The World Series champion Houston Astros are on the verge of signing free agent and three-time all-star Jose Abreu, several media outlets reported Monday.
USA Today reported it’s a three-year deal for the 2020 American League MVP.
Abreu, 35, has played his entire career with the Chicago White Sox, but it was reported in October that the team did not intend to re-sign the first baseman to shake up the roster after a disappointing season.
Abreu joined the White Sox in 2014 and was named rookie of the year. In nine seasons in Chicago, he batted .292 with 1,445 hits, 243 home runs and 863 RBI in 1,270 regular-season games.
In 2022, Abreu hit .304 but saw his power numbers fall to 15 homers and 75 RBI, down from 30 and 117, respectively, in 2021.
Clevinger joins White Sox: report
The Chicago White Sox bolstered their rotation, agreeing to a one-year contract with right-hander Mike Clevinger, a person familiar with the agreement told The Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because the deal was subject to a successful physical.
Clevinger went 7-7 with a 4.33 earned-run average in 23 games, including 22 starts, for San Diego this year. The 31-year-old missed the 2021 season after he had Tommy John surgery.
Chicago is looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2022 season, when it went 81-81 and finished 11 games back of surprising American League Central champion Cleveland. Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa stepped down in October and Pedro Grifol was hired on Nov. 1.
The White Sox got a big lift from Johnny Cueto this year, but the 36-year-old right-hander is a free agent after going 8-10 with a 3.35 ERA in 25 appearances. Clevinger slots into a rotation that likely will include Dylan Cease, Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito and Michael Kopech.
The move puts the six-foot-four Clevinger back in the AL Central after he made his major league debut with Cleveland in 2016.
Ex-Jays exec considers Bonds, Clemens for Hall
Hall of Famers Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, Jack Morris and Ryne Sandberg are among 16 members of the contemporary baseball era committee that will meet Sunday to consider the Cooperstown fate of an eight-man ballot that includes Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro.
Hall of Famers Lee Smith, Frank Thomas and Alan Trammell also are on the panel, which will meet in San Diego ahead of the Dec. 5-8 winter meetings in San Diego.
They will be joined by former Toronto CEO Paul Beeston, former Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs executive Theo Epstein, Anaheim Angels owner Arte Moreno, Miami Marlins general manager Kim Ng, Minnesota Twins president Dave St. Peter and Chicago White Sox executive vice president Ken Williams.
Three media members/historians are on the committee: longtime statistical analyst Steve Hirdt of Stats Perform, La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Neal and Slusser are past presidents of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Hall chairman Jane Forbes Clark will be the committee’s non-voting chair.
The ballot also includes Albert Belle, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Dale Murphy and Curt Schilling. The committee considers candidates whose careers were primarily from 1980 on. A candidate needs 75 per cent to be elected and anyone who does will be inducted on July 23, along with anyone chosen in the BBWAA vote, announced on Jan. 24.
Bonds, Clemens and Schilling fell short in January in their 10th and final appearances on the BBWAA ballot. Bonds received 260 of 394 votes (66 and Schilling 231 (58.6%).
Bonds denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs and Clemens maintains he never used performance-enhancing drugs.
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