Abreu Signs 3/$50M Extension

[SoxBlanco]

1 hour ago, ChiSox59 said:

Yah, I mean - there aren't any great, frankly even good FA options this offseason.  That is very different next offseason.  I have little hope for Rutherford, Basabe or Gonzalez, but I do think Adolfo could blow up this year if the guy could just stay on the field.  Walker a little further away.  I don't mind giving Adolfo a year and if it doesn't work out, Mookie, Springer, Joc and Brantley all FA next offseason, and can always make a trade.  David Peralta is my hope for 2020, if the longer term options like Nimmo cost too much.   

Don’t sleep on Luis Gonzalez. He’s my pick for bounce back/breakout next year. 

[poppysox]

5 minutes ago, SoxAce said:

To be fair, getting a Boras client would be incredibly shocking lol.

I hate dealing with Boras but he will take his client to the highest bidder.  That just might be us.  

[Thad Bosley]

6 minutes ago, poppysox said:

I hate dealing with Boras but he will take his client to the highest bidder.  That just might be us.  

NOT dealing with Boras has been to the organization’s detriment.  He represents more premium talent in the game than any other agent. 
 

NOT dealing with him has put the team at a competitive disadvantage for attaining that premium talent.  

Edited November 23, 2019 by Thad Bosley

[bmags]

I missed this. 
 

I think this was unwise but it is what it is. Jose is a lovely white Sox, he’s done nothing but produce (but I think he will be unlikely to continue to).

 

I do just hate the idea the Sox have that the rest of baseball is so stupid in signing top talent to expensive long term deals but do stuff like this and don’t bat an eye and consider themselves being aggressive.

[bmags]

Just now, chitownsportsfan said:

sorta guy that buys a lotto ticket for 20 years but never considers a mutual fund.

Yeah, but adding two dollar amounts to a mutual fund probably gets eaten up by fees anyway

[caulfield12]

What’s that $/fWAR stat about the White Sox far and away having the most inefficient spending at the DH/1B positions going back to 2011?

It’s a crazy number, if you think of things in terms of economic inefficiency and wasted/blown opportunity cost.

[chitownsportsfan]

Just now, bmags said:

Yeah, but adding two dollar amounts to a mutual fund probably gets eaten up by fees anyway

damn you archived my dumb three beers in post after I deleted.

[caulfield12]

1 minute ago, bmags said:

Yeah, but adding two dollar amounts to a mutual fund probably gets eaten up by fees anyway

Just like that $4 million deferred on Abreu...or Konerko Bucks.  

His 2022 is already being revalued down to $11 million.   By that same argument, a $364 million Machado contract was “ONLY” worth $300 million factoring in inflation!!!   Wow.

Herschel Walker and Bobby Bonilla are the best examples in sports contract history of never ending ness.

[poppysox]

14 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

What’s that $/fWAR stat about the White Sox far and away having the most inefficient spending at the DH/1B positions going back to 2011?

It’s a crazy number, if you think of things in terms of economic inefficiency and wasted/blown opportunity cost.

Yeah...Dunn and Drakes dad will do that.

[greg775]

6 hours ago, Lillian said:

Lots of hyperbole in this thread, mostly from the "haters". Perhaps we should wait to see what else the front office does. If they were to sign a top tier pitcher, or even just below that, like Wheeler, I wonder if those, who are so concerned about payroll limitations will feel better about this contract.

Some of the "haters" simply do not care about the emotional aspect of sports. They don't care all the guys love Abreu; they don't care that he simply adores being a member of this team. They see his age and simply freak out (OK, they also think he's a clod defensively). Meanwhile, guys his age on other teams? Bring 'em in. The unknown player is sexy; Jose is not I guess.

To the haters: Think of our team next year without Abreu: Who is the feel good/Sox lifer dying to win a pennant? Nobody. Let him be the face of the White Sox. I know the haters will counter that they are fine with Jose but for way way way less money. I say why feel that way? It's a fair contract. If he sucks for some reason, big deal. The Sox have saved SO MUCH money on everything but signing bonuses during the tank job. Why feel angst about Jose. Enjoy him. Good days allegedly are ahead, but I won't believe it til we sniff .500 and go from there.

