November 13, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said: Digging deeper into this, I can't think of a guy on the Sox who I would rather see success for. From his incredible sacrifices to escape Cuba, to his dangers and perils he encountered along that trip, including eating paperwork to try to protect himself. The fights with the coyotes he had. Being away from his entire family, including wife, kids, and mom. Then fully embracing a strange town, team, and culture, and not only playing his best, but looking out for everyone he connected with. He could have easily said nothing and gotten traded out of Chicago during the rebuild, or even asked to leave with no one wondering why or holding it against him. Instead he begged to stay in Chicago, playing father and big brother to all of the kids who came before him. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that the Eloy extension, the Yoan extension, and the Robert signing and extension had Jose's fingerprints all over them. This dude might have had more to do with the long term success of our rebuild than the front office did. This year he knew how big of a year it would be, so he came to camp ready, lost a bunch of weight, and showed up to camp in MVP shape, and led by example. Even if he isn't a Hall of Famer one day, or the guy who puts up the biggest stats in Sox history, he will be an all-time favorite for me. I think the part that warmed my heart the most was seeing the same guys who had been dead silent for over a week after the TLR hire, just come out and gush at Jose getting this award. And it was players of all races and creeds to, and not just the Cubans or Latinos. I have no idea how people could have a problem with Jose Abreu. He is the perfect contrast for what the White Sox way should look like. He does everything right. He is a great teammate, has an incredible work ethic, and is willing to share that with everyone. Congrats to Pito! I can't wait for him to mentor Vaughn.
November 13, 20205 yr 45 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said: Nomar Mazara homered off of the NL Cy Young winner
November 13, 20205 yr 15 hours ago, joesaiditstrue said: he's definitely a hof'er. just depends on what ballot imo. coming from Cuba, these guys have to battle through so much more adversity to get to the major leagues than your typical american kid who probably had a more stable support framework around him. a lot of people don't realize how hard it is for someone in Cuba to even sniff the major leagues, let alone find success, let alone become MV damn P top 5 sox player of all time? (Thomas and Sale obviously, I would put Abreu in there) It's going to be really tough, but this MVP gives him a shot. Generally two things are needed to make a solid HoF case - a peak that was higher than any of your peers, and longevity/accumulation of career stats. Having an MVP season gives Jose the peak - he can now say that for at least one season, he was the best player in baseball. That's huge. Longevity/accumulation is going to be a real issue for him. He had a late debut (27 years old) and his best season was only 60 games. He is at 28 WAR right now, and generally 60 is seen as the bar you have to pass for serious contention. If voters are willing to cut him some slack, he still probably needs to get to 50 WAR. That means, even if he puts up two more 5 WAR seasons on this contract, he STILL has to find 12 more career WAR as 1B/DH after his 35-age season. The good news is, if he manages that he will certainly have 300 homeruns, and might even be close to 400, which would be a good milestone to add to his case. It isn't impossible, and I really really hope he does it, but it is far from definite.
November 13, 20205 yr 2 minutes ago, gusguyman said: It's going to be really tough, but this MVP gives him a shot. Generally two things are needed to make a solid HoF case - a peak that was higher than any of your peers, and longevity/accumulation of career stats. Having an MVP season gives Jose the peak - he can now say that for at least one season, he was the best player in baseball. That's huge. Longevity/accumulation is going to be a real issue for him. He had a late debut (27 years old) and his best season was only 60 games. He is at 28 WAR right now, and generally 60 is seen as the bar you have to pass for serious contention. If voters are willing to cut him some slack, he still probably needs to get to 50 WAR. That means, even if he puts up two more 5 WAR seasons on this contract, he STILL has to find 12 more career WAR as 1B/DH after his 35-age season. The good news is, if he manages that he will certainly have 300 homeruns, and might even be close to 400, which would be a good milestone to add to his case. It isn't impossible, and I really really hope he does it, but it is far from definite. I think for someone like Jose, they will take into account the time in Cuba, so the counting stats might not have to be as high as a full MLB career would be. Personaly? Can't see Jose as a HOF player without having this year be the first of 3 or 4 in a row of those types of a season.
November 13, 20205 yr Jose seems to me to be one of the best role model great baseball players of all time. Its doubtful that he gets into the HOF because of the fact he got into the majors at such a late date. He'd have to probably have five big years of production to get voted in and that is doubtful. He's kind of going to face the numbers game that Paulie faced at the end of his great career.
November 13, 20205 yr 7 hours ago, southsider2k5 said: Digging deeper into this, I can't think of a guy on the Sox who I would rather see success for. From his incredible sacrifices to escape Cuba, to his dangers and perils he encountered along that trip, including eating paperwork to try to protect himself. The fights with the coyotes he had. Being away from his entire family, including wife, kids, and mom. Then fully embracing a strange town, team, and culture, and not only playing his best, but looking out for everyone he connected with. He could have easily said nothing and gotten traded out of Chicago during the rebuild, or even asked to leave with no one wondering why or holding it against him. Instead he begged to stay in Chicago, playing father and big brother to all of the kids who came before him. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that the Eloy extension, the Yoan extension, and the Robert signing and extension had Jose's fingerprints all over them. This dude might have had more to do with the long term success of our rebuild than the front office did. This year he knew how big of a year it would be, so he came to camp ready, lost a bunch of weight, and showed up to camp in MVP shape, and led by example. Even if he isn't a Hall of Famer one day, or the guy who puts up the biggest stats in Sox history, he will be an all-time favorite for me. I think the part that warmed my heart the most was seeing the same guys who had been dead silent for over a week after the TLR hire, just come out and gush at Jose getting this award. And it was players of all races and creeds to, and not just the Cubans or Latinos. I have no idea how people could have a problem with Jose Abreu. He is the perfect contrast for what the White Sox way should look like. He does everything right. He is a great teammate, has an incredible work ethic, and is willing to share that with everyone. Congrats to Pito! This x 1000.
November 14, 20205 yr 8 hours ago, Yearnin' for Yermin said: #NotMyMVP Go away. ? ? Edited November 14, 20205 yr by Chisoxmb35
November 14, 20205 yr I posted this elsewhere a while back, but it is also appropriate here. It's too bad Jose didn't get here 2-4 years earlier, because he could/would be looking at HOF numbers.
November 14, 20205 yr A heartfelt congratulations to Jose and to everyone he holds dear in his life. This seems like an opportune time to say how fortunate we are as fans to have 2 not only great players but 2 upstanding people like Jose and Tim as the leaders of this team. Edited November 14, 20205 yr by CaliSoxFanViaSWside
November 14, 20205 yr 23 hours ago, The Hawk said: Jose seems to me to be one of the best role model great baseball players of all time. Its doubtful that he gets into the HOF because of the fact he got into the majors at such a late date. He'd have to probably have five big years of production to get voted in and that is doubtful. He's kind of going to face the numbers game that Paulie faced at the end of his great career. Jose seems to be a genuinely kind , family oriented person . I think we would be remiss if we didn't mention his early connection with Minnie Minoso. Minoso and Abreu are very much alike in that they are very grateful to had the opportunity to live and play in the US and better their lives and saw that opportunity to better the lives of his teammates with his wisdom.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.