Jose Dariel Abreu, the latest Cuban slugger to defect from his country, is now cleared to play in the major leagues and sign as a free agent. Obviously no one will sign him until after the World Series is over, I am assuming, so he would not count against this years finances and potential luxury tax penalties. Abreu is 26 years old so his contract would be your regular run of the mill free agent signing and would not impact your teams international free agent spending pool.
Abreu is considered to be a real power threat with 30 home run potential with a strong and fluid motion with his swing. Abreu is also a intelligent hitter with enough bat speed to get by. Abreu will not be more than a .260-.275 type hitter and will have his fair share of strike outs but the home runs may outweigh where he lacks in discipline. Abreu is more of a DH type and a first basemen in a pinch type of guy, think Kendrys Morales or David Ortiz, and the market is think for DH and first base type guys so the timing could not be better for Abreu and worse for the Yankees.
A lot of people are saying that Abreu does not much make much sense for the Yankees but I disagree I think he may be just what the Yankees need. The Yankees got exposed this season due to the fact that they had zero right handed pop in the lineup before the arrivals of Alfonso Soriano and Alex Rodriguez and Abreu could make this lineup scary again when everyone is healthy. It is not like the Yankees have not recently fallen in love with DH only kinds of guys, Raul Ibanez and Travis Hafner come to mind, so why not sign a young kid with fresh legs and a live bat to do this?
Maybe I am in the minority here but I want to see the 6'2" 258 lb first basemen that put up .382/.525/.735 triple slash in Cuba this year and had a .394/.542/837 last season in pinstripes for 2014.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)