Give fans like me what we want ... give us some Jose, three years of Jose, baby! Don't fret; be happy. Jerry's bank account will be fine and this actually may make him demand we win the pennant sooner rather than later!

[Balta1701]

2 hours ago, VAfan said:

Paul Konerko had the best offensive season of his career at age 34. And his 4th best season at age 35. With better hitters around him, why couldn't Abreu perform well over the next couple of years? 

That leaves his third season as the biggest question of this deal. But is it really crippling for the Sox? I live just outside DC and watched the Nationals win the World Series. Ryan Zimmerman was overpaid for the last several years, but the Nats don't win the World Series without him. 

Abreu is the glue not just for the Cubans, but probably for all the Latin players on the team.  A team is more than just stats.

I'm not thrilled by this, but I'm also not of the opinion that it stinks, or handcuffs the Sox. Abreu is still an asset -- there are plenty of guys we've had the last few years who haven't been -- so the more assets, generally the better off the team is. 

The most important thing to know is that this isn't the league of 2010 and 2011.

 

[Chicago White Sox]

2 minutes ago, greg775 said:

Some of the "haters" simply do not care about the emotional aspect of sports. They don't care all the guys love Abreu; they don't care that he simply adores being a member of this team. They see his age and simply freak out (OK, they also think he's a clod defensively). Meanwhile, guys his age on other teams? Bring 'em in. The unknown player is sexy; Jose is not I guess.

To the haters: Think of our team next year without Abreu: Who is the feel good/Sox lifer dying to win a pennant? Nobody. Let him be the face of the White Sox. I know the haters will counter that they are fine with Jose but for way way way less money. I say why feel that way? It's a fair contract. If he sucks for some reason, big deal. The Sox have saved SO MUCH money on everything but signing bonuses during the tank job. Why feel angst about Jose. Enjoy him. Good days allegedly are ahead, but I won't believe it til we sniff .500 and go from there.

Give fans like me what we want ... give us some Jose, three years of Jose, baby! Don't fret; be happy. Jerry's bank account will be fine and this actually may make him demand we win the pennant sooner rather than later!

If you weren’t a blatant troll I’d call this post an abomination.

[NotHahn]

2 hours ago, SoxAce said:

To be fair, getting a Boras client would be incredibly shocking lol.

Don't be surprised if the Sox sign a Boras client this off season.

[wrathofhahn]

Another day another awful contract.

If this is part of a major splash in FA fine but we've essentially committed 36 million AAV to two guys who are 30+ and both of these guys got one more year then they should have which means probably the only reason why they signed this early is because our offer blew all others out of the water.

If you look at why the good teams are good and the bad teams are bad it's moves like these. The smart teams wait for the market to come to them. Now we see if this is part of a larger splash all I can say is it better damn well be if they are going to blow money like this it better be as part of some huge splash. Otherwise if we are operating under a similar 120 million ish budget we are screwed.

[pcq]

Just now, mmmmmbeeer said:

The Cubs had a mediocre, old catcher who many players credited as a key figure in their run to the 2016 championship.  They found so much value in his 2016 contributions (beyond the numbers), that they're now bringing him back to manage the club.

Abreu performs at a MUCH higher level than David Ross ever did.  How about we recognize that rewarding a VITAL clubhouse piece and a player who still puts up positive WAR deserves a deal that may be a year too long.  More difficult to quantify, quality leadership shouldn't be underestimated.

Those of you worried about dollars, imo, have never had the privilege of working with/for a great leader, person, and mentor.  Any game involving human beings can't be neatly reduced to an advanced mathematical equation.  Nuance exists.

Jose's projected fWAR as a player manager is well above Don Kessinger but a bit less than Lou Boudreau. David Ross will follow in the footsteps of Jim Essian. Jose is our Ambassador to Cuba as we await the emergence of Yolbert not Yolmer Sanchez. Jose is not a Moneyball advocate. 

[caulfield12]

9 minutes ago, pcq said:

Jose's projected fWAR as a player manager is well above Don Kessinger but a bit less than Lou Boudreau. David Ross will follow in the footsteps of Jim Essian. Jose is our Ambassador to Cuba as we await the emergence of Yolbert not Yolmer Sanchez. Jose is not a Moneyball advocate. 

Raspberry or Blueberry Yogurt sounds good.

