For the past nine seasons, Jose Abreu has been a White Sox mainstay, serving as their primary first baseman and displaying uncanny durability by appearing in 93.6% of the team’s possible games. With his three-year, $50MM contract now drawing to a close, however, it’s fair to wonder whether the 35-year-old (36 in January) has played his final game with the ChiSox. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote recently that the Sox plan to let Abreu move on in free agency this winter, and Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times offers a similar sentiment, writing that the Sox are planning to move Andrew Vaughn back to his natural position, first base.
Certainly, there’s room for both Vaughn and Abreu on the roster, but such an arrangement inherently pushes the Sox to divide first base, designated hitter and corner outfield duties between Abreu, Vaughn and slugger Eloy Jimenez. Both Vaughn and Jimenez are among the game’s worst-ranked defenders in the outfield. Jimenez has posted -15 Defensive Runs Saved and -16 Outs Above Average in 1957 career innings in the outfield. Vaughn effectively matched those totals (-14 DRS, -16 OAA) in 2022 alone, through just 645 innings. Moving on from Abreu would allow Vaughn to play his natural position with Jimenez seeing the lion’s share of playing time at designated hitter.
Also telling is Van Schouwen reporting that the Sox’ decision to re-sign Abreu the last time he reached free agency, following the 2019 season, was a decision directly from owner Jerry Reinsdorf. The front office “was not 100% behind” the idea of re-signing Abreu to a long-term deal, but Reinsdorf himself put forth the $50MM offer to Abreu after the slugger had accepted a one-year, $17.8MM qualifying offer.
On the one hand, that ownership-driven decision saddled the team with some less-than-ideal defensive alignments for the next three seasons. Jimenez was already established at the time of the signing. Vaughn had already been drafted and was widely expected to be a fast riser through the system. There was no clear defensive fit on the roster for all three.
On the other, Abreu more than justified the expenditure, playing all but 15 of the White Sox’ games over that three-year term and posting a combined .289/.366/.489 slash (137 wRC+). He was the decisive first-place finisher in 2020 American League MVP voting and followed that with a 30-homer campaign in 2021. Even this past season, as Abreu’s power dipped, he topped a .300 batting average and struck out in a career-low 16.2% of his plate appearances.
That said, merely writing off this year’s power outage would be an oversimplification. Abreu’s .304/.378/.466 batting line was still excellent (137 wRC+), but he turned in a career-high 47.9% ground-ball rate and elevated the ball with diminishing frequency as the summer wore on. He hit just four home runs after the All-Star break and only six from July 1 through season’s end. Two years removed from hitting 19 home runs in the truncated 60-game season and watching a Herculean 32.8% of his fly-balls leave the yard for home runs, Abreu hit just 15 homers through 157 games and saw that HR/FB ratio plummet to 9.6%.
Again, there’s little denying that Abreu’s end-of-the-day results in 2022 remained excellent, but they were buoyed by a .350 average on balls in play that a plodding slugger of his ilk will be hard-pressed to sustain, particularly if nearly half his batted balls are hit on the ground. Furthermore, the White Sox and any other potential suitors will be more concerned with what they project him to do moving forward. If there are doubts about his ability to elevate the ball and rediscover his power stroke, that’ll weigh on his earning power in free agency. However, if other clubs are confident in his ability to either repeat his 2022 output or, even better, reestablish himself as an annual 30-homer threat, then Nelson Cruz has proven that there could be healthy paydays even into a player’s early 40s.
The other element to consider in Abreu’s future with the Sox, or lack thereof, is the team’s already bloated payroll. Chicago has $121MM in guaranteed money on next year’s books, per Roster Resource, and that’s before exercising Tim Anderson’s $12.5MM club option and before outfielder AJ Pollock likely exercises a $10MM player option. Add in a projected $27.4MM in arbitration salaries (courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz), and the South Siders are at a payroll of roughly $170MM, not including pre-arbitration players to round out the 26-man roster.
This past season’s $193MM Opening Day payroll was a franchise record, and the Sox are within striking distance of that sum before even making a single move to address the 2023 roster. Viewed through that lens, it’s less surprising that the Sox appear poised to move on from their longtime first baseman, even if it won’t be an easy sell for fans who’ve grown to love Abreu during his nine years with the team.
This has a Marlins overpay written all over it.
He’d be great with the community.
