I Love Jose Abreu

Tony Dejak. Shutterstock Images.

Last night on the Mets live stream, Frank the Tank was doing one of his rants and in the midst of it, Jose Abreu's good name was slandered by Meek Phil:

Yeah… no. Now, in Phil's defense, he's more than likely not watching a ton of White Sox baseball. Nobody that's not a fan would willingly subject themselves to that kinda hashtag torcher. I'm sure his statement came from seeing myself, Chuck Naso and maybe a few other people bitching about how lazy, uninspiring and un-fundamentally sound the other players on the Sox are, so he probably just lumped Abreu into that. Guilty by association. 

White Sox fans LOVE Jose Abreu and will demand the White Sox build him a statue on the centerfield concourse as soon as he hangs up the cleats. In his 9 season tenure with the organization, Abreu was the epitome of hard work and production. It's a goddamn shame that the White Sox never put better teams around him, but that has nothing to do with Abreu himself. Look at these numbers year over year:

Not too shabby and you could pencil him in the lineup for 150+ games automatically. The dude was great for the Sox and he should still continue to be productive for at least another couple of years in spite of his age and lack of HRs this year. 

But…

It's sad that this is how it ends. But Abreu is, for all intents and purposes, gone. Finished. Donezo. Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today, a man with a direct line to the White Sox front office, the White Sox plan on letting Abreu walk this winter:

The White Sox loved having Jose Abreu the past nine years, and has been nothing but a class act and valuable hitter, but they plan to part ways with him. Simply, they need to shake up their team, and are making virtually everyone but Dylan Cease and Andrew Vaughn available in trades.

And I personally think this is the correct move. It shouldn't be, but it is. There are pros and cons to letting Abreu walk:

Pros:
- Frees up ~$18-20MM in payroll on a Jerry Reinsdorf owned team
- Allows Andrew Vaughn to play 1B, the only position he should be playing
- Allows Eloy Jimenez to DH roughly 100% of the time
- White Sox get younger (this part is me grasping at straws)

Cons:
- He's the most consistent hitter in a lineup that lacks any consistency at all
- He plays 150+ games a year on a team that has a bunch of softies in the lineup
- Team leader

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As it stands right now, and in spite of my fellatio of Abreu to start this blog, I do feel like letting Abreu walk is the appropriate decision. A roster with Vaughn, Eloy, Grandal, Sheets and Abreu just does not work. Proof is in the last 162 games and with Abreu being a free agent, he's unfortunately the odd man out. The others (sans Grandal) are all younger, cheaper and should theoretically be getting better, while Abreu should theoretically be getting worse. The White Sox just need to keep their young guys on the fucking field, which hasn't been something they've been able to do. At all. 

The Mets should definitely sign him. He'd make them better both on and off the field. 

But letting Pito walk doesn't come without risk. Like I said, he was the most consistent hitter on the team this year. He also stays on the field. Letting those two things walk away puts you behind the 8 ball from the jump of the offseason. I don't trust the White Sox in any way whatsoever right now, so I'm sure they'll fuck up finding his replacement, but as it sits right now this is what I feel should happen. Use his $18MM or whatever and find an ACTUAL right fielder. Brandon Nimmo makes perfect sense.

Actually, Nimmo doesn't make perfect sense. Aaron Judge does. But we're not even really letting Judge cross our minds because we know that will never happen on a Jerry Reinsdorf owned team. We'll settle for the B level guy and we'll like it! Except we probably won't, because even Brandon Nimmo will most likely be too costly for a Jerry Reinsdorf owned team. It's completely fucking nauseating, but it's also the sad truth. I also might have actually just talked myself into keeping Abreu. 

Jesus Christ the White Sox are a mess. Mired in complete and total mediocrity. Usually I look forward to the offseason hot stove, but not anymore. I just expect pain and anguish, and I know I'm not alone when I speak like that.