Bye Bye Bobby

Finally, the long rumored deal has to come to fruition and Bobby Abreu is headed up to the Bronx along with Cory Lidle for four minor leaguers, none of which the experts say are can't miss. Not only did we get nothing for our best player, but the Phils also had to pay Abreu $1.5 million to buy out his contract option for 2009! I really didn't expect a salary dump type of deal. I thought we would at least get a top prospect and one major league ready player, especially when they threw Lidle into the deal.

I don't normally do this, but I'm going to give Gillick the benefit of the doubt here. The Phils must not have gotten any decent offers for Abreu AND his salary or this less than stellar deal would not have been made. The more I read, it appeared that the Phils were only going to get decent prospects if they agreed to pay a portion of Abreu's salary. After agreeing to do so for Jim Thome's salary in the Rowand deal, it doesn't take a scientist to realize they weren't going to do the same for Abreu.

I have mixed emotions on seeing Bobby go. I didn't really love his game. I thought he was a horrible outfielder and looked scared sh*tless when hitting in clutch situations and the games last September when they were fighting for the wild card. I think he was simply misplaced as a star player here. He's clearly a guy that is at his best when he is complimentary player. We'll see that when he is hitting 5th or 6th in the Yankees lineup. However, I still think he'll be a dog in big spots for the Yanks. As I told the people in Boston when I was up there for the Phils trip to Bean Town last month, "you guys want the Yankees to trade for Abreu. If you think A-Rod is dog in the clutch who has hollow numbers, wait until you see Abreu."

This just adds a little more interest for me in the only rivalry in baseball that matters. I already got a message from a Yankee fan buddy saying "thanks for giving away Abreu to us." I can't wait until the Yanks head up to Fenway and Abreu comes up against Papelbon in a big spot and comes up small. Any other result will infuriate me. I can't root for the Yanks. Sorry to you Yankees fans, but as the Sports Guy says, rooting for the Yanks is like "rooting for the house in a game of blackjack" or as Rick Reilly says, rooting for the Yanks is like "rooting for Brad Pitt to get laid".

I give credit to the fans in attendance today for giving Abreu a standing ovation on his way out of town. That was a classy move and Abreu was gracious today in his going out of town press conference. However, I get the distinct feeling that we will hear contrary statements from him about how horrible we are as a fan base.

My only regret with Bobby Abreu's nine year stint in Philly was that I had no idea about this story. Since he didn't talk to the media a lot, he seemed as boring as watching paint dry. Had I known this story and that this was his former fiancee, I would have looked at him in a totally different light. Oh well, I suppose we hardly knew you, Bobby.