White Sox: It’s smart to bring back your only Silver Slugger nominee
The Chicago White Sox only have one Silver Slugger nominee while most of the teams in the American League have more than one. Some have way more than one. Jose Abreu is the only one that is on the nomination list from this franchise whose offense was terrible last year.
That is a tough look for the White Sox, to be honest. There are a lot of excellent hitters in the league but the White Sox should have more than one. Injuries and bad years all coming at the same time is the biggest reason why they only went 81-81 which made them miss the playoffs.
Abreu should be celebrated for being the only White Sox player represented on this list. He had a down year in terms of power but was magnificent at what the team wanted him to do which was hit for contact. He adapted to this new approach but it didn’t help the team win.
Despite that, he needs to be treated for what he is and that’s the best hitter on the White Sox. He is a free agent and could leave if the White Sox decide not to bring him back. He used to say he is going to force the issue but that hasn’t been told this time around.
The Chicago White Sox needs to bring Jose Abreu back into the mix in 2023.
You can’t let your only Silver Slugger nominee walk for nothing if you aren’t 100 percent sure there is a better replacement. Andrew Vaughn can be elite one day but he hasn’t earned that trust over Jose Abreu yet. You have to bring him back if he is willing.
The offense would struggle even more if they decided to let Abreu walk. A team would be getting a Silver Slugger nominee from a year prior. Even if Abreu doesn’t win it, he has three of them under his belt already.
With the growth of some other players, there could be more Silver Slugger nominees in the future for this team but that might take a while. For now, enjoy Abreu. He should be brought back to this team in 2023 no matter what. Nobody else, as mentioned before, has earned the spot over him.