They need to do it
Astros
There’s definitely a home somewhere for Abreu, he’s still very productive, however, lose the chin tail, it’s nasty…
Curly old sport, what do you think, could the Halos use this guy somehow??
I say yes.. Walsh to left..
Derek Jeter Syndrome.
WELCOME, TO DETROIT !
The Tigers are effectively in worse positional situation than the White Sox, since 1B, DH and LF are already occupied by Torkelson, Cabrera and A. Meadows (each of them a lesser better than their Chicago counterparts). Torkelson’s stint as a 3B was already aborted in the minor leagues. Even with lesser offensive production Abreu would be the best Tigers’ hitter, but there is just no spot for him.
Gruß,
BSHH
Mr Abreu, Eric Neander is on the line.
Sorry, But GM’s don’t call and speak to a receptionist like they did in your favorite 60 thru 90’s sitcom. They have this thing called a cell phone.You should look into it. It’s been around for 20 some years.
@Winslow In case you didn’t know, he was being sarcastic.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, players do have agents. As you can clearly (or seemingly not) see, the comment you are flaying indicates a contact with ‘Mr. Abreu’.
Also, these things called ‘cell phones’ have been around for nearly 50 years…you should look into it.
Thank you to all MLBTR posters who did not upvote Winslow’s attempt at getting attention.
One Bite, your profile pic scares the bejezus out of me…Looks like the face Leatherface had on in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I would prefer a pretty little butterfly, or a red Ferrari even.
As much as I love Abreu – the Sox cannot continue with 5 1b/dh playing all at the same time (C, 1b, DH, LF, RF), especially since the team isn’t great at any of the other positions (other than MAYBE CF, but with Robert always hurting, he wasn’t exceptional this year out there).
Love that Jerry couldn’t just let the people he hired make decisions – that seems so out of character for him! ;0)
Yup, even when you like a guy, and even when they are productive, you can’t have a team of DH’s.
Unless you’re the Phillies
The Philles now play good defense. If they didn’t they wouldn’t be in the NLCS.
By the way, before you post the same about their bullpen, I think you might want to look into how they’ve done the 2nd half of this season,,..along with the defense.
The Phillies do not play good defense.
Horrific GMing by the White Sox, what a cluelessly-ran team. Should have easily walked to the WS this year, but then what happens? Hire the WORST possible manager to run things, then proceed to make dumb move after dumb move….
How did they not move Andrew Vaughn to the A’s for pitching? Beane wants him badly and basically was lowballing everyone…
Spot on UK. No way they can surpass angels as worse ran large market franchise but WOW ! What an absolute terrible rebuild as they are clearly on the decline- even in that division
A’sfaninLexington is never spot on.
Maybe reread (or read) the article. It clearly states the front office wasn’t on board with the Abreu 3 year deal and, beyond that, it’s been well-documented that Larussa was Reinsdorf’s doing, despite Hahn having at least one candidate ready to be hired.
At some point in time, people need to understand that the Hahn and even Kenny Williams do not have the same autonomy to operate that other healthy organizations are afforded.
And? He has been easily their most productive player in the last 3 years.
Granted, Jerry did saddle them with LaRussa, so point taken.
No question about it. Abreu was productive at the plate, more so in the August and September months. The fact remains that the team won 2 playoff games in those three years. The $50 mil (which was largely considered an overpay at the time) perhaps would have been better used to plug a position of need instead of redundancy, as apparently others in the front office thought per this article.
Somehow, the less athletic Abreu has also been their healthiest player in the last 3 years…by far!
Was it Reinsdorf who gave Leury Garcia a 3-year deal?
Apparently you haven’t paid attention to this club the last three years. You don’t know anything about the team or it’s roster. They’re not getting to a WS playing awful defense, inconsistent pitching, overly aggressive at-bats with little to no power, and constant injuries up and down the lineup. Doesn’t matter who manages a team like that—it’s going nowhere. The Sox will need to make some trades and SPEND MONEY ON TALENT to get back in the running for the division title, let alone a deep playoff run.
Oh lord give it a rest. Lets break this down:
1) Pitching was not this team’s weakness this year. Defense, a lack of addressing these positional issues (which were present last year), one of the most horrendous offensive seasons collectively I’ve ever seen in my life, and INJURIES all contributed to this team being 500.
2) But yea…Montas would have had them going this year. The same Montas that the Yankess came close to leaving off their playoff roster. Sure…
3) Your trade made no sense at the time, less sense as the year went along, and is absolute gibberish now, even in hindsight. Say what you want about Hahn (there is plenty of deserved criticism) but he knows what he has with Vaughn
4) LaRussa, for better or worse, was on this team when they made the post season last year. He is a contributing factor to their terrible season at worst.
