How the Jose Abreu conundrum appears to be the hill Astros are willing to die on

RIDE OR DIE

Astros Jim Crane, Jose Abreu, Jeff Bagwell
Something has to change. Composite Getty Image.

Coming into the season, one of the areas of the club the Astros were hoping would improve was the play at first base. Jose Abreu finished the 2023 regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball among qualified players.

However, he did play well in the postseason. So fans were holding out hope we would see that version of Abreu in 2024.

Unfortunately, Abreu has done little to make people believe he'll be any better this season.

And the Astros appear to be in denial about the reality of the situation with this continued nonsense about the back of his baseball card. Manager Joe Espada brought this up once again after the Astros were swept by the Braves.

If we're going to keep talking about baseball cards, then we have to accept this. The back of his card also shows how bad he was in 2023, and his age.

To be clear, we don't have any issue with the Astros having their player's backs. But this baseball card stuff has to stop. It's insulting to the fans. There are other ways to discuss a slumping player.

Be sure to watch the video above as ESPN Houston's John Granato and Lance Zierlein react to the Abreu situation.

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Jose Abreu is heading to Florida. Composite Getty Image.

The Houston Astros will option slumping first baseman José Abreu to their spring training facility to try and get the 2020 AL MVP back on track.

General manager Dana Brown made the announcement Tuesday, saying that they’d make the move Wednesday. The 37-year-old will report to the Astros complex in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Brown said the decision was made after a meeting that included himself, Abreu, coaches and front-office personnel.

Abreu, in the second season of a $58.5 million, three-year contract, is hitting .099 with just one extra-base hit and three RBIs. In 77 plate appearances across 22 games this season, Abreu has just seven hits.

Brown said Abreu was very receptive during their conversation and had a good attitude about the move.

“Jose Abreu is an outstanding human being,” Brown said. “He is unselfish and he’s a teammate’s guy and he wants to get himself back to what he was doing last fall. And so, in the midst of this conversation, you could see that this guy is passionate and determined to get back to helping his team.”

“And so he unselfishly was on board with an agreement with going back to West Palm Beach and getting some extra bats, getting some detailed instruction on what we could do to get him back,” Brown continued.

The Astros selected the contract of Joey Loperfido from Triple-A Sugar Land on Tuesday and he will likely play some first base, but Brown indicated that he’d mostly be used in the outfield. The 24-year-old was set to make his major league debut Tuesday night against the Guardians in left field, leaving Jon Singleton to fill in for Abreu at first base. Singleton entered Tuesday hitting .238 with 10 hits and no RBIs.

Abreu was the 2014 AL Rookie of the Year and is a three-time All-Star and a three-time Silver Slugger award winner. He in his 11th big league season.

“He got to the point where he was frustrated,” Brown said. “It’s rare to do it. But I think it tells us about his dedication and commitment and I don’t think he sees this as a long term and I don’t think we see it as a long term thing. I think it’s more like… let’s go down, let’s make some adjustments. Let’s get the rhythm and timing back. And I think in his eyes, he’s looking at it as I’ll be back in a couple of weeks or whatever it takes to get better.”

Abreu hit .237 with 18 home runs and 90 RBIs last season in his first year in Houston after nine seasons with the White Sox. He had four homers and 13 RBIs in 11 postseason games.

“The bat speed is still pretty good,” Brown said. “So, we’ve got to get his timing right and we’ve got to get his rhythm right, so that he can consistently do it. And so I still feel very optimistic about it.”

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