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Astros all-time bust finally showing signs of life again in Puerto Rico Winter League

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Climbing Tal's Hill

Houston Astros v Los Angeles Angels / Harry How/GettyImages

When the Houston Astros signed Jose Abreu before the 2023 season, it certainly raised a number of eyebrows. While Abreu's tenure with the White Sox was extremely impressive, Abreu was already showing signs that Father Time was catching up with him, and the general consensus was that owner Jim Crane had overpaid for the aging slugger and would have benefitted from having a real general manager in charge at the time.

Astros fans know the rest of the story. In the 2023 and 2024 seasons combined, Abreu played a total of 176 games while slashing .217/.275/.351 with 20 homers, looking very much like a player in his late 30s who no longer had what it took to perform in MLB. Ultimately, the Astros finally released him.

Unfortunately, Houston is still having to pay for that mistake, as Abreu is going to end up making $30 million from the Astros while not being on their roster at all. Was it all worth it for his oddly scorching 2023 playoff run? Without an additional World Series ring ... sadly, no.

Making matters worse, Abreu is actually playing pretty well in winter ball and could be playing for a new team soon. He's piled up four homers and 10 RBI so far, leading the league in both categories.

Jose Abreu showing signs of career renaissance in winter ball doesn't mean the Astros made a mistake in getting rid of him

One very important thing to keep in mind here is that winter ball in Puerto Rico isn't anywhere close to the same level of competition as MLB. While there are big leaguers that play in the league, the fact remains that the bulk of the players there are not MLB-quality, and stat lines can be extremely misleading.

That said, good for Abreu for starting to get back on track. Abreu went to winter ball this offseason to show that he isn't completely washed, and while the competition level isn't terribly high, he has done what he needed to do to at least have a shot at returning to the big leagues again. One hopes he latches on with a team and produces, as he seems like a genuinely good guy.

The Astros need to steer clear of a reunion with a Abreu, however, and it doesn't seem like that is even in the cards. Houston has clearly been targeting the top of the first base market this offseason, and passing on guys like Christian Walker or Carlos Santana in order to give the soon-to-be 38-year-old Abreu yet another chance would just be inviting yet another disaster.

Yes, even though he's already on their payroll.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.