Nobody on the 2022 Chicago White Sox should be void of any blame for how the season went down. That includes Jose Abreu who was the only player on the team that was close enough to doing the job we know he can do.
His power numbers were down but he was amongst the league leaders in hits because he is elite at adjusting to what the team wants him to do. It became pretty obvious that the power numbers were down for everyone so it clearly had more to do with their approach than anything.
It was a bit stunning after the season when Abreu left the Chicago White Sox in free agency to join the defending World Series champion Houston Astros.
After the 2020 season ended, he made it clear that he would sign himself if he had to. It was clear that he loved this team and didn't want to let them go ever. Things change quickly.
Jose Abreu made some harsh comments about the Chicago White Sox.
Now we know why he left the White Sox with such ease this year. Steve Greenberg wrote an outstanding column for The Chicago Sun-Times that exposed some truth.
Jose Abreu believes that the Chicago White Sox were not a family in 2022. That is incredibly sad to hear from a fan's perspective for a variety of reasons. For one, nobody ever thought it would come to this as he just loved this team for a long time.
Jose Abreu on life with the Astros and leaving the White Sox, who ‘weren’t a real family’ in 2022 https://t.co/Z2rzaQlwEP pic.twitter.com/6Rd2493zIV
— Steve Greenberg (@SLGreenberg) March 3, 2023
What went wrong with this team? Was it Tony La Russa? That is certainly possible. He didn't do a very good job as a baseball manager either but did he allow the team to fall apart off the field as well? The truth is that more than one person deserves blame for this.
Now, Abreu gets to go play in an amazing situation with Houston who is one of the best teams in the league again. Winning the World Series for the second year in a row and the third time in seven years is certainly a possibility.
As for the White Sox without Abreu, Andrew Vaughn is going to take over at first base. The rest of the team needs to replace his offense by committee. With Pedro Grifol in the mix, we can only hope that they become a family again.