Abreu to Yanks

[Striar]

Comments. Questions. Bridge jumpers?

[pacino]

horrible

just amazingly horrible

[sfphillyfan]

This isn't a done deal right? Still rumor?

[sfphillyfan]

Just saw the news.

I don't know that this is a terrible deal. The Phillies are done and we got 4 minor leaguers out of it. Abreu was never appreciated here anyway.

[reesecal]

i'm completely psyched right now

let the rebuilding begin

[saratoga]

I'm glad that Bobby is gone, but from what I've read they didn't get much except relief from a BAD contract.

[saratoga]

The Yankees will send the Phillies 20-year-old minor-league shortstop C.J. Henry -- their No. 1 pick in 2005 -- and 27-year-old left-handed reliever Matt Smith. The Phillies will also receive minor-leaguers catcher Jesus Sanchez and right-hander Carlos Monasterios, while the Yankees will take on responsibility for Abreu and Lidle's contracts. Abreu is owed $15 million for 2007 alone.



Abreu could have exercised his no-trade clause and kill the deal, as his agent said recently that any team expecting to acquire Abreu would have to pick up his $16 million option for 2008 in order for a trade to go through.

However, the Yankees wanted Abreu under the expectation that they would only be paying the $22 million owed on his deal through 2007, and told the Phillies to negotiate any deal required to waive the no-trade clause.



A source with knowledge of the deal told ESPN Insider Jerry Crasnick that the Phillies will pay Abreu $1.5 million in exchange for waiving the no-trade clause and accepting the condition that the Yankees will not pick up his option for 2008.


The source also said that Abreu would have accepted a similar deal to the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels.


Not including that payout, the Phillies could save as much as $23 million on Abreu alone.

Abreu was in the Phillies' starting lineup Sunday but was pulled for Shane Victorino 10 minutes before their game with the Florida Marlins. In the fourth inning, he was seen in the Phillies' dugout, still in uniform, hugging teammates.

The deal tentatively called for the Phillies to receive one minor-league player -- Henry -- and another from a list of players. But Stark reported the Phils received two players because they agreed to take Sanchez and Monasterios from the Gulf Coast League.

[ekravitz]

Michael Bourn is being recalled and Mathieson is taking Lidle's spot

[BowieBirdFan]

ESPN.com: Law

Sunday, July 30, 2006
Big heist for the Yankees

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The Yankees get a big OBP boost and the best fifth starter they've had all year, and they did it by using money (of which they have a lot) instead of prospects (of which they have few once you exclude Philip Hughes and Jose Tabata). The Phillies, meanwhile, get some salary relief for 2007, but not much else.
Bobby Abreu may or may not have lost his power -- I think it's overblown, as he's still on pace for 40-plus doubles and doesn't look like he's lost bat speed or raw strength -- but he's still one of the best offensive players in the game. He's about to post his eighth straight 100-walk season and has the fifth-best OBP in the game. The Yankees have been running a Bernie Williams/Aaron Guiel platoon out in left, and while Guiel has hit a few homers since he came to the Bronx, he's still a four-A player who has no place on a contending club's roster. Even if Abreu's home run total remains low, he's worth two extra wins to the Yankees if he takes at-bats away from Bernie and Guiel, and more if his home-run power comes back.

Cory Lidle is a finesse right-hander with excellent control who will probably struggle to be a league-average starter in the American League at this point, but he is an enormous improvement over Sidney Ponson, Kris Wilson and Aaron Small -- whom the Yanks have employed as fifth starters this year. Lidle's best pitch is a splitter, but his fastball is a tick below average so he has to have good command to be effective and keep the ball out of the seats. Since the guys he's replacing have been so bad, he's still a one-to-two-win upgrade for the balance of the season, making this one of the biggest impact deals any club will make this month.

The Phillies finally came off their demands for top prospects and instead chose to dump the two contracts, saving $15 million in 2007 by moving Abreu. The only player they acquired with any sort of major-league value right now is lefty specialist Matt Smith, a 27-year-old veteran of the Yankee farm system.

The Phils did acquire some interesting prospects. Shortstop C.J. Henry is best known as the guy the Yankees took in the 2005 draft even though right-handed pitcher Craig Hansen was still available. Henry is a raw five-tool talent and still just 20 years old. His swing is long, but he generates plus power and is a good baserunner with well-above-average speed. He has struggled in the South Atlantic League this year across the board. Though he has the physical tools to stay at short, it remains to be seen how his body develops and whether he outgrows the position. The Phillies also acquired two players from the Yankees' Gulf Coast League affiliate, athletic catcher Jesus Sanchez and hard-throwing right-hander Carlos Monasterios, both of whom are so far away that they're more pre-prospects than prospects.

So the three minor-league players the Phils acquired aren't going to help the big-league club until at least 2009 or 2010, and none is good enough to be the centerpiece for a subsequent deal. As a result, the Phillies haven't done anything to improve their club for
*** From a ESPN Insider Blog ***

[Luzinski's Gut]

On one hand this sucks and on the other I'm glad that it happened.

Abreu has been my favorite ballplayer since he arrived in Philly from Houston via Tampa. His consistency was his most admirable trait - you knew exactly what you were getting.

But he needed to move on, and the Phils need to recreate this team. Hopefully Gillick continues to use the scapel today to gut the rest of this insipid team.

We'll have $30M+ to spend in the offseason now. Flexibility is the name of the game when it comes to salary. Sometimes you need to make a bad deal in order to gain flexibility.