How is Jose Abreu struggling this much with his new team?

On Sunday, we saw Jose Abreu finally hit the first home run of his Houston Astros career. He was so excited to have hit it that he sprinted around the bases. It looked like he had never hit one before in his life based on how he reacted.

That had to be a tremendous weight lifted off of his shoulders. He has been such a great player for such a long time and it took him a while to hit that first blast in his new colors.

Of course, the Chicago White Sox miss him. They also kind of don't miss him based on the numbers that he has put up this year.

It is fair to assume that he wouldn't be this bad if he was still in Chicago but that doesn't take away from the fact that he has in fact been bad.

Jose Abreu is not having a good season with his new Astros squad.

On the season with Houston, Abreu has a -1.2 WAR. He isn't hitting the ball and he isn't all that good in the field right now which is why his WAR is so bad. This is nothing like his time with the Chicago White Sox where he was an All-Star or MVP all the time.

Why is Abreu struggling so much with his new squad? Well, it goes back to what we were saying about how his numbers might look if he stayed in Chicago.

With his new team, he lives in a new environment with new teammates, new coaches, and all-around new surroundings. It can't be easy to adjust to that quickly. It is going to take time.

Abreu is also not in his prime anymore. He is an older player that just wants to be "one of the guys" instead of "the guy" like he was with the White Sox. Abreu still can be a good player but the days of the MVPs are gone.

As a team, the Astros have been hot and cold to begin the year. The defending World Series champions should have it all figured out by the postseason as they are ready to make another run. Seeing Abreu play playoff baseball will certainly be fun.