first baseman Jose Abreu And the Houston Astros have agreed to a three-year contract, a source told ESPN, adding another run-producing hitter to their already packed World Series champions lineup.
Abreu, 35, won the MLS Player of the Year in 2020 and is second in baseball with 863 RBIs since his first season in the major leagues, 2014. He hit .304/.378/.446 this year with the Chicago White Sox , for which he had played all nine seasons in the league after it withdrew from Cuba.
After a dreadful first five weeks, Abreu was one of the best hitters in baseball over the last three quarters of the season, batting . 335/. 405/. 479, though his 15 home runs on the year were a career low. He joined the Astros with fellow Cuban Jordan AlvarezAnd the Jose AltuveAnd the Kyle TuckerAnd the Alex Bergman and World Series MVP Jeremy Peña.
He will replace Abreu Yuli Gurel, a longtime rival in the Cuban National Series. Widely regarded as the best players of their generation from Cuba, Abreu and Gurriel, along with Yoenis Cespedes, were both high-contact hitters—although Abreu’s power was the clincher.
The White Sox extended him to three years and $50 million after 2019, when he led the AL with 123 RBIs. Over his nine seasons, Abreu hit .292/.354/.506 with 243 home runs and an adjusted OPS that is 34% better than the league average.
It’s the second signing this winter for the Astros, who re-offloaded Rafael Montero On a three-year, $34.5 million contract. The Astros’ projected payroll is currently in the $175 million range — it’s topped out at $187 million for each of the previous five seasons — and they’re still hoping to sign the ace Justin Verlanderwhich can bring in upwards of $40 million a year.
USA Today first announced Abreu’s agreement with the Astros.
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