How Abreu helps A-Rod
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Apr 10, 2007 
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Alex Rodriguez from April 1 2006 to July 31, 2006:
.280/.383/.499
Alex Rodriguez from Aug. 1, 2006 to now:
.317/.413/.628
So what’s changed? The addition of Bobby Abreu to the lineup. Having the ultra-patient Abreu in the lineup, usually in front of Rodriguez, has helped him see better pitches. Abreu has a .422 OBP as a Yankee.
Rodriguez talked about it last night, saying what a difference it takes.
“Bobby’s a great player. He’s one of the real underrated players. The at-bats he puts together are incredible.”
I asked Rodriguez if that helps him at the plate.
“Oh, yeah. 100 percent,” he said. “You get to see 30 pitches a night before you get to hit. There’s a great residual there that’s incredible. … It’s like having an at-bat before your at-bat.”
Opposing teams go into games thinking they won’t let a player like Rodriguez beat them. But when Abreu gets on base, or wears down the pitcher, it changes the dynamic.
Obviously, Rodriguez is swinging the bat great. But having Abreu in the lineup obviously has made a dramatic difference. An .882 OPS is a lot different than a 1.042 OPS.
I wonder how that compares to having Sheffield in the 3-hole?
Boy Pete, I’m just waiting for the first person to twist that into you being all over ARod’s back. LOL
Thanks for the breakdown – and it’s really nice to see ARod praising teammates and coaches/giving props where due. That is obviously a result of him feeling less pressure and being relaxed.
hmm…sounds to me that when A-Rod leaves at the end of the year, he should do everything in his power to make sure his new team signs Bobby as well (assuming the Yanks don’t pick up his option, which certainly isn’t a given even though he’s been great for them)…
“and it’s really nice to see ARod praising teammates and coaches/giving props where due. That is obviously a result of him feeling less pressure and being relaxed.”
Not to pick on you Woolf in Pinstripes, but that statement is not correct. Whenever A-Rod is doing well, he is always praising someone from Torre and Mattingly to Sheffield and the ballboys. Even when Torre tells him to move this way or that way, if he makes a great play after it, he is always saying it’s because of Joe or whoever.
Great stuff, Peter. Nice to read some insightful stuff.
Thanks.
It’s amazing what an absolutely perfect fit Bobby Abreu has been on this team.
The other thing is, if you listen to A-Rod’s comments (including that one) on the audio link that Pete posted, he sounds like a completely different player this year. Very confident. Sticking up for his teammates. Early in the interview, one of the reporters asked an off-hand (or solicitous, take your view) question about how, wasn’t it great to have Pavano back after two years of disappointments. First words out of A-Rod’s mouth were, let’s focus on this year, not those other years. Sounded like something Jeter would say.
And you’re still going to have depressing fans boo’ing him when he grounds out in the 1st inning.
I’d like to tell all these people who boo him. Go back in time and remember the Stump Merril years. The Bucky Dent managing years.
So the next time somebody starts to crapping on Cash Money, maybe we can remember the deal for Abreu he made, which, just maybe, has helped A-Rod finally turn it on.
So, to recap, Cash saved the team last year after Sheff and Matsui went down in part by having the guts to bring up Melky and by making the deal for Abreu. And, by picking up Abreu, Cash may have sown the seeds to A-Rod’s current success.
I’ll let the anti-Cash folks take over now…
Did not Jason Giambi bat third, before Bobby Abreus Trade? And he takes also many Pitches.
After seeing Zito’s start to the season, is anyone else glad that Cashman didn’t jump at him?
I agree Todd. The first day Bobby came over, he was a perfect fit. No transition period whatsoever. I definitley say we pick up his option for next year, at seasons end of course.
Not trying to be a partypooper but why are people trying to credit A-rod’s current success to every Joe Schmoe. When Arod was having his “down” year in 2006 a lot of folks said “he should quit being a baby” “he should get his act together”. Well he has. Over the winter break he worked out getting rid of the excess weight and worked on his swing. He showed up to ST with a new attitude, confidence and body. And now that he is starting the season well everyone wants take credit for his success.
Man, why did we ever let Weaver go. 70 pitches and 7 runs in 2 innings.
I was wondering the same thing about Sidney “batting practice” Ponson…..Fernando!
BPIB, people may be giving SOME credit for his success thus far, but no-one is TAKING credit for it. A-Rod himself is giving credit to Abreu, Long, etc… No-one is saying, A-Rod’s doing better because of me. 95% of the credit of course belongs to A-Rod, he’s the one holding the bat. But it’s still a team sport and he still has coaches and managers to help.
