The Chicago White Sox let Jose Abreu leave. He chose to sign with the Houston Astros in free agency which turned out to be a marvelous decision for him. He is now on a winning team which is much better than being on the Chicago White Sox who are mostly a losing team.
Abreu went to the Astros as they were defending their title as World Series champions. He wants to add a ring to his resume and now he has a good chance. They are currently in the middle of an amazing duel with the Texas Rangers in the ALCS. The series is tied at two games apiece.
Abreu's regular season wasn't very good. He didn't look like his typical MVP-caliber player self. Those days might be over considering his age but he can still be a useful piece when he is in a good lineup like Houston's.
One thing Abreu didn't lose in his first season with Houston, however, was his ability to drive in runs. When people are on base, Jose Abreu doesn't mess around. The RBI stat isn't what it once was in terms of relevance but Abreu is still an RBI machine.
The Chicago White Sox clearly missed Jose Abreu being there in 2023.
His numbers were down across the board but he still managed to have 90 RBIs in the regular season. Now that we are in the playoffs, he is still just as productive in that department. He was huge in taking down the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS and now he played a huge role in coming back from down 0-2 in the ALCS to the Texas Rangers.
In the playoffs so far, Abreu has five home runs and all five of them had men on base. In the postseason as a whole in 2023, Abreu has 11 RBIs in eight games played. Again, the man is a machine.
The White Sox did not put a good enough team around him in his prime and the Astros are showing why that was a major mistake. Abreu could have helped the White Sox do great things but they didn't take advantage of his abilities.
We'll see if they are able to complete this series comeback and get back to the World Series. Being a White Sox fan is hard but watching Abreu succeed now is a treat.