White Sox, Jose Abreu Avoid Arbitration With One-Year Deal
By Matt Manetti
The White Sox avoided arbitration with slugger Jose Abreu. The two sides agreed to a one-year deal worth $10.825 million according to Phil Rogers of MLB.com.
The Chicago White Sox avoided arbitration with slugging first baseman Jose Abreu Phil Rogers of MLB.com tweets. It’s a one-year deal worth $10.825 million. Not bad for a guy coming off his worst season in the big leagues.
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The 29-year-old opted out of the six year $68 million contract he signed with the organization in 2013. His three remaining years will go into arbitration, so he remains under team control. This move benefited Abreu because he can make more money each season, if his numbers are good. He had three years and $34 million remaining on his original contract. In 2016 he made $11.667 million.
Abreu saw his numbers dip slightly in 2016, but he still managed to hit 25 home runs and drive in 100 RBIs. This was considered a down year for a guy who hit 36 and 30 home runs respectively in his first two seasons. He also saw his average go down since his rookie season, where he hit .317. Last season he hit only .293.
This really seems like a logical choice for the White Sox. Abreu has been their best offensive threat over the past three seasons. By all accounts, that is a pretty solid season. It’s just the expectations for him were so high because of his first two seasons. His name has come up in trade talks during this offseason, but there’s no reports saying the organization is actively shopping him. He’s another guy that could bring in a decent return, however.
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With the organization fully in rebuild mode, it was still nice to see them agree to terms with their best offensive threat. Offense is definitely an area of need for this team and a key part will be Abreu getting off to a hot start in 2017.