70 pitches in 2 innings?? WOW.
I think Abreu is that “Paul ONeil” type player who does a lot of things great but doesn’t get credit for being a great player. The Yanks needed a few of these guys to blend in with the BIG BIG name all starts like Damon, Jeter, ARod and Giambi. Thats why I think this team is going to be special not b/c of the big names but guys like Cano, Abreu, Melky doing the little things it takes to help win a championship. Now if the team could just get the rotation in order I think it will be a championship year. Clemens in June and Hughes in August will help that out though.
As we speak, the folks at Rawlings are working to determine the All-Time Rawlings Gold Glove Team.
Last week, according to Rawlings, Keith Hernandez was losing to Don Mattingly by roughly 1,200 votes in the first-basemen’s category.
Now, according to the Associated Press, Hernandez leads Mattingly by roughly 350 votes, in what is the tightest race in the competition.
Go to Rawlings to take part in the vote, which ends in June.
I was impressed myself Chris. That has to be close to breaking some record.
nice job, weaves! in the senior circuit, no less. i’d love to see his era after a few games in the AL. on second thought, i take that back. no fan should have to pay to watch that sort of debacle.
murphydog,
I’m still not done thanking Cashman for the Abreu deal(piggy-bagging Lidle, what a steal that was). And for not trading off Wang and/or Cano in ’05. Now if he can get us a real good 1st baseman at that level, I’ll call him god.
He’s on Seattle, Paolo.
Man, they took him out. Jake Woods started the 3rd inning. Weaver will need quite a few scoreless innings to get his 31.50 ERA down.
my bad. i thought the cards had resigned him.
wait – does seattle really count as an al team???
unfortunately, both seattle and kansas city count :/
“Now, according to the Associated Press, Hernandez leads Mattingly by roughly 350 votes, in what is the tightest race in the competition.”
well, mattingly is my favorite player of all time, but Hernandez was a better fielder.
I’d have to say that any player who can make a wad of spit turn in mid-air has to win that competition…
Chevy,
It was good to see Ponson finally earning his wages we paid him last year. He’s an honest man, indeed. Now, where is Sturtz?
We should have resigned Sturtze and Dotel. Then we could have signed Eric Gagne, and had a nearly non-existant releif corps.
No offense to A-Rod, but that’s bull. A-Rod always likes to point to one thing in the moment that helps him play well. Someone should just tell A-Rod, “It’s YOU, Alex — you’re a really good player, and you don’t need Donnie, Lou, Long, Jeter, Bobby or anyone else to make you a great player.” A player can’t take credit in our world because then he’s portrayed as an egomaniac, but it’s odd that A-Rod always credits someone else for his success.
It’s bull because last year Giambi was batting third and Giambi takes as many pitches as Bobby and has the same general OBP.
The difference between this year and last is that A-Rod can hit a high fastball this year. He’s no longer swinging through everything over his waist. He would have never hit that high fastball from Chris Ray last year. His bat is quicker and pitchers are still pitching him like it’s last year. People are still challenging him with fastballs, but they won’t for long, because the speed of his swing is back.
everyone should have seen weaver’s outing coming. he had a few decent games in the NL in an otherwise putrid year, and all of a sudden he’s a decent pitcher again? the mariners spent their money so poorly this offseason. weaver, batista, ramirez, vidro and guillen? awful signings. the only good thing to come out of this year is that, hopefully, things will go poorly enough that bavasi and hargrove get run out of town.
on a semi-related not, i must be one of two or three M’s fans in the world who absolutely abhors ichiro. the guy is a me-first (make that me-only) player who refuses to hit anywhere but leadoff (which is fine, i suppose, given his speed, but he doesn’t draw walks or take pitches), refused to play anywhere but right for the last couple of years (until he finally caved this year), is not a good situational hitter (you’ll notice today he couldn’t get the run in from third with one out), and cares primarily about his offensive numbers and accolades. i know he’s the face of the organization and everything, but i absolutely can not stand the guy. i hope he’s gone after this season. somewhere in the national league, preferably, although i’m sure boston will throw a ton of money at him.
or….A-Rod is doing really well b/c he is one of the 20 best players of all time who just happened to have a down year last year.
Fernando,
I’d rather admire the hemorrhaging rear end view of an sick bulldog than watch Sturtz pitch for us again.
M’s fan Kasey??
“I’d rather admire the hemorrhaging rear end view of an sick bulldog than watch Sturtz pitch for us again.”
for the record, 3rd prize in the beauty contest…
that’s disgusting, Lili. Both thoughts.
