#José Abreu

For all the talk about how division races supposedly don't matter as much as they used to -- and I can think of a couple No. 1 and No. 2 seeds who would very much disagree with you -- it still means something to be able to call yourself a champion. I guarantee you there are Guardians fans who have 2022 AL Central champs shirts. It might not be the…

While the Carlos Correa negotiations remain in a deadlock, the Blue Jays made (some) headlines yesterday by inking Brandon Belt to a one-year deal worth $9.6 million, per multiple. Belt, a longtime fixture of the Giants' offense, is expected to play first base and serve as Toronto's designated hitter. That means he'll be sharing time with Vladimir…

I can't be the only person whose pulse spiked seeing the words "Rafael Devers" and "agreement" on their phone Tuesday until realizing it was just for a $17.5-million deal covering his last year before free agency. No matter. Good news is good news, and avoiding even the suggestion of arbitration with The Last Red Sox Superstar qualifies as…

Baseball is returning and Opening Day is creeping towards us. And for White Sox fans, that means optimism is high that a deep fall run is in the 2021 plans. If you're especially confident about the upcoming 2021 White Sox season, there are a lot of interesting bets available. Opening Day for the 2021 MLB Season is on April 1. For the White Sox,…

After waiting until a month after the World Series for the winter meetings to get the ball rolling, Major League Baseball's free-agent spending spree has been something of a runaway freight train. There have already been 30 free agents who signed contracts with an average salary of at least $10 million. And, no, we're not just talking about the New…

Thirty-three mostly uneventful days have passed on the Major League Baseball calendar since Ryan Pressly induced a Nick Castellanos popup to end the 2022 World Series. But as the baseball world descended on San Diego for the winter meetings this week, the transactions arrived in a flurry. So let's take stock of the first month of the offseason with…

Major League Baseball's 2022 winter meetings blew through San Diego like a three-day whirlwind, sending Justin Verlander to the Mets, Trea Turner to the Phillies, Willson Contreras to the Cardinals, Kenley Jansen to the Red Sox and "Arson Judge" into the pantheon of baseball's greatest Twitter moments. One of our biggest takeaways from the spending…

The Cleveland Guardians have agreed to a two-year, $33 million deal with first baseman Josh Bell that includes an opt-out clause after the 2023 season, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network. Bell, 30, spent the first five seasons of his career with the Pirates before playing for the Nationals in 2021 and both the Nationals and Padres last season after…

The Phillies did what they have become pretty proficient at over the last few offseasons: they signed the main player they targeted in free agency. The team on Tuesday agreed to an 11-year, $300 million deal with star shortstop Trea Turner. Turner's addition gives the Phillies an even more formidable lineup than the one that carried them just a few…

Though we're still waiting on the biggest, Aaron Judge-sized domino to fall, there have already been quite a few lucrative deals handed out in this year's MLB free-agency cycle. Eleven players have agreed to contracts worth at least $10 million per year, and there could be as many as 40 more at that price point when all is said and done. Not all of…

A couple weeks ago 30 SB Nation baseball writers got together and conducted the annual SBN GM Simulation. For three days we acted as the GM of a team - I represented the Red Sox once more - with one goal: prepare the 2023 roster. Each GM is given a roster of current players as of the end of the season, so any move the real teams made during the…

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon. Last night I asked you if the…

Re-signing Xander Bogaerts and locking up Rafael Devers with an extension are the top priorities for the Boston Red Sox this winter, but improving upon this year's dreadful last-place finish requires more than simply retaining their core duo. Boston needs to upgrade their roster with pieces from outside the organization to succeed in a…

When he introduced newest Astros slugger José Abreu on Tuesday, owner Jim Crane said he wasn't done with free agency and specifically mentioned being "in the mix" for Justin Verlander and Yuli Gurriel. If Gurriel were to return, it would be in a limited role behind Abreu, who was sitting immediately to Crane's left as he made the comments.…

