Updated 10/17 9:00 PM
Free agent Cuban slugger Jose Dariel Abreu has agreed to a deal with the Chicago White Sox, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
Rosenthal says the deal is for six years and $68 million, shattering the four-year, $36MM contract signed by Yoenis Cespedes and the seven-year, $42MM pact signed by Yasiel Puig.
As I stated earlier, Abreu makes perfect sense for the White Sox, especially with the expected retirement of Paul Konerko.
If he can hit like Ryan Howard, what a steal he’ll be at just over $11 million a year…
Updated 10/17 3:45 PM
Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com is reporting that Cuban slugger Jose Dariel Abreu has narrowed his choices down to the Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago White Sox. The 26-year old first baseman could reach a final decision within the next two weeks.
Last night, we reported that Buster Olney put the value of his deal at $70 million. Such a deal would shatter the four-year, $36MM contract signed by Yoenis Cespedes and the seven-year, $42MM pact signed by Yasiel Puig according to MLBTR.
It looks to me like Abreu will either be wearing white or red stockings once he gives the ‘Stros a look and sees how bad things are down there.
Updated 10/17 1:00 AM
Buster Olney of ESPN is reporting that the bidding on Cuban free agent Jose Abreu is expected to be for a $70 million deal, according to what sources have told him. He says that the White Sox, Astros and Rangers are viewed as the frontrunners to land him.
The blind bids for Abreu were submitted during last Saturday’s deadline. At the time, Joe Frisaro said the Marlins were also considered heavy favorites to land the slugging first baseman, who many compare to the Phillies’ Ryan Howard in his prime. But that no longer seems to be the case.
While many were low-balling the potential deal, I’ve always thought he’d get $60 million or more.
Several Marlins officials who attended Abreu’s showcase said that he showed an easy swing, and the ball exploded off his bat, even adding that he was more of a pure hitter than Giancarlo Stanton.
Signing Abreu could have been a good test for the Mets and a sign that things are as improved financially as they keep telling us. The Mets are obviously in the market for power and a first baseman and Abreu fits both those bills.
I don’t know if we’ll find out whether the Mets bid or not or how much their bid was, but that doesn’t really matter because nobody ever considered them favorites.
So who’s the next guy up for grabs, Choo? Ellsbury?
They’ll cost way more than $70 million…
Original Post 10/11
Jose Abreu, 26, is free to sign with any club, but Andy Martino cited a team source who said it’s highly unlikely the Mets would be interested, despite an earlier report of a high ranking official telling Mike Puma they were impressed with his power.
I’d be shocked if the Mets made any bid to acquire him and if they do you can bet it’ll be one they know won’t come close to sealing the deal.
One of our readers, Andrew, left this comment about Abreu yesterday:
Keep in mind that Abreu’s power numbers and scouting reports are way higher than Yoenis Cespedes’ ever were. Scouts are giving him an 80 out of 80 on power – those are Giancarlo Stanton numbers. It’s true he’s not as fast or athletic as Cespedes or Yasiel Puig, but he doesn’t need to be because he’s a first baseman – which, go figure, is one of our biggest holes right now.
Besides, Abreu makes a ton of sense for lots of other reasons:
- His annual salary will be lower than other free agent 1B like Mike Napoli.
- He’s only 27, which is just entering his prime.
- He’s not coming from another MLB team, so he won’t cost even a 2nd round draft pick, let alone a prospect in a trade.
Even if he falls short of expectations, he’d still probably be better than anything else we have or can reasonably acquire in the near future. The trade market for 1B is non-existent. Neither Duda nor Davis can hit above .240 for any extended period of time, and nobody thinks Satin has the power to really be an everyday 1B.
We have no real 1B prospects in the pipeline any higher than rookie ball. Next years free agent class for first base has Billy Butler, but the Royals have a club option on him and will probably pick that up. This year has Napoli, coming off a hitter friendly park with degenerative hips, and then Kendrys Morales… Corey Hart that hasn’t played since 2012… Those guys would cost half as much as Abreu anyway, even without the 40-homer upside.
Also, you can’t dismiss the fan excitement that would result that has to factor into the Mets’ strategy, because next year is all about increasing revenue by putting out a good enough team to draw the fans’ interest.
Abreu is someone people will get excited about, which will keep our positive momentum going and give us more cap flexibility moving forward. I’m not saying he’s a miracle who’ll solve all our problems, and we shouldn’t go into hysterics whether we get him or not.
But we also shouldn’t be afraid of taking a chance once in awhile. Sooner or later we have to pay somebody!
Thanks for your comment, Andrew…