[VAfan]

To Balta,

Looks like a huge uptick until you look at the numbers. 1 mph average increase. 

Abreu's has been playing and producing in that environment.  Why think he can't continue, especially with better players around him?

[ron883]

Abreu is going to be garbage if they unjuice the balls

[turnin' two]

1 hour ago, ron883 said:

Abreu is going to be garbage if they unjuice the balls

I really hope that Jerry reads this board and signed him just to troll you.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

1 hour ago, ron883 said:

Abreu is going to be garbage if they unjuice the balls

Yeah because a guy near leading baseball in hard hit % and avg exit velocity really benefited from the balls being juiced.

[greg775]

1 hour ago, ron883 said:

Abreu is going to be garbage if they unjuice the balls

Ron, let's say you are there on Opening Day or the second game. They introduce Abreu. Standing ovation. Do you boo him? Rip him so others can hear you sitting around you? I guarantee you'd get the weirdest looks from fans at the Cell, like "what is wrong with this guy? What's he got against Abreu?" This would be like back in the day some Cub fans booing Ernie Banks when he got older or Willie Mays. Or Harold Baines. At some point as a fan you should (in my world) just be happy the guy is with your team, forget about stuff like age and contracts and CHEER. Is it that hard to realize veterans like Jose help win pennants and are integral part of teams? I'm not sure what kind of roster you want? Or is it all the fact he chews? That seems a weird reason to despise him. Trust me in this day and age where mommy and daddy monitor their kids' every moves, they ain't letting their teenagers chew just cause Jose does. And parents go to all their kids' games, so they'd see if they snuck a chew.

Edited November 23, 2019 by greg775

[Thad Bosley]

2 hours ago, ron883 said:

Abreu is going to be garbage if they unjuice the balls

Ahhhh, now it’s juiced balls.  Got it.  

[Sox72]

2 hours ago, greg775 said:

Ron, let's say you are there on Opening Day or the second game. They introduce Abreu. Standing ovation. Do you boo him? Rip him so others can hear you sitting around you? I guarantee you'd get the weirdest looks from fans at the Cell, like "what is wrong with this guy? What's he got against Abreu?" This would be like back in the day some Cub fans booing Ernie Banks when he got older or Willie Mays. Or Harold Baines. At some point as a fan you should (in my world) just be happy the guy is with your team, forget about stuff like age and contracts and CHEER. Is it that hard to realize veterans like Jose help win pennants and are integral part of teams? I'm not sure what kind of roster you want? Or is it all the fact he chews? That seems a weird reason to despise him. Trust me in this day and age where mommy and daddy monitor their kids' every moves, they ain't letting their teenagers chew just cause Jose does. And parents go to all their kids' games, so they'd see if they snuck a chew.

I’d ban bet him that he’d stand up. 

[iWiN4PreP]

16 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

If you weren’t a blatant troll I’d call this post an abomination.

You aren't being fair here.

Greg is an important part of the community, he has well over 30,000  posts and most certainly is NOT a troll. 

Greg's opinion of Abreu is pretty bad IMO, it's similar to my dad who yesterday told me that the Abreu deal was a 'steal' and he gave us a 'hometown discount.' I chuckled and rolled my eyes. 

However, it IS nice in sports to have a guy stay with a team and be loyal. I'm lukewarm about the deal, but what in Greg's post makes it an abomination and worthy of calling a troll? 

[caulfield12]

Konerko won us a World Series, but, even then...his last four seasons, and final two especially, we felt a bit sad for him as the ability to hit an elite fastball left him.  No matter what, I can’t imagine many Sox fans were boing him.

With Abreu, they would be better off booing JR, he’s the one that signed off on the contract.

They would have been much better off going year to year instead of locking in a player in the heart of the contention window with declining skills.

Sure, Zimmerman made it to the World Series, but they ran a good-sized payroll to get there.  If we could be confident in a $160-170 million payroll going forward, it wouldn’t bother most fans that much.

But we also can’t help but be aware of how this team has been run the past decade.  Just citing 2006-2010 payrolls, coming off a World Series title...doesn’t guarantee we’ll be back in that Top 6-12 payroll range automatically.   Signs definitely point towards it, but who the hell really knows until we see what the starting rotation and RFer looks like on Opening Day.