Chicago White Sox: Jose Abreu should be retained this offseason

The Chicago White Sox are likely going to make a lot of moves this offseason and one of them should be simply retaining their current power-hitting first baseman, Jose Abreu. 

The Chicago White Sox have put themselves in very strong position to make a lot of splashes this offseason with only $23.8 million committed to players at the moment, according to Spotrac.

While it is likely that the White Sox will be looking to make a splash, that should not come at the expense of keeping a player who has been there from the start of his career, Jose Abreu.

Abreu, 32, reached a special milestone in his career on Saturday night, getting his 1,000th hit and then later in the night recorded his 1,001st hit.

Meanwhile, the first baseman has been very productive really all season, hitting .278/.316/.498 (.815 OPS) with 28 home runs, 29 doubles, and 98 RBI.

Sure, his defense leaves a lot to be desired as he has -4 DRS and a -0.6 UZR this season, but the consistency of his bat in the middle of the White Sox order is something to be cherished.

However, keeping him actually has less to do with his overall production and more to do with his benefit to the team and organization as a whole.

Throughout this rebuild, the White Sox have been shifting people in and out of the organization with Jose Abreu now representing the longest-tenured player on the team.

The importance of that is he has been the only consistency this team has had, and removing that could be difficult for the younger players who could use some veteran experience in the clubhouse.

Yes, the team could simply sign players with experience, but  Abreu was actually once in a very similar position with this team as Eloy Jimenez, Tim Anderson, and Yoan Moncada, all players now trying to establish themselves in the league.

Having Abreu to help these guys along could be a major plus and given his well-known presence in the lineup, would take the burden off other players who might feel the need to become “the guy.”

The likelihood is that Abreu will get a deal similar to what was given to Jay Bruce prior to the 2018 season by the Mets given they have similar on-base skills outside of their power numbers, so something along the lines of three-years, $39 million could make sense.

The Chicago White Sox should do the right thing by Abreu and make sure he is with this team for at least the heavy majority of his career, if not the entirety of it.