Miller: Your Job Sucks, and So Does Bobby Abreu's

Thursday night, I went to sleep assuming that Bobby Abreu would shortly be traded from the Angels to the Indians. That was the rumor, and when rumors include words like "verge", they tend to have substance.

Friday morning, I woke up to news that Bobby Abreu would probably not be traded from the Angels to the Indians. When rumors include words like "verge", they are not guaranteed. With that said, though, even if Abreu isn't leaving Anaheim for Cleveland, he's probably going to end up leaving Anaheim for somewhere, because now Anaheim has Albert Pujols and Kendrys Morales, and Abreu doesn't have playing time coming his way. And that makes Abreu upset.

Over at Baseball Prospectus, Sam Miller writes about the position in which Abreu has found himself. This doesn't have a ton to do with the Indians trade rumor itself, but it is related and it is good. An excerpt:

As it turns out—and this might not be news to you, but maybe it is—jobs are the worst. Your job is the worst, of course; that’s not news to you. You are underappreciated, and your boss is stupid, and your coworkers are always stealing your lunch, and you aren’t paid what you’re worth, and you don’t get to spend as much time relaxing as you wish you could, and you have to go to Oakland three times a year, and you feel like you’re just wasting your days. But, actually, all jobs are the worst. Bobby Abreu’s job is the best job in the world, and Bobby Abreu is unhappy over some petty noise like whether he’s being properly respected. This is what work does to us. All work. All of us.

Many pieces at BP are behind a paywall, but this one isn't, and it'll take you five minutes. Go ahead and put those five minutes to better use than you were going to.

Bobby Abreu Trade Is 'Dead Or On Hold'

Hold on there, Ohio. Don't go crazy with the Bobby Abreu custom jerseys just yet. I mean, if you already had a Winston Abreu jersey, you can probably dig it out of the closet, but then you're probably Winston Abreu, and you don't really care about the Indians that much anymore. From Angels beat writer Mike DiGiovanna:

Bobby Abreu trade appears to be dead or on hold. Abreu is in the #Angels lineup and batting sixth today against #Diamondbacks.

— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) March 30, 2012

If a trade were imminent, you'd expect Abreu to be sitting out, lest he get hit in the noggin with a baseball or something like that. But if Abreu's in the lineup, you'd expect that the trade can't be that close.

Of course, this is spring training, and lineups for these games are released really, really early. The game isn't scheduled to start for another four-and-a-half hours. A lot could happen between now and then.

Like a three-way deal that's expanded to include Ervin Santana and the Red Sox? Well, I just made that up, but you could repeat the rumor and just say that it came "according to a source." That's how the Internet works and we're better for it.

Rosenthal: Bobby Abreu, Indians Trade Has '50-50' Chance

Think I'm going to start a fantasy league for baseball's rumor peddlers. You get to draft national and local writers, and for every story broken, your writer gets a point. For every rumor successfully debunked, a point. Maybe there can be a category about ballpark-food complaints, too.

And if I have first pick, I'm taking Ken Rosenthal. Easy call. And when it comes to the rumor that the Cleveland Indians are close to acquiring Bobby Abreu, Rosenthal sheds some light on just how close that deal is:

A deal is not certain to be completed, with one source describing the possibility as "50-50." The hangup, the source said, is how much of Abreu’s $9 million salary the Angels would include in the trade.

The Indians would use Abreu as a roaming corners guy -- manning left field, right field, and DH depending on the day's pitcher -- but they don't need him. They have Shelley Duncan to play left and when Grady Sizemore comes ba ... okay, maybe they need Abreu a little bit.

But considering Abreu isn't quite as adroit in the field as he once was, and considering he was just a shell of what you'd expect last year at the plate, the Indians have no interest in paying him a lot of money. Just how much they're willing to pay is what's holding up the deal.

Bobby Abreu On Verge Of Being Traded To Indians, According To Report

Bobby Abreu is basically out of a job with the Angels. The Indians are looking for some help in the outfield. There's a decent match, and it looks like a trade will come to fruition.