The Chicago White Sox have something special with Jose Abreu and he is going to be there for a while after a nice little extension.
The Chicago White Sox announced on Friday that they have signed Jose Abreu to a contract extension. The contract is worth 50 million dollars. Abreu called the extension a dream come true for him and his family so it is really nice to see a guy who truly loves being a member of the White Sox play for the team. It is rare that a guy is that loyal and the team reciprocates the love but that is the case here.
Abreu deserves all of the love that he is receiving. He has a case to be called the best offensive first baseman in the American League. He was an American League All-Star for the third time in six years in 2019 so there is no doubt he is worth the money. He led the American League with 123 RBIs last season which was an incredible feat for him. He had a slash line of .284/.330/.503 with 33 home runs on 180 hits.
Jose Abreu is currently the face of the Chicago White Sox. He has been the best player on the team for basically his entire career. There are players now who you can argue are going to be better or more valuable like Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, or Eloy Jimenez but right now you can’t say they are the faces of the franchise yet. Those guys are definitely on their way to being the faces of the franchise but right now it is still Abreu.
Abreu has been there for some ugly times. For the first few years of his career, the team didn’t reach the level that they thought they were going to reach and then after the 2016 season ended they decided to strip the roster down to the bone to do a full-blown rebuild but Abreu survived the wholesale change. He has never been there for a White Sox playoff team but that could all change in the not so distant future. It is good to know that Abreu will be back and this team is just getting started.