Brewers offered Cuban 1B Jose Abreu more than $60 million this off season

[reillymcshane]

Interesting to find out that the Brewers were one of five teams to offer Cuban 1B Jose Abreu more than $60 million. Nice to know they were aggressive in going after an area of need.

 

Abreu went to the White Sox for 6 years and $68 million.

 

"Five teams bid more than $60 million for White Sox rookie first baseman Jose Abreu, as I reported Saturday on the FOX Sports 1 pregame show. The other four, according to major league sources, were the Astros, Brewers, Rockies and Red Sox."

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/new-replay-system-flawed-as-weekend-games-at-yankee-stadium-showed-041314

[HiAndTight]

Having caught a couple of his games, I really wish we'd have been able to sign him. It would have obviously cost us Garza, but with the way Thornburg has developed a bugs bunny change this year, I think we might have been as good in the starting rotation and then been able to add a good, legit middle of the order bat at our biggest position of need.

[homer]

Wow, that would have been a great signing.

[jerichoholicninja]

It's early. Let's wait till the guy has played more than 13 games before we decide if he's worth $10+ million a season.

[brewmann04]

It nice to know that they are willing to spend

[KCBrewerfan34]

So does that mean they wouldn't have signed Garza?

[brewcrewdue80]

I thought we had a thread about this approx. 2-3months ago? I actually thought this was that thread and some new poster was replying to it to say, imagine if we'd have signed him? After his start thus far. But nope, this is a new thread.

[jjfanec]

So does that mean they wouldn't have signed Garza?

 

That would seem to make sense. I dont think we had the money for two 10 million plus per year deals. Abreu looks like he would have been a good sign but I am guessing we would have had to go a million or two per year more than Chicago to get him.

[HiAndTight]

It's early. Let's wait till the guy has played more than 13 games before we decide if he's worth $10+ million a season.

 

 

Wait for what? To wish we'd have been able to sign him? We're talking about a prospect. Not everything has to come with the obligatory 400 at bat sample size before you can watch a guy and come to the conclusion he looks really good and is likely to be a very good big leaguer.

 

I can only speak for myself, but I'm not looking at a stat line and saying, "wow, this guy is good." I think most people who've watched him can come to the conclusion that he has all the requisite skills to be a productive big league power hitter.

 

I don't know what that means exactly in terms of a stat line throughout an entire MLB season, but I do know that he'd be well worth the additional ~7 million dollars that he'd cost us, and the additional roster spot.

[HiAndTight]

So does that mean they wouldn't have signed Garza?

 

 

That was the assumption I made, but if you look at the contract he signed, he'd actually only cost us about 3 million more this year than we're spending at 1st base. He's making 7 million this year and without looking up the exact numbers, I know Reynolds has 2.5 million and Overbay has a 1.5 million dollar deal...and there are some incentives in there.

 

 

So perhaps the Brewers would have done both. Especially with the money coming off the books in the next 2 seasons. And K-Rod would likely have in more danger of not being signed than Garza given the makeup of the contracts.

 

But it's all just conjecture since Abreu signed with the White Sox.

[LouisEly]

It's early. Let's wait till the guy has played more than 13 games before we decide if he's worth $10+ million a season.

 

 

Wait for what? To wish we'd have been able to sign him? We're talking about a prospect. Not everything has to come with the obligatory 400 at bat sample size before you can watch a guy and come to the conclusion he looks really good and is likely to be a very good big leaguer.

Cespedes looked great and worth the money his rookie year. Last year, not so much.

[HiAndTight]

It's early. Let's wait till the guy has played more than 13 games before we decide if he's worth $10+ million a season.

 

 

Wait for what? To wish we'd have been able to sign him? We're talking about a prospect. Not everything has to come with the obligatory 400 at bat sample size before you can watch a guy and come to the conclusion he looks really good and is likely to be a very good big leaguer.

Cespedes looked great and worth the money his rookie year. Last year, not so much.

 

 

Well, he signed a 4 year 36 million dollar deal and he's put up a WAR of 2.9 and 2.3 his first two years. That seems to be a pretty decent deal for the FA market.

 

But setting him aside, I'm not saying that Abreu is going to be a superstar, nor do I think anyone else has said as much. But if you're going to spend money on Cuban players or Latin American players, you're going to be taking a risk. Having watched Abreu, and I'm sure the Brewers scouted him, he looks to me like he's going to be a legit power hitter.

