Bobby Socks!!!

Bobby Abreu was 5 for 5 last night against the O's. Bobby's been hitting the ball well lately. Well, actually he's been pretty consistent all year. Which leads me to the question:

Will the Yanks resign him?

Abreu leads the Yankees in RBI's with 82. He's hitting .292 with runners in scoring position. With runners in scoring position and 2 outs he's hitting .396. Offensively, he may be the Yanks MVP this year.

Bobby doesn't hit for a lot of power anymore but he really never has been that much of a power hitter. Playing during the Steroid Era, he hit over 30 HR's only twice in his career. Over the course of his career he averages 22 HR's over 162 games played. I think winning the Home Run Derby one year made lots of people think, myself included, that he was big slugger. But he's not. He's a high on base percentage, spray the ball to all fields type of hitter.

Defensively, he catches what's hit at him (and not much else) and he's got a fairly strong, accurate arm. His base stealing has been poor this year. He's 14 out of 24 and since he hits in front of one of the best hitters ever, he really needs to be more judicious in when he runs. But all in all, he's a good baserunner.

I've been saying that the Yanks shouldn't resign Abreu for next year. But now, I'm thinking they should. I wouldn't want to give him more than 2 years and nowhere near the $16 million he's making this year. But there aren't a lot of corner outfielders that would be available to replace him. And there are no prospects in the Yankee farm system ready to take over.

The Yanks have a lot decisions to make this offseason. Mussina, Pettitte, Giambi, Abreu and Ivan Rodgriguez are free agents. Will they go after C.C. Sabathia? Or Mark Texiera?

But for a team that has struggled scoring runs all year, it would be somewhat foolish to let your most consistent hitter go to free agency. I hope they resign him.

Tyler Kepner of the NY Times had his take on Abreu here.