Report: José Abreu, Astros Agree to 3-year Contract Worth Around $60M in Free Agency

According to reports, the Houston Astros and free-agent first baseman José Abreu have agreed to a three-year contract.

The contract will be worth around $60 million when finalized, according to the Houston Chronicle.

He spent his first nine MLB seasons with the WhiteSox.

While he remained an effective hitter in the middle of the WhiteSox lineup, his power numbers took a noticeable dip in 2022. He hit just 15 homers in his career, which was a career low.

According to Scott Merkin of MLB.com, Frank Menechino said that taking a lot of walks has gotten him out of his hit first rhythm. He is not happy with the number of homers. It is difficult when you are a power hitter and you try to hit a home run. I don't know what to say. I didn't think he'd have 15.

Abreu set a career-best with a 16.2 percent strikeout rate and walked in 9.1 percent of his plate appearances. There are a lot of reasons to think that Abreu's power numbers will improve. He had a hard-hit percentage of 51.9, which is above his career average, and his exit velocity was 92.2, which is above his career average.

At the hitter-friendly Minute Maid Park in Houston, there's a good chance that the Astros will get a positive regression to the mean from Abreu next year.

One of the biggest holes for Houston to fill this winter was at first base, and the addition of Abreu will go a long way towards helping the team repeat as World Series champion.