Bobby Abreu is on the ballot for the third time after garnering 8.7 percent of the vote last year. That total was up from 5.5 percent when he first appeared on the ballot. While the gain from year one to year two was small, Abreu could make some strides in the next few years with the ballot clearing up a bit.
Abreu is one of the most underrated players of the past 30 years. Unfortunately, he played in a time where he was easily overshadowed by the accomplishments of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Jeff Bagwell, just to name a few. Consistency was Abreu’s calling card and he was consistently excellent for a long time.
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Career Summary
Bob Kelly Abreu was signed at the ripe old age of 16 by the Houston Astros in 1990. He would play 74 games with Houston in 1996-1997 before being left unprotected for the 1997 expansion draft. Abreu was selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and promptly traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for Kevin Stocker. He proved himself immediately to the Philly faithful in 1998, showing his all-around play batting .312 with 17 HRs and 19 SBs along with 17 assists from right field. The numbers would just get better and Abreu made his first All-Star appearance in 2004. In 2005, he would again be an All-Star and win his only Gold Glove.
At the trading deadline in 2006, Abreu was sent to the New York Yankees with Cory Lidle for four players. After two and a half successful seasons in New York, he became a free agent for the first time. He signed with the Los Angeles Angels and in 2009 stole 30 bases for the sixth time in his career. In 2010, although his average dipped to .255, Abreu would go 20-20 for the ninth time, the most by any player in history without the last name Bonds. The Angels released Abreu in 2012, and he was promptly signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers. After a year off in 2013, Abreu came back to play 78 games for the New York Mets in 2014 where he would steal his 400th and final base of his career.
Pros
Make no mistake, Abreu had an elite power-speed combo along with a great eye. A few stats to illustrate the company he keeps:
He is one of only six players to have 250+ HRs and 400+ SBs in their careers. The others are Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonds, Craig Biggio, Joe Morgan, and Rickey Henderson.
He is one of only seven players to have 900 extra-base hits and 400 stolen bases. The others are Biggio, Barry Bonds, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Honus Wagner, and Paul Molitor. That is pretty good company.
Since 1990, there have been 28 player seasons of 20 HRs, 20 SBs, and 100 BBs. Abreu and Bonds have 14 of them, seven each.
In baseball history, there have been three seasons where a player has had 40 doubles, 30 HRs, 30 SBs, and 100 BBs. Abreu did it twice (2001, 2004). Bagwell did it in 1997.
While I could go on with how rare of a player Abreu was, let’s compare him to a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
| Bobby Abreu (1998-2010) | Dave Winfield (1978-1992) | |
| Plate Appearances | 8,850 | 8,772 |
| Doubles | 513 | 396 |
| Home Runs | 273 | 356 |
| Runs | 1,335 | 1,226 |
| Runs Batted In | 1,238 | 1,386 |
| Stolen Bases | 365 | 144 |
| Slash Line | .297/.402/.492 | .289/.360/.493 |
| OPS+ | 132 | 137 |
| rWAR/fWAR | 59.2/59.0 | 49.4/47.4 |
While Dave Winfield absolutely deserves to be enshrined in Cooperstown, can someone explain to me how he is a first-ballot entry and Abreu barely stayed on the ballot?
Cons
The fact that Abreu lacks hardware is a mark against him for many writers. Having only two All-Star appearances, one Gold Glove, and no championships definitely seems to be hurting his case. He also never finished in the top-10 in MVP voting, and never led the league in any major offensive category like HRs, SBs, runs, RBIs, or batting average. He was never the dominant player in the league in any particular season so his accomplishments from year to year get lost in the ridiculous offensive environment that was the late ’90s and early 2000’s.
Verdict
This decision comes down to peak vs. consistency. Abreu played in 150+ games each year from 1998-2010. Although his absolute peak was for about seven years from 1998-2004, where he was between a 5.2 and 6.6 rWAR player. He also had the fifth-most fWAR in the majors during those years as well as being the only player to have 150 HRs and 200 SBs in that span.
While that is an excellent stretch, it never included dominant years compared to his peers. Looking back, Abreu probably deserved a few top-10 MVP finishes in the league, but not many. Aren’t we always told baseball is a marathon and not a sprint? Shouldn’t that apply to this situation? Abreu was so good for so long and while he should get into Cooperstown, he will have an uphill battle. Maybe he just wasn’t “famous” enough.
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Main Image Credit: Embed from Getty Images
