As the White Sox prepare for the second season of a dramatic rebuilding of the franchise, the biggest questions facing general manager Rick Hahn and his front-office team will be the futures of Jose Abreu and Avisail Garcia. As I noted last week when taking a look at some of the upcoming offseason needs for the Sox, both are controlled only through 2019, making it questionable as to whether they’ll be part of the next contending team or whether either is more of a trade piece than a building block. Abreu will earn a raise on this year’s $10.825MM in arbitration this offseason, while Garcia will get a bump on his own $3MM salary.
Hahn address both players’ futures at an end-of-season press conference yesterday, expanding a bit on the difficult nature of the decision at hand. Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago and Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune were among the reporters on hand for Hahn’s media address and has numerous quotes from the Chicago exec as well as from Abreu himself. Abreu hasn’t been shy about his desire to stick with the Sox through their rebuild in the past, and he was as blunt as ever yesterday in telling Hayes that he hopes to spend his entire career in a White Sox uniform. Whether that happens is largely up to Hahn and his staff, and the decision unsurprisingly isn’t an easy one for that group.
“Both Avi and Abreu are under control for the next two years, through 2019,” said Hahn (via Hayes). “I think even under the most optimistic projections of our ability to contend, certainly ’18 and ’19 don’t include the bulk of the time when we anticipate having a window open to us, so obviously with any player who isn’t controllable through the bulk of that window, we have to make an assessment.”
Hahn spoke about the possibility of extending one or both players but also the chance of marketing each in trades this offseason as a means of further amassing young talent with timelines that fall more into the 2020 and beyond target to which he alluded above.
“They’re both special cases, and there are very strong arguments for them playing roles in 2020 and beyond,” he continued, going on to stress the value they place on Abreu’s on-field contributions as well as his role as the team’s clubhouse leader. Garcia “is still very young in this game” said Hahn, adding that there’s some reason to believe that his 2017 breakout could very well become “the norm” for the 26-year-old moving forward.
Certainly, the Sox don’t have to make a definitive call on either player this winter. Hahn points to the team’s handling of Jose Quintana last offseason as an example of a player’s market not coming together in the winter but more strongly forming at the July non-waiver deadline.
“It’s not me just dancing around or being cute,” said Hahn. “There isn’t a firm answer right now. We don’t know what the options are. One of them conceivably is extending, and we have to wait and see what that cost entails.”
One thing that does seem clear, especially in the wake of a shoulder operation that could sideline Carlos Rodon for as much as the first two months of the 2018 season, is that the Sox will need some veteran rotation reinforcements. Chicago also decimated its Major League bullpen on the trade market, and while they’ve received solid contributions from unexpected sources such as Gregory Infante and Juan Minaya, they’ll still have some work to do on that front.
“It’s going to be about being opportunistic,” Hahn said of his offseason search for bullpen arms (via Kane), “and perhaps there’s another arm to fill into the rotation that makes some sense for us.” Hahn spoke specifically about veteran additions being able to provide some “cushion” to allow younger arms to further develop. While Reynaldo Lopez, Lucas Giolito and possibly Carson Fulmer could all be in the rotation early next year, the Sox seemingly could benefit from another veteran to pair with James Shields as they wait for Michael Kopech, Spencer Adams, Alec Hansen and/or Tyler Danish to prove ready for an extended look at the big league level.
There are quite a few more quotes from Hahn within each column from Hayes and Kane, so readers are encouraged to check out each in full.
Not selling high on Avi is either poor GMing or just hoping this wasnt a fluke
False. It’s what happens when other GM’s won’t pay your price. White sox let no one go for cheap. They would rather hope avi has a great 1st half of 2018 and move him then or re-sign.
^ this. there isn’t really a market for bat-first corner outfielders with relatively little team control.. case in point – JD Martinez and Justin Upton (not perfect examples given 6 months of control vs. 2 years, but superior players)
The babip for Garcia has to come down. I was waiting all year for it to happen and it just kept getting higher. Other teams have the same information though, if they really won’t give the Sox anything of value in return you might as well see if he can sustain it for at least half a year and then maybe you’ll get someone to bite. If the alternative is some fringe prospect you might as well keep him.
Yah, he should take any mediocre offer he gets just so he can “sell high.”
Anyone commenting about how not selling high on a cheap, mid-20’s player with a ton of potential is a failure for the GM, despite not knowing anything about any offers coming in, is poor commenting.
