The Houston Astros reached a three-year agreement with the Cuban first baseman on Monday Jose Dariel Abreuaccording to a report from various media specialized in baseball in the Major League Baseball (MLB).
Although neither the Texan organization nor the player have officially confirmed the news, the television network ESPN assured on his website that the agreement with the slugger Cuban would be around 60 million dollars, and would bring to the Houston franchise “another run-producing bat to the lineup of champions of the World Series, It’s already full of them.”
The champions are adding to their offense.
José Abreu and the Astros have reportedly agreed to a deal, per MLB Network’s @JonHeyman. pic.twitter.com/2cjlB9dulU
—MLB (@MLB) November 28, 2022
Abreu, who turns 36 in January, won the American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in 2020. In the most recent season, he hit .304/.378/.446 with the Chicago White Sox, with whom he had previously played. He has completed nine seasons in the MLB since he decided to leave Cuba to play professionally.
After a terrible first five weeks of the 2022 campaign, Abreu was one of the top hitters over the final three quarters of the season, hitting a .335/.405/.479 offensive line, though his 15 home runs all year year were a career low.
In his new destination, he would join an Astros lineup in which the Cuban also stands out. Yordan Alvarezthe Venezuelan José Altuve, the Americans Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, and the MVP of the last World Series, the Dominican Jeremy Peña, says the publication.
In this way, Abreu will replace his compatriot Yulieski Gurriel, with whom he shared leadership in the National Baseball Series in Cuba. Both players, along with Yoenis Céspedes, were widely considered the best players of their generation on the island, although Abreu’s power always made the difference, he specified. ESPN.
Everything indicates that Gurriel, who was left as a free agent after the end of the season, will have to look for a new team, although so far no news has been released about it.
The White Sox extended Abreu to a three-year, $50 million contract after 2019, when he led the American League with 123 RBIs. During his nine seasons with the Windy City team, the Cuban posted an offensive line of .292/.354/.506, with 243 home runs and a 34% adjusted OPS, better than the league average, exposes the publication.
The signing of the Cuban first baseman is the Astros’ second this winter for the Astros. Before they had renewed the relationship with reliever Rafael Montero for three years in exchange for 34.5 million dollars.
The Astros’ projected payroll is currently in the $175 million range (they’ve topped $187 million in each of the previous five seasons) and they’re still hoping to re-sign all-star pitcher Justin Verlander, who could make more than $40 million. per year, points out the specialized media.