Bottom line is the guys that make up the core of the Sox for the past 3 years, Moncada, Robert, Anderson, Eloy, Abreu, Grandal, have played less than 10 games together. In 3 EFFING YEARS. Add that with no real answer at 2B and RF, no LH power (boy, Schwarber would have looked good…), and career lows in power from virtually everyone (not 1 20 HR hitter, highest RBI on team was 76…) and you can easily see why this team turned out to be a 500 team
Part of the reason is the Sox have a lot of unmotivated players on this roster, and most had guaranteed money in contract extensions. Eloy is a full time DH, whether he wants to believe it or not and showed he can hit when a full time DH as well. Moncada needs someone in his face every day to squeeze whatever they can out of him ( or at least to be able to trade him). Robert needs to become a conditioning rat, and get a conditioning staff for this club that get him (and the others) in shape and keep him (and them) that way. Anderson.. well he needs to go, his numbers are fools gold this past season, a lot of singles and could not drive runs in when needed (never mind two three error games this past season.. ugh), then factor in that he is someone who relies on his legs but could not keep them in shape all season. Hopefully Montgomery is ready next spring to take his place..I love Abreu, but his power numbers this past year-HR and RBIs- do not lie. Sure he hit .300 but was a liability on the base paths.. (when mcEwing was not confusing him for Anderson by sending him home to be out by a country mile) He was also the ‘leader’ of a team whose only consistency was being consistently bad.
Abreu to the Rockies as a DH has to be a thing, right? Add Abreu this year, and add Happ to CF next year, and they’ll be set.
Set to never contend with SD+LA? Yeah sure.
Assuk fan must be fun at parties
How come you Far Left types never understand sarcasm?
@JoeBrady Why do you Far Right types have to make everything political? Baseball is a nice safe subject people should be able to discuss without infusing politics at every chance. Good Lord there are enough places to discuss politics online, please do it there.
The Rockies already have way too many 1B/DH types already. They have Cron at 1B. Blackmon is likely going to be the DH most of the time. Plus, there are young guys in Toglia and Montero as well. I just don’t see where Abreu would fit in unless the Rox actually make a few necessary trades that is.
Every Rox transaction is unnecessary. They look at what the rest of the league is doing and actively try to do the opposite.
Rox tried to make a trade for Abreu but were unwilling to part with Brendan Rodgers, and while I’m not positive, I think the odds support me when I say I think Rodgers was injured, and the Rox still said no.
Someone will give this guy a one year 15mil contract to see what he has left in the tank.
@hulk. FWIW, $15M for one year of Abreu, would likely have about 25 MLB teams lined up to pursue. The man can hit and is a positive influence in any clubhouse.
It’d be far greater value than anything the Rangers did last year.
@Dogbone agreed! Id love to see in a Rangers uniform.
Gosh, maybe they pitched to him differently?
Honestly, the stat geeks have to look at both sides of the equation instead of analyzing in a bubble of ignorance about other factors.
Because, other things do NOT remain equal.
Yeesh.
there are three types of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics…
The “WHITE” Sox front office has expertise at another type of lie. Just saying…
A great pure hitter.
But the Sox should have done this years ago.
Hey Sam, agreed. Sox didn’t win a WS when in his prime, now on the decline. Time to go young.
C Yards Jeff;
Respected by his teammates as a leader. But a terrible defensive 1B that cost his team.
Forget the lack of power – he can hit and will drive in runs. The man should be strictly a DH. He can help stagnant offenses in Miami, Tampa Bay, Milwaukee and elsewhere. It all depends on what he can get in salary and the other moves teams are making this offseason.
He was bad defensively early in his career, but this year, he was 3rd among 1B in OAA and I read that over the last 3 seasons, he’s 2nd. As for his power, check out his exit velocity and barrel rate numbers. It’s his launch angle that was at a career worst. If that gets back up to 10.5 or better, he’ll get his share of HR’s again.
I watch the games.
He’s poor at defense and plays he doesn’t make that should be made turn the momentum of games around. It also causes pitches to use up their allotted pitches earlier in the game – the cumulative result is to put too much strain on the bullpen, so that when they’re stretched the manager has to leave his starters in longer. .
