The White Sox avoided arbitration with Jose Abreu. The slugger signed a one-year $13 million contract.
The Chicago White Sox agreed to terms on a one year $13 million contract with first baseman Jose Abreu. That means the parties avoided arbitration and Abreu is under contract for this upcoming season. The deal seems like a modest one considering his value to the franchise. He made only $10.825 million in 2017.
Abreu and his representatives made a smart choice by opting into arbitration but it seems like they may have settled. He could have made more in arbitration. MLBtraderumors.com had him projected at $17.9 million.
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It will be good to have Abreu with the team moving forward. But what some fans might be looking for is an extension. The slugger will have one more year of arbitration in 2019 before becoming a free agent. To his credit, Abreu had repeatedly said he would like to stay with the White Sox during the rebuild. So maybe we’ll see Rick Hahn take him up on that.
It is also saying something if Abreu was willing to sign for just $13 million. It is a lot of money but for a guy who put up .304 with 33 home runs and 102 RBIs last season, you can safely say he’s being paid under market value. That says a lot when a guy is willing to make less than what he can.
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The White Sox should be in a great position to extend Abreu or resign him when he hits free agency after 2019. That may seem like premature but teams really need to plan for their future. I’m sure internally the Sox have had discussions on what they would like to do with him. It would be nice to see Abreu signed long term. It would definitely give the fans something else to be excited about and he is a great leader amongst the younger guys.