Good morning, Mets fans!
Rough loss last night. I was there to watch my school sing the National Anthem, but left fairly early in the game with my friends (who aren’t Mets fans, so are they really my friends?), in part due to the freezing cold. But I was definitely there for the first inning, when Bobby Abreu cracked a two-run homer to right field.
I like Bobby Abreu. In my recap of Thursday’s game, I wrote about how the Mets need veteran leadership on the bench, “and guys like Rick Ankiel don’t count”.
I really meant that. When the Mets were a solid team they had veterans on board, from Moises Alou, to Cliff Floyd, to Paul Lo Duca, to Marlon Anderson (I’m still not over that BS interference call in Philadelphia), to Jose Valentin, and even to the ancient Julio Franco.
The Mets need guys on the team who have been around the game and seen both the good and the bad. In recent seasons, our bench “hitters” have been Nick Evans, Mike Baxter, Mike Nickeas, and the like.
Bobby Abreu isn’t one of those guys. Bobby Abreu is a former star who adds a meaningful veteran pretense to the club. And here’s the thing: Abreu knows how to hit. You never lose that. He may not have the speed, the reflexes, and the strength he once had, but you never forget how to hit a baseball. Many players with the the raw talent needed to be stars in the league— including a certain first baseman now playing in Pittsburgh— never really learned in the first place.
Abreu has a good eye, the ability to hit to all parts of the field, and he still has a bit of pop as well. He has been making solid contact with the ball, and even if his athleticism has fallen off of a cliff since his days as an All-Star, he can still contribute. The Mets need more guys like Bobby Abreu filling out the edges of their ball club. Sorry, Nick Evans.
Have a great day, Mets fans! Hopefully we can get a win this afternoon and take the series. I’ll be back after the game with the recap!
