Friday was a busy day in the way of Mets news, as Bobby Abreu announced his retirement the old fashioned way: by saying it at the end of the season and not going on a year-long farewell tour, Adam Rubin revealed that minor changes may be coming to the Citi Field outfield walls, and the nature of Travis d’Arnaud’s elbow injury was disclosed.
Bobby Abreu Retires
Abreu, who began his career all the way back in 1996 as a member of the Houston Astros, made a name for himself as a Philadelphia Phillie, before moving to the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers.
He was truly one of the great offensive players of his era, possessing a power-speed-patience combo that was rarely seen, even in the twilight of the steroid era, when most of his prominent production occurred. Abreu went 30-30 twice (in 2001 and 2004) and had nine 20-20 seasons, including seven straight from 1999-05. In every season he was in the major leagues, except for his 24 plate appearance cup of coffee with the Astros in 96, Abreu had a walk rate over 10%.
In his prime, he was a great baserunner, worth 23 baserunning runs over his career, and his hitting was terrific as well, as evidenced by his 129 career wRC+, which is better than fellow 2014 retirees Paul Konerko, and that shortstop who wears number two across town. His defense was not so great, with a -8.7 UZR/150 for his career in right field, the position he played for a majority of the time. Abreu enters play on the weekend with a .291/.395/.475 career line.
When it was announced on Friday that he was retiring, many people took to Twitter to wish him the best of luck in retirement and call him one of the most underappreciated players of his generation. Granted, if everyone thinks that he is underappreciated, how underappreciated can he be? But I digress.
Some people floated the idea of Abreu being a hall of famer, but that’s hard to see. Abreu seems like he’ll be stuck in the Don Mattingly purgatory of 10-15% before he ultimately drops off the ballot.
Here’s to hoping that he has a successful second career as a hitting coach somewhere, which he is reportedly interested in, but not immediately.
Fences Moving In
Adam Rubin reported Friday morning that the Mets will once again be giving the walls at Citi Field a facelift, this time shaving off some distance in right and right-center field. Rubin says team insiders say the move is to help the power numbers of David Wright and Curtis Granderson, which is understandable. One can imagine Lucas Duda would benefit some from the dimension swap as well.
Of course, the fences would impact the Mets pitchers as well, but the way things are set up on the staff for next year and beyond, a few feet in right field shouldn’t effect what promises to be one of the best staffs in baseball.
The real victim here is there is now a little less room for Juan Lagares to make spectacular catches, but perhaps more opportunities for him to rob home runs.
D’Arnaud’s Elbow Has a Bone Spur
The Mets also announced Friday that they were shutting Travis d’Arnaud down for the rest of the season after doctors discovered a bone spur in his elbow. He has surgery scheduled for next week to remove the bone spur, which is not expected to have any impact on his 2015 season.
After a very rocky start to the season, d’Arnaud finished up with a .242/.305/.416 line, with 13 home runs. His turnaround after his demotion to Las Vegas was the main storyline with him this year: he hit .272/.319/.482 after the recall. That’ll play behind the plate.
His defense was a little shaky, with his pitch framing being terrific, but he had great difficulty throwing runners out, though one has to wonder whether or not the bone spur had anything to do with some of those struggles.
It was a promising rookie year for the 25-year-old catcher, but the expectations get a little higher for next year, and with Kevin Plawecki knocking on the door of the major leagues, he is going to need to continue to kick it up a notch in 2015.
Joe Vasile is a play-by-play announcer residing in Paramus, NJ. He is the voice of Wilkes University Colonels Football and Basketball for ESPN Radio in Williamsport, PA.
I really wish they’d stop playing with the field dimensions. You don’t hear other teams adjusting their stadiums every year to eek out a few more home runs.
Mike, this all part of the “Mets way”.
Looking at the home/road splits from this year moving the fences in is not going to help.Citifield has been a disaster for this franchhise,an albatross hung around their necks.
do we assume, to much that Harvey will come back and be a ace again right from spring training on ?
As far as Bobby goes, he wasn’t that great to deserve a farewell tour. I think you were joking. The Mets should have traded him back to the Phillies for the last day of the season. That’s where he had his best years. Also Phillies fans loved him and hold him in high regard.
Moving in the fense is BS, but will make the games more exciting. I love offense, and wish the NL would adopt the DH.
Thirdly, I can’t stand the fans who are constantly putting down Travis. He, Flores and MDD are this teams future and each will improve next season. The same as Lagaras, did this year.
Bobby Abreu was out of baseball last year, so a farewell tour was never in the cards. Moving the fences makes sense if only because the original dimensions were idiotic. Like Keith said the other night, why can’t these new designers just make an outfield arch like they used to, instead of adding all of this “character” into the walls. The DH is a dying, useless position and a travesty of the game, in my opinion.