For a man who never wore the uniform, Jose Abreu is actually a pivotal figure in recent Red Sox history.
During the winter of 2013, fresh off a shocking World Series victory, the Red Sox nearly landed the slugger. He instead signed a $68 million contract with the White Sox before winning the Rookie of the Year Award.
Falling short on Abreu, and the power he could've provided, rankled Red Sox ownership so thoroughly that when the next high-profile Cuban defector became available, they refused to be outbid.
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Their $72.5 million investment in outfielder Rusney Castillo easily goes down as one of the worst moves of John Henry's tenure. Castillo was outrighted off the 40-man roster in 2016 -- on the same night that Abreu beat the Red Sox with a 10th-inning double, incidentally -- and then played out the rest of his days as the richest player in Triple-A.
Boston's dalliances with Abreu didn't end there. At the 2019 trade deadline, with the season slipping away, the Red Sox considered dealing for Abreu, but the slugger stayed in Chicago, re-signed with the White Sox, and won the AL MVP Award during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
That brings us to today.
As he nears his 36th birthday, Abreu will once again be a free agent, and according to multiple reports, the White Sox will not try to keep him. He's coming off his worst season from a power perspective, with only 15 home runs in 157 games. He mitigated that lack of pop by hitting .304 with an .824 OPS and 4.2 WAR, which puts him in the vicinity of Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers (4.4).
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He's hitting the market exactly when the Red Sox have two needs that it just so happens Abreu fills -- a right-handed-hitting first baseman to spell youngster Triston Casas, and a DH to presumably replace fellow free agent J.D. Martinez.
Both chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and manager Alex Cora suggested they wanted to take the DH position in a different direction next season, with a focus on versatility and athleticism. Whether Abreu's ability to play first base matches that description will be up to their internal evaluations, but he fits the roster in a number of other ways, too.
For one, he is probably entering the short-term contract phase of his career. Just as slugger Nelson Cruz has remained productive into his 40s on a series of one-year deals, Abreu should get used to going year-to-year. He'd likely be available on no worse than a two-year contract, which fits Bloom's preferred model of long-term flexibility.
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He's also considered an exceptional clubhouse presence, and if Xander Bogaerts leaves in free agency, the team will be looking to fill a leadership void, especially with a Spanish speaker on a roster that includes young standouts like Devers and Brayan Bello. Abreu certainly fit that bill in Chicago.
"We probably value Jose more than other teams do, simply because we've had the benefit of seeing the impact he has in the clubhouse," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn told The New York Times last year. "And certainly everyone can see what he does on the field and the value on the offensive and defensive production. But we sort of boost that up a little bit because we know how he essentially role models exactly what we want guys to be when they wear a White Sox uniform."
The real question is whether his power drop -- one mirrored by Martinez this season -- is permanent or just an aberration. There are reasons to be encouraged on that front. For one, Abreu hit the ball as hard as ever, ranking among the league leaders in exit velocity and many of the "expected" stats front offices now prioritize.
He also set a career-high in walks (62) and a career-low in strikeout rate (16.2 percent), so he was swinging at the right pitches. The home runs disappeared because he hit the ball on the ground nearly half the time, and at the worst rate since his rookie year. Could restoring his power be as simple as hitting the ball in the air again?
The Red Sox may want to find out and finally, belatedly, get their man.