White Sox: Three reasons to keep Jose Abreu this offseason
The Chicago White Sox have a busy offseason ahead of them and one of the biggest things on the to-do list is to extend Jose Abreu.
The Chicago White Sox has been rebuilding for three seasons now and they believe that they are one good offseason away from being a good team. The outlook of 2020 is very positive if all things go according to plan. They already have a great young foundation that they are building around and look like a nice core that can lead a team once they are all fully mature and used to playing Major League Baseball.
It might be a smart idea to bring back Jose Abreu via a contract extension this winter. He has been the best player on this team for a long time and he deserves to see it through. All of the years he has spent on this team have ended with a losing record. He sat through a rebuild that saw some ugly baseball be played and he came to work every day with a smile on his face. He also performed as good as any first baseman in the American League in most of those years while playing on a bad team.
Now that he is a free agent, there are going to be lots of teams that want his services. He provides a huge bat in the middle of any lineup in the big leagues so the White Sox would do themselves justice to bring him back. He is an outstanding player that deserves a lot of money and a decent amount of term. He seems committed to the White Sox organization and wants to be there. These are the three main reasons that the White Sox should make that happen:
Leadership
The Chicago White Sox are a young bunch. They have lots of players that are young and are still finding their way in the big leagues. Although Jose has never made it to the postseason before in his career, he still knows what it is like to be a professional in big moments. He has proven time and time again that he can be a big-time player in big-time moments. There are lots of young players that need that sort of leadership around.
All winning Major League teams have a guy like Abreu on their team. Everyone needs a guy that can take control of a clubhouse and lead the way. Abreu has basically been the face of the White Sox since he arrived on the scene and is respected as such. There is also a sense of leadership that is put on players who are good. Sometimes your skills on the field land you into the role of a leader both on and off the field.
Abreu would likely be the de facto captain of the team if he were to come back. They don’t really have that many veteran players pre-free agency. Abreu is absolutely capable of doing that for this team as they start to try and be a really good baseball team.
Loyalty
Sometimes, it pays to be loyal. Jose Abreu has been an elite hitter for pretty much his entire career. When he is healthy he puts his heart and soul into being a member of the Chicago White Sox and has shown that from the second he took his first step into that clubhouse. It wasn’t necessarily easy for him either, because he was replacing a legendary player to the organization while he was trying to come into his own. Paul Konerko was still on the team and Jose slowly but surely started to take over.
He handled that pressure with dignity and class. He has been exactly what the White Sox needed for basically his entire tenure with the team. He really wasn’t a member of the team for a single good year. They had a losing record in every single one of his seasons while he was putting up monster numbers. There is no reason not to be loyal to Jose Abreu at this point in the game.
The rebuild is almost over if it isn’t already. There is a reason they didn’t trade him in a time where they easily could have. One would argue it would have been the right thing to do when guys like Chris Sale, Adam Eaton, Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier, and Melky Cabrera were all being dealt for prospect capital. Losing all of those good players made it known that some rough years were ahead and Abreu did it with a smile on his face. He deserves to see this through.
The Bat
The first two slides are of course very true and important reasons to keep Abreu. He is class personified and a great leader. With all of that said, the most important side of this business is winning. All of those intangibles that Abreu brings are awesome, but you need to be able to play to stick in this league and Abreu can play. He has been the best hitter on this team for a long time and he no longer even has to be.
There are so many better players hitting before and after him in the lineup now that it makes his job even easier. The White Sox took a large step in 2019 and it was in large part because Jose Abreu led the American League with 123 RBIs. The RBI title is no joke and he should be celebrated for being such a good hitter. He also slashed .284/.330/.503 and had 33 home runs. It was a sensational season for Abreu and the White Sox would love to see similar numbers to that in the middle of their lineup in 2020.
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With guys like Moncada, Robert, Jimenez, and Anderson in the lineup, it would be okay if he regresses just a little bit and is only the third or fourth-best hitter on the team now. His big bat in the middle of the lineup is a must-have for the White Sox next season. It will be a long time before they don’t really need him anymore. He makes an impact on the field even more than he does off the field so that is the number one reason that Rick Hahn needs to make it a sure thing that Abreu is back next year.