Publicly available defensive statistics are a joke. When you find one that tracks the above situation (for all defensive players), please post here. I believe that many = if not all – MLB teams have proprietary systems that pick that sort of thing up as well as others.
Samuel’s eye test < advanced defensive metrics.
Abreu failed your eye test? I think maybe you need to watch more games. He is very solid a 1B.
Which games do you watch?
Tough decision but it is the right move to put the best team on the field for the Sox.
Depending on how the Abreu market develops, the Guardians could be a good fit. They usually value defensive flexibility but they sure could use a steady RH bat.
You can’t stop Father Time. Jose Abreu will play next season at age 36.
—or so.
Should have traded Abreu 2 years ago and put Vaughn at first base then. Trading Abreu would not have been tearing the team down, it would have been selling him at his peak. You could have gotten a nice package for him, put Vaughn at first, Eloy at DH, and gotten 2 outfielders that didn’t have their shoes nailed to the grass. But it just fits into the current narrative that flexibility is easy for everyone to do.
I maintain that playing a guy at his natural position is far better in most cases. It’s hard enough to learn to hit major league pitching, but to have to try and learn it while playing a new defensive position is just that much harder. Playing defense should be mentally automatic at the big league level. The more a player has to think about a move, the less likely he is going to complete the move in time.
hlflew — So trade him after an MVP season?
No…trade him after 2 really good months. There was no MVP “season.”
I’d like you to have a talk with Craig Counsell please
Trust me, if I had any pull at all I would be talking to the Rockies Bud Black first. I have a feeling they are going to do the same exact thing with CJ Cron and Michael Toglia.
Hindsight is 20/20. After that year, the Sox thought they needed just a little more seasoning to really contend. You don’t trade one of your best players when your contention window is just opening. I get that, looking back at what actually happened, they’d be better off now if they’d traded him, but I try to judge decisions by the logic that went in at the time.
Now, they did have a team of 1B/DH types. They should’ve had Eloy and Vaughn split time at DH and had Abreu as the full-time 1B. Grandal only appearing as C. Trading Burger and Sheets wouldn’t have brought back much, but it would’ve eased some of the logjam. At the very least, letting Abreu go gives clarity to the lineup, provided they hire someone more competent than TLR to run things.
But trading Abreu didn’t have to be viewed as a step back. I would have seen it as trading from a strength to upgrade a weakness. For example, if they had picked up an established big league reliever in a package for Abreu, they could have avoided trading Nick Madrigal for Kimbrel. In my opinion, that deal hurt the Sox far more than any Abreu deal would have both in short and long term scenarios.
AJ Pollock will make $10M next year? Yikes.
Thats cold. Luckily the DH is in the NL now, so he can still stay in Chicago, where he is a perfect fit at DH/1B for the Cubs.
Signing Abreu to the just completed three year extension was the right move. While Vaughn had already been drafted and was widely expected to be a fast riser through the system.
…while Vaughn had already been drafted and was widely expected to be a fast riser through the system, that’s no reason not to retain an impact 1B’man in 2019. Abreu would then win the MVP and be a key member of the 2021 division winner. There was guarantee when Vaughn would arrive, and even now that he has, his offensive production so far has been below league average for a 1B’man.
The White Sox should move on now, especially that Abreu is three years older, but it was the correct decision to sign him three years back.
…while Vaughn had already been drafted and was widely expected to be a fast riser through the system, that’s no reason not to retain an impact 1B’man in 2019.
==============================
Actually, what happened, and I am not sure why it didn’t get mentioned, is that Vaughn probably wasn’t on the horizon in 2020. He had -0- AAA ABs. He had -0- AA ABs. He’s only had 212 minor league ABs.
He’d have been better served with at least a half-season of AA & AAA ABs. unfortunately, Eloy got injured. I don’t know the trail after that, but there is a good chance that Vaughn would not have been lost in the crowd of DHs.
Not trying to be provocative, and assume this will get me called names…..
Baseball is played in many countries around the world. Those countries have adapted individual style of play. For instance, Japan teams hold intensive fundamental drills for hours each day before a game.
I’ve noticed with Cuban position players coming to play in America that they don’t put much weight on fundamentals or strong defensive play. They mostly want to hit, feeling that a HR cures all ills (players other than Cubans do this as well).
Jose Abreu opened up the door for Cuban players coming to the White Sox. The organizations signs a lot, have many in the minors today. Abreu was a team leader that didn’t play good D and is a poor baserunner. A leader sets the tone.