 

And if you wait until a guy has played 2 years to determine if he's worth 10 million per, you're just taking yourself out of the conversation for most of the elite players from Japan or Cuba(especially moving forward with the current TV bubble pumping cash into MLB like the FED).

[adambr2]

As exciting as this season has been, I can't imagine how much more exciting this team would be with Abreu in our lineup.

 

With or without Garza.

[fondybrewfan]

Even without Garza either Thornburg or Nelson is probably in the rotation. I think we would certainly be a better team at this point given the performances of Abreu, Garza, Thornburg, and Nelson (Obviously not considering performances could be different if things didn't turn out the way they did)

[Invader3K]

Well, I have to assume $60 million was around the top limit of what the Brewers were comfortable spending. Maybe Abreu didn't even want to come to Milwaukee...hard to say. We can't wring out hands over every free agent signing the Brewers miss out on.

[RobDeer 45]

Well said Invader. It's fun to think about, but you can't ever get upset because we really don't know the whole story. I'm happy with where we are and that we were aggressive going after this guy.

[TURBO]

true, but it is fun to think of what this line-up would look like with him in it...

[Point Beer Is Best]

Abreu has set all-time rookie records for the month of April in HR (10) and RBI's (31).

 

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/04/28/jose-abreu-sets-all-time-rookie-records-for-homers-and-rbis/

[HiAndTight]

Well, I have to assume $60 million was around the top limit of what the Brewers were comfortable spending. Maybe Abreu didn't even want to come to Milwaukee...hard to say. We can't wring out hands over every free agent signing the Brewers miss out on.

 

 

It sounds like they were comfortable spending about what everyone else was comfortable spending. These guys are pushed towards teams a lot of times. It's possible the Brewers offered the exact same as the White Sox and he did choose Milwaukee over Chicago. I'm sure the Brewers at this point would have gladly tacked on an additional 10 million and given him 10 years 78 million, but you're right, we can't wring our hands over every free agent signing the Brewers missed out on.

 

But it's an interesting topic, and it's one move that could have legitimately put the Brewers in a group with the NL's elite the way they're playing.

Gomez

Gennett

Braun

Abreu

Ramirez

Lucroy

Davis

Segura

 

That's as good of a lineup as any in the NL right now IMO.

 

But we're 18-7 without him. Hopefully this will make it more likely the White Sox will look to just dump Adam Dunn and we can pick him up for scraps and for very little salary to platoon with Reynolds and as a big LH'ed bat off the bench.

[SRB]

I'm not surprised that a seasoned professional baseball player with prodigious power, who nobody has a scouting report on, is having a great first month. He'll come back down to earth sooner or later when pitchers adjust to his weaknesses (see also: Cespedes, Puig).

 

I still would have loved to see him in Milwaukee, but it's not like we just missed out on Mike Trout (again...) or something.

 

Besides, need to keep room in the budget to sign Korean 3B Jeong Choi this offseason.

[HiAndTight]

I'm not surprised that a seasoned professional baseball player with prodigious power, who nobody has a scouting report on, is having a great first month. He'll come back down to earth sooner or later when pitchers adjust to his weaknesses (see also: Cespedes, Puig).

 

I still would have loved to see him in Milwaukee, but it's not like we just missed out on Mike Trout (again...) or something.

 

Besides, need to keep room in the budget to sign Korean 3B Jeong Choi this offseason.

 

 

Not that I care as Puig and Cespedes aren't the same player as Abreu and I'm not going to just group all Cuban players together, but how has Puig come down to Earth? He had a 5.0 WAR in 104 games last year and had a .9 WAR in 20 games so far this year. So he's on pace for like 6-7 WAR year. He's been the same incredible talent. His BABIP is down significantly this year. That's about it.

 

And he's not just having a great first month, he's having a historically great 1st month.

 

I'm sure he does come back down to Earth a little bit...in some area's. I doubt he hits 60 HR's this year. But I also don't think there are many holes in his swing. He's very much like Braun in that he can cover the entire plate and goes to RF better than just about any other power hitter.

 

I think he could very well be a .930-ish OPS type guy and hit .285.