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It’s Finally Safe To Draft Bobby Abreu

Bobby Abreu fantasy baseballBobby Abreu signed a 1-year deal with the Anaheim Angels today, putting him into a crowded but talented outfield heading into 2009. Fantasy Baseball Dugout is guessing the signing of Abreu moves Vladimir Guerrero to a permanent DH-role, with Torii Hunter and either Reggie Willits or Gary Matthews, Jr., taking the other spots.

Abreu’s current average draft position is around pick 63 or 64, according to Mock Draft Central. He has been taken as early as no. 45 and as late as no. 95. Normally, you will find Bobby in the same area as Geovany Soto, Magglio Ordonez, and free-agent Adam Dunn.

Considering his average draft position, I think Abreu has probably been a steal to this point in fantasy drafts. This has to simply be related to his status as a free agent, right?

Last season, Abreu batted .296 with 20 homeruns, 100 RBI, 100 runs, and 22 steals. Abreu has produced 20/100/100/20 or better seasons 3 times in his career. Most years, he is a lock to steal over 20 bags and score over 100 runs.

Several players who have a less reliable stat line are being drafted well ahead of Abreu like Alexei Ramirez, Shane Victorino, and Nate McLouth.

While Abreu might be getting neglected due to his lack of employment, keep an eye on Abreu when you’re drafting this year. Getting a player of his pedigree in the 60’s will be a steal, regardless of league size.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Fantasy Baseball Draft, Fantasy Baseball Outfielders, Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Fantasy Baseball Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “It’s Finally Safe To Draft Bobby Abreu”

  1. Tony Says:
    February 12th, 2009 at 2:09 pm

    I dont think you can call Victorino “unreliable”. You can label him risky due to injury concerns, mainly his hamstrings, which are his bread and butter, but “unreliable”? I don’t think so. If he plays and is healthy he’s much more valuable than Abreu.

    People were drafting Carl Crawford late first round to early second round a year and two ago, and Victorino is CC LITE. Check the stats (and i know carl was hurt last year) but from 2007 even. He’s a “liter” version.

    Now do I wanna take him in round 4, not really!

  2. BeeZee Says:
    February 13th, 2009 at 5:53 am

    @Tony – perhaps I mispoke about reliability, but the power numbers you get from Bobby Abreu are a league above Victorino and CC.

    Admittedly, I was one of those guys who overdrafted CC a few years back. If I can get a guy like Bobby who has the potential to do 20/100/100/20 in the same range as a guy like Victorino who will do 15/100/70/30, I’m gonna take those 30 extra RBIs and figure out a way to pick up 16 steals.