White Sox sign Jose Abreu to three-year deal

The Chicago White Sox decided to keep Jose Abreu with the organization long term as they agreed to a new contract on Friday. 

Abreu’s deal spans three seasons (2020-2022) and will be worth $50 million. This comes exactly a week after he accepted the qualifying offer worth $17.8 million.

Through this deal, that initial contract that he signed is essentially gone now as the first baseman will make $11 million in 2020 while receiving a $5 million signing bonus.

His salary rises in 2021 and 2022 as he will make $16 million and $18 million in each season, respectively. In addition, $4 million will be deferred. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic has a more advanced breakdown of the deal.

This is actually a smart strategy for the White Sox as the two sides had been negotiating a long-term deal for weeks and this deal will actually save the team a little money this offseason that can be reinvested in the club.

While it certainly could be argued that the White Sox should not have given him a new contract after he agreed to come back on the QO in 2020, the team actually made a very smart decision keeping him.

Aside from the fact that 32-year-old Abreu has been a force to be reckoned with, leading the American League in RBI last season (123), it shows a brand of loyalty to their longest-tenured player currently.

That is not something to take lightly either. In a game with the mantra “it’s a business,” when players see a team doing something out of sheer respect for a player’s contribution to the organization, it is valued.

Every player across the game hears about it and it potentially entices them to join the team if the money is very similar to another’s at the end of the day.

It’s not necessarily going to increase the likelihood of the team adding someone like Zack Wheeler or Nicholas Castellanos, but it certainly can’t hurt.

Either way, the White Sox have managed to keep their three-time All-Star first baseman intact for the next three years, which could possibly ensure that he finishes his career in the south side.