike most recent years, will mainly consist of keeping their own players under contract. At one of their many meetings, the Yankees hierarchy has decided that their first move of the off season will be to pick up Bobby Abreu’s $16 million option for next season. That was probably the easiest decision they’ll have to make this off season. Abreu finished up the 2007 season at .283-16-101-123-25 and there’s no reason to believe that he’s not capable of putting up a similar line next season. After a May in which Abreu hit only .208 most people were glad that the Yankees could rid themselves of Abreu this off season and were hoping to do it even sooner. However, in a second half that he hit .305 with 11 HR’s and 60 RBI’s Abreu again put himself back into the Yankees plans for the 2008 season. Abreu’s patient approach at the plate still fits in perfectly in the Yankees’ lineup and sets up the rest of the hitters that hit behind him. The tougher decision will come for the Yankees after next season when they have to decide whether to sign Abreu to a new contract or to move in a different direction. Abreu will be 34 at that point and will if he has another season like this one then he will likely command a four year commitment to re-sign. At that point, it may be time to hand right field over to top prospect Jose Tabata or at least require a short stop gap before he is ready, which would make Abreu expendable. It all makes you wonder what the Phillies were thinking when they gave Abreu up for a bunch of no names (CJ Henry and Matt Smith were the biggest names of the deal, wow).