Jose Abreu has been the heart and soul of the Chicago White Sox for over nine years and now the White Sox face the likelihood that they’ll have to replace him in their lineup.
The San Diego Padres are making Abreu a top priority in free agency as they need a big bat in the middle of the lineup to fill the 1B DH role.
Sources: Free agent José Abreu has spoken with #Padres officials this month. Abreu is a top priority for the Padres, who are seeking middle-of-the-order power and have an opening at the DH/1B spot. @MLBNetwork @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 19, 2022
If the White Sox don’t pony up for Abreu during this current playoff window they may never recover from losing such a key player in their lineup. Abreu’s career 162-game averages in the old-school stat categories? He’s batting .291 with 31 homers with 110 RBIs, that’s not the type of offensive production the White Sox can afford to lose.
The Padres are also in a similar playoff/World Series contention window and they have shown a massive willingness to spend money to make their team better. After getting to the NLCS a year ago without Fernando Tatis Jr in the lineup, adding Abreu and Tatis Jr into the lineup in 2023 would ensure they’re proverbial favorites yet again.
Meanwhile on the Southside what’s the plan to keep Jose Abreu? Andrew Vaughn, the prized pupil is in line to take over at 1B, but how do you replace this:
“But man, I’ve got nothing but great words about him, his work ethic, professionalism. A great human. He’s a better human being than a player, and that tells you everything. He’s the heart and soul of this organization, and hopefully he can come back. I feel like if he’s gone, it would be a huge loss for this team.”
Those words came from Elvis Andrus after a mere two months of playing with Abreu. Vaughn may be ready to offset the loss of Jose Abreu’s production, but how do you replace the heart and soul of your team when there is obviously no replacement for the leadership that Abreu provides?
The White Sox right now, more than ever need Jose Abreu’s leadership after the adversity they faced this last season. They need the proverbial coach on the field to push them back to where they need to get to take full of advantage of this World Series window. If they don’t they may lose yet another chance to add a banner on the Southside.
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