The white sox have a rich history with Cuban and Latin American players. Minnie Minoso was an all time great and broke several barriers. I think the white sox winning the World Series with Jose Contreras and El Duque really shined a light on the franchise for Cubans. Alexei Ramirez and Dayan Viciedo signed with them after that. Abreu for sure is the most recent connection, but the white sox have long history
Minnie Minoso was an all time great and broke several barriers.
===================================
One of the best things I’ve heard about any player was that Clemente & Cepeda didn’t want to emulate Minnie, they wanted to be Minnie. That’s how awesome Minnie was. He’d be a rock star today riding around with the convertible down and the fedora on his head.
@Samuel
The White Sox also have and have had Cubans who can throw some leather.
Luis Robert is solid in CF having already won a Gold Glove in his rookie season. His issue, like most White Sox players is staying healthy.
Yoan Moncada wasn’t originally signed by the ChiSox but was traded for early on from Boston. He is an excellent defensive third baseman, much better than he was at 2B. For some (many?) reasons has regressed as a hitter.
The White Sox also have some Cubans who can pick it in their minor league system. AAA middle infielder Yolbert Sanchez was signed with MLB ready defensive grades. 3B Bryan Ramos could be the heir apparent to Moncada with good instincts to play the hot corner along with a gun for an arm. Speaking of arms, the ChiSox have two Cuban OF’s who have cannons, likely 2023 RF Oscar Colas along with countryman Yoelqui Céspedes.
In the recent past, Cuban Alexei Ramirez graded out as an above average SS who also earned a couple of Silver Slugger Awards.
Not intended as a burn, Samuel. And I don’t know enough about every Cuban expat playing professional ball here to comment on their collective focus on fundamentals.
But perhaps because international players are often so much more advanced than the average players in their home countries that many are incentivized toward hitting and away from positions higher up the defensive spectrum to reach the major leagues more quickly.
Some of the very best in Cuba may have been as superior to their Cuban counterparts as Bryce Harper was to his U.S. peers and moved to less demanding defensive positions to accelerate their path to full-time ABs in the majors (as Harper did by moving from C to the OF immediately upon signing).
so true and I agree
He could be an interesting fit for the RS. JD is gone, with no obvious DH candidate. And he would allow us to break in Casas against the easier lefties, while Abreu plays 1st 10-15x a year. He’s on the decline, but in my way of thinking, it means we pay him less, and have fewer other teams willing to take a chance on someone 36 years old.
Rick Hahn had already indicated that the White Sox were more likely to be active in the trade market this offseason than in free agency. Trading one of Andrew Vaughn or Eloy Jimenez could still provide an avenue to re-sign Jose Abreu. Even if Pito leaves, the front office still might pull the trigger on a trade involving one of those two players in order to improve the roster elsewhere.
A blockbuster deal for Shohei Ohtani would be one example where the White Sox can address two of their primary needs by acquiring a needed impact left-handed bat and a quality starting pitcher. Clearly it would take more than Jimenez or Vaughn to get the Angels attention but either would be a compelling centerpiece for potential trade.
Hahn had also indicated it may be time for a bigger shakeup on the roster even if it involved parting with players the organization had previously deemed central to their core. This might include Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada and Lucas Giolito to name a few. After last season’s disappointment there are few if any ‘untouchables’ on the White Sox roster.
I agree with your thought process but Shohei is going to be the first $500M player and for a franchise that has never topped $75M on a deal, it’s just a pipe dream—unless you are ALL IN for 2023.
Every team in baseball should be in on Shohei if he’s available, but only few will be in the ballpark when it comes to contract time.
Much of the White Sox decision making this off-season will be based on the FACT that they have no excess payroll to spend. Abreu isn’t coming back as he’s more than the budget allows for, and Ohtani is not even a dream.
I’d say Cease is as close to untouchable as the Sox have. (For the record, I don’t believe in any player being truly untouchable, unless league rules make him unavailable in trades. That word just means very, very expensive.) After that, I’d try to hold on to Robert, but everyone else can go.
I don’t think they have a realistic shot at Ohtani, but if they did, AV or Eloy might be closer than you think to getting it done, considering Ohtani’s price tag for the year and the much longer control over AV and Eloy.
