(670 The Score) The White Sox don't intend to engage in contract extension discussions with first baseman Jose Abreu, general manager Rick Hahn said ahead of the team's season opener in Kansas City last week.
Instead, Hahn and the White Sox hope to evaluate and explore a new deal for Abreu at the end of the 2019 season, after which he's set to become a free agent. But is there a place for the 32-year-old Abreu in the team's young future?
Hahn believes so.
"As we continue through this process and we get into the position where we finally want to be and we're ready to win championships, there's certainly room for a Jose Abreu on that team when the time comes," Hahn said in an interview with Laurence Holmes on 670 The Score on Tuesday afternoon.
Abreu is 4-for-15 with two home runs and four RBIs in the first four games. A member of the White Sox since 2014, he was signed out of Cuba to a franchise record six-year, $68-million deal.
The White Sox have dealt many of their key veterans in recent years since starting a rebuild in December 2016. Abreu has remained as part of the organization while Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier, David Robertson and more were moved.
"We value him more highly than the other 29 clubs," Hahn said of Abreu. "It's part of the reason that even though we were in the process of trading all sorts of veteran players for the initial stages of the rebuild, it's part of the reason why I never thought we were ultimately going to find a match on Jose. Because everyone can value to a similar extent what he does on the field.
"We tend to goose that up a bit because we have the privilege of seeing him for seven-plus months a year a knowing what he means in that clubhouse, knowing what he does for our young players, Latin and otherwise.
"The example he sets in terms of his work ethic, his focus, his commitment to the city of Chicago and our organization, it's hard not to (raise) that up a little bit in terms of the value he has to us.
"It's important, and it's part of the culture change we've underwent here in the last couple years. He's been at the center of that and played an important role in that the last couple years and we foresee it going forward as well."