He obviously would prefer to sell high and get a legit prospect or two, but assuming nobody is convinced Avi has officially turned a corner yet (pretty safe assumption), he absolutely should hold onto him. Personally, I wouldn’t start extension talks unless he’s doing this again mid way through next season, but it’d be stupid to get rid of him just to get rid of him.
Not really what the Sox are looking for. Lol
I think they took down the “Abreu for Gardner and headley” swap at the mercy of mlbtr readers everywhere
Yeah I saw it and knew it was nothing more than a troll proposal so just cut it to avoid the inevitable argument that it’d spawn.
Jackie Bradley Jr. and a “middle” prospect for Abreu. Move Benintendi to centre and sign JD Martinez in free agency to play left.
Bradley only has one more year of control than Abreu and is coming off his worst full season in the Majors. If the Sox move Abreu, it’s going to be for multiple players that they can control for five to six years.
Not necessarily. White sox like JBJ. Not a terrific year with bat-outstanding with the glove. Hardly a terrible year.
I was referring to his worst full season with the bat. And I know they like Bradley — a lot of teams do.
But the Sox aren’t going to trade a player they’ve essentially dubbed the captain of their current team for a center fielder with only one extra year of team control and one mid-tier prospect.
Rick Hahn specifically suggested that the dilemma they’re facing is if they should extend Abreu and Garcia or trade them for players they can control into 2020 and beyond. Bradley is controlled through only 2020 — he’s just not at all the type of asset that the Sox are looking to acquire right now. That doesn’t mean they don’t like him, but there’s no realistic scenario where they trade Abreu and the centerpiece of the deal for them is an arb-eligible player with three years of control instead of Abreu’s two.
There is something to be said for swapping MLB assets for the extra year of control however. I think you’re right, I’m just playing devil’s advocate here. The Sox probably start to try to compete in ‘20, and even if they don’t, if they don’t find something to their liking for Abreu, flipping him for JBJ and a prospect makes a lot of sense as JBJ could be flipped at a future point and still have 2 years of control, where Abreu’s value is pretty much contingent on the 2nd season or he’s just a rental bat.
Why do red sox fans think real life is fantasy baseball. You really think they can do all that?
Next you’ll hear Abreu for Swihart straight up with the white sox paying salary.
How many DH/1B types does Boston need?
How many do they have? Moreland’s a FA. Im only seeing Hanley Ramirez.
I say the ChiSox should keep Avisail. He’ll regress next year, probably. But if he puts up a good first half, then he’ll have a season and a half of above-average production. Leury Garcia falls into this category, too, though to a lesser extent.
Keep ’em, and if they cement their value next year, trade them at the deadline. If not, hey, at least we fans will have a couple more compelling reasons to watch the major league team.
I think the market for RF Avisail Garcia and 1B Jose Abreu is better than most think. There are quite a few free agent cornet OFs and 1B this offseason which means that there are just as many openings. A team may prefer to deal from their farm vs from their wallets to fill theses needs,
Even with virtually no batters in front or behind him, Abreu still had 340+ total bases and 100+ RBI and perhaps better than all available FA. Garcia had a break-out season offensively and won’t be 27 until next mid season. He may have the strongest OF arm in MLB and come much cheaper than a comparable FA,
The ChiSox are high on Adam Engel and will prefer to play him through his development.
Given his age I can see Hahn trading Abreu in less than a year. He’ll be in his mid 30s by the time this team matures into a perennial winner.
As a Sox fan, That comment from Hahn about the Sox window of contention was very heartening to hear.. Glad they get it and aren’t tempted to jump the gun like in ’15.
The likelihood of Abreu going anywhere is a bit of a stretch. Why?
-Good producer
-Good teammate/captain
-‘Affordable’, especially when the rest of the team is making next to nothing for the next few seasons.
-Money is not everything with him (or you would have likely heard gripes from him in the off season of how ‘low’ his salary is, or you would hear him complaining about how the Sox are rebuilding).
The likelihood of Garcia going anywhere in the off-season is a stretch. Why?
-Had one good season after 3 mediocre ones. Teams are not going to offer what Hahn will want until Garcia can prove he can do this for more than one season. If he comes out strong next year then maybe (that is off course if the Sox are not competing next season). If he doesn’t? Well the Sox are not paying him much and they probably would not get much for him, which is where they are at now.
Now, Hahn has always said that if he thinks he can get the value he is looking for then no player is ‘safe’ but I think Abreu’s intangibles make him too valuable for Hahn, at least in Hahn’s eyes, to give him up for less than he wants..