After a slow-to-develop off-season, there has finally been some movement in Major League Baseball's free agency, and with the annual winter meetings just around the corner, the pace might be about to pick up even more. This week saw veteran slugger José Abreu join the Houston Astros on a three-year deal worth $60 million (all figures US).…

The Houston Astros are in the process of finalizing a deal with free agent first baseman José Abreu for three years and roughly $50 million, Jim Bowden of CBS Sports HQ confirms. Abreu, 35, is a three-time All-Star who has won three Silver Sluggers, a Rookie of the Year award and the 2020 AL MVP. Last season, he appeared in 157 games for the White…

Signing free agents almost always involves a gamble, mainly because the older the player, the higher the injury risk. Three veteran pitchers in particular are going to command high dollars on the free-agent market this offseason -- and all three have had injury issues in the not-so-distant past. Through the bidding process, teams will have to…

I'll say this every time I write about predictions, it's simply something fun to talk about and maybe on occasion these projections give fans a bit of an indicator on what teams might do in free agency. And we can always connect some of the predictions to reports and rumors that are already out there. So, it's no surprise that in MLBTR annual…

The Chicago Cubs have multiple needs within their starting rotation and that is a large part of the reason why the team has not shied in their interest in Japanese starting pitcher Kodai Senga. Senga elected for international free agency this offseason and the lack of a posting fee attached to his free agency status allows for a team like the Cubs…

The Miami Marlins designated first baseman Lewin Diaz for assignment. I covered it last night, but I wanted to go more in-depth about what transpired. Lewin was a top prospect for us, so it did seem a bit unusual for us to be done with him after he finally got a chance to start. It makes me hope that we have another target in mind, such as José…

The New York Yankees re-signed their slugging first baseman on Tuesday, giving him a deal which could max out at three years and $51 million. And the move comes with Mike Francesa's seal of approval. Consider what Numbah One posted on following news of the deal: "Great to see Rizzo back. He is a Yankee." BUY YANKEES TICKETS: STUBHUB, VIVID…

One of the great observations of the Chicago baseball scene appeared several decades ago in a column by my former Chicago Tribune colleague Steve Daley. "Baseball has no offseason in Chicago," Daley wrote. "Interest only starts to wane when the teams start to play their games." That was long before the Cubs and White Sox ended their respective…

Dusty Baker finally got his long-awaited ring as the Houston Astros secured their second World Series title in six years, suffering just two postseason losses at the end of an outstanding regular season. Well done, Houston. Now, can you become the first back-to-back champion in more than two decades? An awful lot will change before Major League…

The Chicago White Sox will visit the Chicago Cubs in the second game of their series in the National League West versus American League East matchup from Wrigley Field on Wednesday night. The weather is expected to be very humid with a 0% chance of rain and 8.1 mile per hour winds. The Chicago White Sox are coming off of a 2 run win against the…

You don't need me to tell you that the 2022 Chicago White Sox significantly underperformed against expectations, but I'll do it anyways: the 2022 Chicago White Sox significantly underperformed against expectations and the 2022-2023 offseason is critical in retooling the roster in pursuit of not only returning to the postseason, but winning their…

Who will win MLB MVP in 2022? Los Angeles Angels two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani won AL MVP and Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper took home his second NL MVP honor in 2021. Major League Baseball is the only American professional sport that wards two MVP awards, one to each conference. It allows two players to take home a prestigious honor,…

Both players were top-two in batting average for their respective leagues as of Wednesday. Luis Arráez was atop the American League with a.319, while Jeff McNeil's.323 average trailed only Freddie Freeman. Arráez and McNeil are both having their best seasons since 2019, when Arráez was a rookie and McNeil was named to his first All-Star team. They…

Sometimes it's fun when a team's home run leader is not the one you'd expect, but I think it's one of those columns where you'd prefer a little bit of certainty. For instance, the first time I posed the question in the above headline was during the homestretch of the 100-loss 2018 season. By the second week of September, the leaderboard had José…