Personally, I’d rather trade Vaughn than let Pito walk. The Sox don’t have a history of spending money wisely and by trading AV, they could at least fill in a hole at 2B or RF. Plus, everyone’s pointing to his power numbers being down, but nobody seems to look at why. Hard-hit rate is 97th percentile, Avg Exit Velo is 93rd, Max Exit Velo is 89th, and xSLG is 92nd. His launch angle dipped to 8.0 (career of 10.4). If he goes back up to his norm, he’ll hit 25+ HR’s again. I wouldn’t sign him long-term, but two years with a team option seems reasonable.
Giolito wants to test free agency, so he definitely should be traded.
Lucas Giolito is entering his walk year so it behooves him to pitch like he did in 2019, 2020 and 2021 when he garnered CYA votes as an ace starting pitcher. Thus far he possesses a resume that is either boom (2019-2021) or bust (2018 and 2022). Because of his poor past season his trade stock is down from what it was prior to 2022, to say nothing of his expected arbitration price tag in 2023.
That said, Giolito still retains decent trade value with his recent string of ace seasons. He may have more value for the White Sox this year as he heads toward free agency.
I understand what you’re saying.
I’m just overdosed on players who are boom or bust. Grew up watching pitchers such as Billy Pierce, Joel Horlen, Gary Peters, etc.
Have seen too many ‘can’t miss’ rookies fail to live up to their hype. Giolito is just another in a long string of them.
Perhaps it’s because there are 30 teams so the player pool is watered down. Most players today wouldn’t be in the majors when there were only 18 teams. The combination of this plus Jerry’s unwillingness to pay the better players what they’re worth is the reason the Sox are stumblebums.
Oops! Typo. There were only 16 teams when it was just the American League & National League.
No divisions. No playoffs, just straight to the World Series.
Sox need speed and defense. Tito as manager would be a nice addition.
Hahn and Williams need to start watching Fox Saturday baseball. Give them credit assembled a nice slow pitch softball team.
If you wanted Tito, you shouldn’t have hired Ventura…
This has Astros all over it. Even with the reduced power he fits the production they have been getting at 1b both offensively and defensively in Guirriel.
Abreu will be fine where ever he lands and the Sox will still have their same problems, but not be able to blame Abreu for them after this year. It will not be the Cubs.
Time to clean house
Paging billy eppler on line 1
I wish I had even 1% of faith that Pirates management would actually try to bring him in. He’d be a good fit at either 1B or DH and great leader for guys like Oneil Cruz, Roansy Contreras, and Rodolfo Castro.
Maybe he’ll take over at first base for Houston next year when they move on from Yuli Gurriel? I could see Abreu getting a 1 year deal with a team option for a second year from them. 1 year/$15 million, with something like a $10 million option for 2024 and a buyout of like $2 million?
He was worth 3.9fWAR this year, despite fewer HR’s. He’ll cost more than that.
Giants need to let Belt walk, DFA LaStella, and sign Abreu for 1B/DH. If I have to watch LaStella take another at bat as a DH when he is a terrible hitter I’m going to rip my eyes out.
I would take this swap any day. And it kinda makes sense considering there is no clear successor to Belt at 1B ready for 2023. That said, getting younger seems to be the direction SF wants to go, so unless they think they are WS ready this may not work out well long term.
The Mets need a DH, welcome Jose Abreu
I’d like to see Atl sign him to DH and kick Ozuna to the curb.
Abreu was 2nd amongst 1B in hits and 5th in OPS..he will find a home quickly. People complain about his fielding when he has a 3b and SS throwing balls all over the place at him. This teams problem is NOT Abreu and not signing is not making this team better.
Welcome to Baltimore.
Baltimore would be the perfect fit for Abreu and the Orioles. Experienced professional hitting DH with .no long term commitment that can help protect some of those young hitters in a line up.
Hard to believe Abreu is 35 already.
Is eloy 140 ops for half the games better than jose 130 ops in all of the games?
Keep in mind that when you miss games, it mucks with your timing and a lot of guys come back while still not feeling 100%. A full season of Eloy could be more like 150-160 OPS+. I’m just hoping he can finally stay healthy if he’s a full-time DH.
Ah the “could be” argument. A useful crutch for someone arguing a point without any real backing.
abreau is a dh at this point.
Nelson cruz is probably cheaper.
How does vaugh rate as a minus war on those numbers? not great but decent. 271 17/76/.750 ops
pollak hit way less and is a plus war.
I’m thinking that the WS need a little over-the-top spending. The status quo is probably an 85+ win team. With the Cubs weakened, it is time to invest in the team, and try to capture a better share of the Chicago market.
