Dodgers Reportedly In 'Serious Talks' With Bobby Abreu

The first transaction of the Stan Kasten era in Los Angeles could be a minor one. The Dodgers are reportedly in "serious talks" with Bobby Abreu, according to both Jon Heyman of CBS Sports and Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.

Rosenthal reported that the 38-year old Abreu would primarily be a bench bat and occasionally play the outfield.

The two left-handed bats currently on the Dodgers bench are Tony Gwynn Jr. and Adam Kennedy, so the Dodgers are desperately lacking left-handed power, but it's not like Abreu would provide that, as he slugged .365 for the Angels last season.

Abreu began the season 5-for-24 and was released last Friday by the Angels, to make room for Mike Trout. The Angels are responsible for Abreu's $9 million salary this season, so any team that signs Abreu would only be responsible for a pro-rated share of the minimum salary of $480,000.

Abreu did post a .353 on-base percentage last season and a .352 OBP in 2011, and those happen to be his worst two seasons he had since 1997.

For a team starved for on-base percentage outside of Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and the Ellis brothers, picking up Abreu seems like a reasonable low cost move for the Dodgers. As long as the Dodgers don't roll the dice and re-sign Abreu after this season, as they have with other low-cost short-term heroes that didn't work the second time around, like Juan Rivera, Jay Gibbons, Ronnie Belliard, and Marlon Anderson.