It can be hard making sense of things when a team’s most productive hitter of the season walks out the door. Especially a popular model citizen, one who falls behind only 10 players in club history in career wins above replacement (according to Baseball Reference) after a year in which the offense was at the core of a colossal club disappointment.
But that’s where the White Sox probably are as they move on to 2023 without first baseman Jose Abreu, the American League’s 2020 Most Valuable Player and prime leader by example.
Sources say the Sox’ front office was not 100% behind bringing Abreu back the last time he was a free agent three years ago. But chairman Jerry Reinsdorf offered a three-year, $50 million deal, Abreu signed it and he delivered production worthy of the price, hitting 30 home runs and driving in 117 runs in 2021 after the COVID-shortened year.
But Abreu is reaching his age-36 season, is coming off easily his lowest home-run total (15) and is blocking 2019 No. 3 overall draft choice Andrew Vaughn, who has played the good soldier trying his best in the outfield, where he doesn’t belong. Vaughn’s minus-14 defensive runs saved ranked 254th among 256 outfielders, but as a pre-arbitration player, the 24-year-old should cover first base with a first baseman’s offense and at a much lower cost, affording the Sox some financial flexibility they apparently need with a growing list of contracts they’re locked into.
Abreu, the tireless worker and good soldier himself, suffered through losing seasons from 2014 through 2019 before finally getting a taste of the postseason in 2020 and 2021. Both ended in disappointment. Perhaps he’ll get to enjoy postseason success elsewhere.
Sox fans wanted to see him get it here. Those who attended the last game of the season also wanted to say goodbye, but Abreu wouldn’t have it, asking them to sit out.
Perhaps he sensed he wouldn’t be back.
“I don’t like goodbyes,” Abreu said.
Abreu was always the first to say hello in the clubhouse, arriving early for night games, and going through his pregame routine that others marveled at.
“No matter what the future holds for him here or elsewhere, I don’t think you are ever going to hear anyone with this organization say a bad word about Jose,” general manager Rick Hahn said.
In the front corner of the clubhouse, Abreu was often seen getting his bats ready and conversing with fellow Cubans Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert and Dominican Eloy Jimenez, the star core Latin contingent on whom so much of the Sox’ rebuild revolved. Abreu rarely took days off, while others troubled by injuries this year and before often did.
And yet it’s Abreu who might be out, leaving the Sox’ rebuild hopes on the shoulders of Robert, Moncada and Jimenez.
“It’s hard to imagine,” starting pitcher Lucas Giolito said. “That would hurt, man. He’s so much of what makes this team. He’s done just amazing things on and off the field ever since I’ve been here and had the pleasure of being his teammate. We’ll see what happens. Obviously, I just want the best for him and his family. Hopefully, he can come back another year. I’ve got one more year here, so, yeah.”
Whereas Abreu, cloaked in loyalty and love for the organization that signed him out of Cuba, was so adamant about returning the last time his contract was up that he declared he would “sign myself,” he offered no such passion when asked about the possibility of coming back in 2023.
Perhaps he knows the feeling is mutual. Perhaps he knows he might be better off elsewhere.
Perhaps he saw the Sox’ best attempt at fixing things turn into another miss and mess in 2022.
“These were a special nine years, and I hope that there can be more,” Abreu said last week through translator Billy Russo. “But up to now, it’s been very special, and I’m going to be forever grateful for them.”
