Stark: Big names who might be on the move

Guess who’s not on this list? Who else - Octavio Dotel.

•  Bobby Abreu

An executive of one NL team predicted recently: “There’s no team in baseball more likely to make a deal this spring than the Angels.”

It’s not all Albert Pujols’ fault, but Pujols’ arrival did set off a ripple effect that leaves this team with too many first-base/outfield/DH guys to fit on one roster, let alone one baseball field. So somebody has to go, and Abreu sure seems like the most logical player to move—if the Los Angeles Angels can find a team to take him.

That’s especially the case if Kendrys Morales is healthy enough to DH, because that would wipe out Abreu’s only real hope for playing time. The Angels don’t have any need or any reason to play him in the outfield.

Ideally, they would love to trade him for more bullpen inventory. But an official of one club that spoke with them reports “they’d do it for a middling prospect, just to move the money”—which happens to be $9 million, if you’re ringing your personal cash register at home.

Abreu, who turns 38 next month, can still draw a walk, steal a base (going 21-for-26 last year) and slap a ball up the gap. But he slugged a career-low .364 last season. And one scout who has seen a lot of him said this week: “He doesn’t drive the ball much anymore. He’s not very good in the outfield. And he makes a ton of money. So I really don’t think he’ll have much of a market.”