I agree that Abreu is a great fit on the Yankees and all. But this argument is a bit of a stretch, considering that ARod batted after Giambi last year, and Giambi has Abreu-like patience (.413 OPS, 110 BB in 2006).
I meant .413 OBP. Giambi had a .971 OPS.
Hoping to break Weaver’s record of pitches per 2 innings, Jake Woods turned in a solid attempt with 56 pitches and 4 runs in 2 innings. Unfortunately, he was 14 pitches and 3 runs shy of Weaver.
Chris NY,
And I can better down a meal with the dog, too!
Slightly off topic, but do you guys remember our 2005 bullpen? My goodness, that was awful.
chris NY,
i’ve lived in washington my entire life. i wouldn’t say i’m an M’s “fan” in that i don’t care much whether the team wins or loses, but it’s been fun to watch guys like griffey, a-rod and felix come up through the organization. i’ve been a yankees fan my entire life, as my father traveled to the east coast a lot when i was growing up, and would take the family to NY every summer to see the yankees play. i’d been to yankee stadium several times before i ever set foot in the kingdome.
but, yeah, living in this close a proximity to seattle, i follow the team.
“70 pitches in 2 innings?? WOW.”
49 in the FIRST INNING!
“on a semi-related not, i must be one of two or three M’s fans in the world who absolutely abhors ichiro.
count me as one of the two or three as well. Hes the most overrated player in baseball. No power, no walks, and he wants Alfonso Soriano money
“70 pitches in 2 innings?? WOW.”
49 in the FIRST INNING!
“on a semi-related not, i must be one of two or three M’s fans in the world who absolutely abhors ichiro.
count me as one of the two or three as well. Hes the most overrated player in baseball. No power, no walks, and he wants Alfonso Soriano money
very limited power, no walks, an unwillingness to be a team player, i can’t stand him. one of my least favorite players in the MLB.
[...] Peter Abraham has an interesting piece up on the effect Bobby Abreu has had on Alex Rodriguez in the Yankee lineup. It’s a topic worth exploring. Good stuff from PeteAbe. [...]
Yeah I don’t think Abreu was in front of him during his MVP year in 2005 either.
That said, I have no doubt that having a guy like Abreu in front of him is a big benefit. That 9 pitch AB that ended with a HR was a thing of beauty.
That is one of the qualities that makes Abreu so underrated. Cashman will have to pick up that option for next year.
Stormy,
I for one am happy to see A-Rod giving compliments to people. I’m sure he’s much more secure of his own ability without everybody telling him. And the way he talks about these things, it seems genuine enough to me.
And why wouldn’t Abreu make more impact to his ABs than Giambi? It’s entirely plausible that A-Rod might have given a few more glances toward Abreu just because Abreu was something new to behold up close. And if A-Rod says he figured something out during all of these, I’d just chalk it up to timeliness of it all rather than thinking Sheff or Giambi wasn’t good enough for him to learn a trick or two.
Stick to reporting, Pete.
Abreu gets so much credit for being underrated that he’s become overrated. Sure the walks are nice, but when you strike out 138 times and hit only 15 home runs are you really a three hitter on a championship club?
He’s also overrated as a defender. Anytime a ball is hit within 50 feet of a wall or another player he tip toes after it like he’s running barefoot on broken glass. Didn’t like the way he didn’t even pretend to run on that dropped third strike late last night, either. I know the game was over, but would it kill him to take a few steps towards first?
Pat Gillick’s a pretty sharp GM and the fact he gave him away makes me wonder. Time will tell.
Sheff was the one hitting in front of him in ’05… it’s no secret that you benefit from having good hitters around you in a lineup. Is Abreu better in front of A-Rod than Giambi, Sheff… ? Hard to say considering the stats won’t tell you since A-Rod also flat out wasn’t hitting as well last year, not as easy and not as aggressive. Plus, I don’t think it’s accurate to say Giambi was hitting 3rd last year as a general statement, didn’t they move around quite a bit and wasn’t it the other way around (A-rod in 3 hole, Giambi 4..) a lot of the time?
It’s almost apples to apples. Comparing ’05 (sheff) to ’07 would seem more appropriate.
Kasey, I guess that’s understandable then..
I meant apples to oranges…………
Those comments on Ichiro are just bull. He has been one of the greatest hitters in the majors. He can hit well over .300 and steal bases. He also plays excellent defense and has a very strong throwing arm. He was once the best leadoff hitter in the majors before Jose Reyes and Grady Sizemore even exist.
