Should the Twins take a chance on Jose Abreu after his release from Houston?
Jose Abreu was cooking for the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS last October, but less than a year later, he is out of work in Houston.
The Astros released Abreu on Friday afternoon, capping off a terrible fall over the previous few seasons. He hit rock bottom after being relegated early this season and hasn’t done enough to earn a roster position since.
Abreu has had a remarkable fall from grace after owning the Twins in the ALDS last season. He was sent down to the minors for slashing.167/.186/.333 in less than 50 plate appearances, with a terrible -1.6 WAR.
That’s not what the Astros expected when they paid Abreu $58 million.
Houston will now have to eat every penny of Abreu’s remaining contract after he is released. Crocodile tears are the best way to explain how everyone else in the league is watching this trade blow up the Astros’ face, and it may provide an opportunity for the Twins to create a friend out of a long-time opponent.
Houston might have handed the Twins a perfect low-risk veteran reclamation project.
The Astros have released Jose Abreu.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) June 14, 2024
There’s no disputing that Abreu has struggled this year, and his downturn can be linked back to last season. Overall, his performance in Houston has been less than ideal.In 714 plate appearances, he batted 217/.275/.351, but he showed flashes of the slugger he was with the White Sox.
Abreu hit.304/.378/.446 in 2022 and is only a couple years removed from earning the American League MVP. His best years are behind him, but he fits every description of the aging veteran the Twins are looking for.
Carlos Santana is an appropriate comparison to Abreu. Minnesota signed him this winter as their yearly low-risk veteran gamble, and Abreu has a strong chance of filling that role if the playing field is level. The Twins might now have them both and risk nearly nothing to see if they can coax some consistent output from a player who has already demonstrated the potential to do so.
Bringing Abreu back to the AL Central also allows him to rekindle his offensive in familiar terrain. He spent the majority of his career in Chicago, where he utterly destroyed opposition pitchers in the division. Abreu has a career.310 hitter with RISP and two outs, which the Twins have battled with a lot this season.
All of this is admittedly ignoring the bad aspects of Abreu’s recent performance, but that is not what Minnesota would be betting on. If they can add him for a reasonable price, which appears to be a given, there’s no harm in doing so to see if he can turn things around.
Best case scenario, he works his way into a meaningful position at first base or DH, especially now that Alex Kirilloff is gone for the time being. A platoon of Abreu and Santana, with some Jose Miranda thrown in, sounds very decent.
Worst-case scenario: things don’t work out, and the Twins just DFA him when a roster slot becomes available. It isn’t the most obvious gamble in the world, but one that a Twins team that didn’t prepare properly over the winter could benefit from taking.
