Chicago White Sox have decisions on deck for Jose Abreu, Avisail Garcia

As the Chicago White Sox continue their rebuild, they’ll need to decide whether Jose Abreu and Avisail Garcia are part of the plan or additional trade chips.

For the Chicago White Sox, it’s all about the rebuild. Over the past several months, numerous key veterans including Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier and David Robertson have been shipped out of town. The team has been well-compensated for its efforts, however: General manager Rick Hahn stocked the minor league shelves with a plethora of top prospects such as Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez and Michael Kopech, transforming his farm system into the league’s consensus best.

Nevertheless, there are a few decisions yet to be made about players still on the major league roster. In a FOX Sports video report, Ken Rosenthal says the White Sox need to determine whether Jose Abreu and Avisail Garcia are part of their long-term future or more trade bait.

Garcia seemed like a legitimate candidate to be moved before the trade deadline, as the 26-year-old outfielder had skyrocketed his value with a monster first half. The breakout has continued past the All-Star break, as Garcia currently boasts a lively .310/.357/.493 slash line with 13 home runs and 55 RBI in 92 games. Over the first five years of his big league career, Garcia slashed .258/.310/.385 while averaging eight homers and 35 RBI per season.

Of course, the things that would make Garcia appealing to other clubs also make him attractive to his current one. He’s under team control through 2019, and at his age he still very much fits within Chicago’s youth movement. Based on a relative lack of rumors and reports, it seems the White Sox didn’t push Garcia very hard at the deadline, and per Rosenthal, they could be thinking contract extension instead.

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But as the FOX baseball insider points out, the organization will need to decide whether it believes Garcia’s current level of production is a flash in the pan or a genuine breakthrough. Garcia has been a highly-regarded talent in the past, and given his age it’s not outlandish to suggest that this is for real. But the notion of trading him now – at a peak in his value – has to be tempting for a club that has had great success of late in turning its major league roster into prospect gold.

Abreu’s situation is a bit different. At 31 years of age, he’s not quite the young asset that Garcia is. The Cuban native is having a strong year at the plate, though, batting .290/.343/.513 with 21 home runs and 70 RBI in 113 contests. His .857 OPS is higher than either of his last two seasons. However, it seems unlikely Abreu will ever be able to match his 2014 Rookie of the Year campaign, when he hit a ferocious .317/.383/.581 with 36 homers and 107 RBI.

Like Garcia, Abreu is also under control through 2019, but as Rosenthal notes, he’s arbitration-eligible for the next two years and is making $11 million this season. He won’t be cheap, and as we saw last offseason, there isn’t exactly heavy demand around the league for power-hitting first basemen on the wrong side of 30. Rosenthal wonders if the ChiSox might end up keeping Abreu as a veteran presence in their young lineup and guide for their other Cuban players coming through the system.

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While Rosenthal implies that Abreu might be the more likely of the two to stay, Garcia seems to align more closely with the team’s present outlook and philosophy. The main issues are that Abreu might prove difficult to trade, and Garcia would require a long-term financial commitment in the near future. Or does the club attempt to offload both to even further deepen the prospect pool?

These are just some of the questions the White Sox will be asking themselves in the coming months as their rebuilding plan continues to roll along.

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