Deric, I don’t think they were arguing his talent (other than his lack of power), the comments were more about his attitude.
Chris NY,
Well, they were talking about him being overrated and all that stuff.
Sorry Deric, I missed the overrated part…
I’ve actually grown tired of hearing about him as well though. I think at one point he definitely was at least a little overrated. The most in baseball, I’m not sure. I really just hate his slap singles approach, even if it is effective for him. Just seems like they’re cheap hits to me. Again, maybe it’s effective, I just don’t like it and didn’t like it when he set the single season hits record with those types of hits.
“Abreu gets so much credit for being underrated that he’s become overrated. Sure the walks are nice, but when you strike out 138 times and hit only 15 home runs are you really a three hitter on a championship club?
He’s also overrated as a defender. Anytime a ball is hit within 50 feet of a wall or another player he tip toes after it like he’s running barefoot on broken glass. Didn’t like the way he didn’t even pretend to run on that dropped third strike late last night, either. I know the game was over, but would it kill him to take a few steps towards first?
Pat Gillick’s a pretty sharp GM and the fact he gave him away makes me wonder. Time will tell.”
The strikeouts really aren’t that big of a deal. An out is an out. To answer your question, yes, that is a 3 hitter for a championship team, especially when he is sporting a .420 OBP.
He’s not a good defender.
Gillick obviously made a mistake. Time will tell? So far it has been a great deal for the Yanks and a bad deal for the Phillies.
Taylor,
Other than K.C., Oakland and probably Seattle, is there a team in the American League with a less intimidating 3 hitter? .297/15/107 is a little light in that spot, I don’t care how much he walks.
The deal definitely worked to our favor last year, but no one in Philly was sorry to see him go (which seems strange) and they caught fire as soon as he left.
I’m not looking to bury the guy, but I still think he’s got plenty to prove, and he could start by playing with a little more fire.
When you’ve got a guy getting on base 42% of the time in front of one of the strongest offensive powerhouses to ever play the game, yes, you’ve got yourself a great #3 hitter.
You’re also neglecting the fact that Abreu’s 15 homer season last year was the first time he hit less than 20 since 1998, and 107 RBI isn’t light for anyone in any spot. Abreu’s 99 RBI at #3 was the fifth best in MLB, behind such guys as Albert Pujols, David Ortiz, and Carlos Beltran. He also had the fourth-best runs scored at #3, tied with Jim Thome.
The formula works. Don’t mess with it.
“Those comments on Ichiro are just bull. He has been one of the greatest hitters in the majors. He can hit well over .300 and steal bases. He also plays excellent defense and has a very strong throwing arm. He was once the best leadoff hitter in the majors before Jose Reyes and Grady Sizemore even exist.”
Hes a singles hitter who plays good defense (not excellent) and can steal bases. Outside of his ’04 season, his OPS has been on a steady decline since his rookie year, from 127 to 125 to 109 to 109. I’m not saying hes horrible, but tell me why thats worth 15+ million per year. As a Mariner fan, I will be glad if Bavasi doesn’t resign him.
This Abreu/A-Rod theory almost makes you wonder how A-Rod hit those 400+ Home Runs before teaming up with Abreu. It also makes you wonder how Ryan Howard managed to win the MVP after Abreu left the Phillies.
LOL this has gotten carried away Alex only said that with Abreu hitting in front of him he is able to see more pitches (I’m assume because he is on deck when Abreu is batting). It also sounds like he (Alex) was asked about THIS YEAR hence the mention of Abreu the one person he has batted behind THIS YEAR. No where does it say that Abreu is the one person that sovled all his problmes from last year. There was no slight on Giambi, Sheff or anyone else. Just a comment on a little something that has helped him with his game.
A-Rod’s point was that batting behind Abreu allows him to see lots of the pitchers pitches before he steps in. Who led baseball in pitches/AB in ’06? That’s the full extent of the comment. OPS, etc. is immaterial to his point.
“Other than K.C., Oakland and probably Seattle, is there a team in the American League with a less intimidating 3 hitter? .297/15/107 is a little light in that spot, I don’t care how much he walks.”
of course you don’t care how much he walks, b/c you don’t know much about baseball.
The fact that people are actually trying to throw stones at Bobby Abreu’s offensive production is completely laughable.
And as far as Pat Gillick goes, when you have to sign Ryan Howard, and Chase Utley to huge, long-term deals, you dump an extra $30 million wherever you can.
That’s what he did. It wasn’t about getting equal value on the field, but rather value in the pocket.