They are where Philly was last year. The reason why Philly made the playoffs is that they added $40M in payroll. It doesn’t matter as much if they are good or bad signings. What matters is that it took them from .506 to .537 I’m not always a spend-big type, but at certain points, you have to tank, and at certain points, you have to go all-in.
This year represented a team record in payroll, which is part of what makes it so disappointing. A lot of the spending was foolish, too. Kelly, picking up Kimbrel’s option (turning him into Pollock helped, but would’ve been better to throw that money at a FA RF), and even Graveman, considering BP wasn’t their greatest area of need at the time.
My guess is the FO will avoid any big FA signings, pocket the money saved by letting Abreu go, and just do minor deals for Andrus or a placeholder RF until Colas is ready. Welcome to another fun-filled WS offseason.
For all the blame WS fans place on Reinsdorf, it’s comments like this that show just how incompetent Rick Hahn has been.
Moncada’s contract ($41 mil + over the next two years) is untradeable and Giolito is one year from FA. Add in Pollock exercising his $10 mil option….also making him untradeable,, Grandal’s $18 mil in 2023, same for Lance Lynn, and you have a whole bunch of players that the Sox can’t move without accepting a minimal return, or JR eating some payroll (Never going to happen). Simply, the Sox have very little wiggle room. for trades…..especially in that they wouldn’t want to move Cease, Kopech, or Hendricks. After that their tradeable pieces, Robert and Jiminez can’t stay on the field for more than about 90 games a season, and there’s no money for major FA acquisitions. And I’m a die hard Sox fan.
If there’s a bright side here, it’s that this will be the last year for Giolito, Pollock, and Grandal. Lynn’s been worth it. Dismal start to the year, but that was due to injury and he recovered nicely once he got right. Too bad they have a lot more time with Moncada, though.
With all that money coming off the books for 2024, if the White Sox have aspirations of fielding a contending team in 2023 then they should look at trading for one year rentals for 2023 Two that come to mind, both LH bats, would be Rafael Devers (3B) and Ian Happ (RF). Swap Giolito and a good prospect (Jake Burger?) for Devers (RS looking for starting pitching), and then 2 very good to very very good prospects for Happ. Solve your RF and LH bat problems, and swing Moncada to 2nd.. Along with resigning Andrus, to flex around the infield, and maybe have yourself a year in 2023.
Jake Burger is not a good prospect.
Moncada sucked at second.
Look at Moncada’s career batting line……definitely not what you want out of a 3rd baseman……but OK at 2nd base (.255 BA, 16 hr, 63 RBI avg based on 500 AB per year). So choose your poison…..a below average hitting 3rd baseman or a below average fielding 2nd baseman. I would like to see Moncada play the flex role that Leury Garcia (ugh), played this year….some 2nd, some outfield, some 3rd base. On a championship caliber team he is nothing more than that.
You know the old defense rule:
Strong up the middle.
” He was the decisive first-place finisher in 2020 American League MVP voting…”
or maybe just, “He was the the 2020 AL MVP.”
I know this site has always been excessively verbose but we’re getting into self-parody territory.
A lot of teams will go after him, but only teams that are close to something and\or need leadership (maybe a young, up and coming team). Either way, Jose will get paid a lot, too. He is a great guy, can hit and does not get enough defensive acknowledgement. With that said, it’s time for everyone to move and and forward. Vaughn, Sheets and Eloy are our future first basemen, period. Good luck Jose, we will miss you and root for you when you are not playing us. LOL. Next issue…..
Farhad has him ready on speed dial
Teams are committing to younger players – am curious if his market value drops significantly
This guy won MVP two years ago and now the White Sox are gonna let him walk?
Lot’s of teams would love to have this guy and Miami will be first in line.
I will for sure miss him but it is time to move on. Vaughn to 1B and Sheets to DH leaving them to upgrade 2b and the outfield. Pollock can be the 4th outfielder. I would look to move on from Moncada too but that would be too much work for the white sox. They will just add bullpen guys again.
The best thing I can say about them is that we saw them win the World Series in 2005. I doubt that anyone old enough to collect SS will see them do it again.
I’ve given up watching them. Haven’t stopped caring, but quit watching and going to games. Read their website after the game to learn the outcome and watch the highlights. It’s the least I can do, just as the front office does the least it can. Quid pro quo, Jerry.
Astros move on from Yuli, sign Abreu for 1B. You heard it here first.