Watch this video of 50 Crush Davis HRs and tell me which ones he really "got the bat around" on and demolished with batspeed. Tell me which 98 mph fastballs were in that mix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQZtRNjD9Ms
Davis has a slider-speed bat. And he hits the ball 500 feet with it. Davis was not patient at the plate, he just started getting pitched around. He struck out a billion times, while leading the league in HR, RBI and total bases.
I'm up for that risk. We can absolutely sign Abreu. He hits monster HRs, and will strike out, but his moving parts are minimal. He might have a huge hole in his swing, but no one in Cuba has found it yet. And even if he does, so what? You don't think Thome had a hole in his swing with that tomahawk death chop of his? He didn't lead the league in strikeouts 3 different times because he had 100% plate coverage. Most HR guys have holes. It's hard to find Prime Pujols or Big Hurt, y'know?
But I would crawl over hot coals for a RH masher, and I like Abreu at 60 million over Ellsbury at 120 million for SURE.
Gotta roll the dice on somebody. The one thing the system does NOT have is a guaranteed masher. We've got some doubles guys and some walks guys and some tools guys, but we don't have anybody you can point to and say "40 homers. Book it."
Since Abreu only costs us cash, not prospects, he's a great way to fix that hole. Assuming he can hit. Of course, the Angels assumed Hamilton could hit. All free agents are risky, and nobody's the perfect risk.
Take the masher you can get.
~G
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