Astros sign free-agent first baseman Jose Abreu for 3 years, $58.5M US

Jose Abreu and the World Series champion Astros agreed to a three-year contract Monday worth $58.5 million US, adding another powerful bat to Houston's lineup.

Abreu, the 2020 American League MVP, gets $19.5 million in each of the next three seasons.

He spent his first nine major league seasons with the Chicago White Sox. The first baseman became a free agent after batting .304 with 15 home runs, 75 runs batted in and an .824 on-base-plus slugging percentage this past season

With the Astros, he replaces Yuli Gurriel at first base in a batting order that also features all-star sluggers Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker.

Gurriel became a free agent after Houston defeated the Philadelphia Phillies this month for its second World Series championship.

The 35-year-old Abreu becomes the biggest free agent to switch teams so far this off-season. Born in Cuba, the three-time all-star and 2014 AL rookie of the year is a .292 career hitter in the majors with 243 homers, 863 RBI and .860 OPS.

The Astros announced the signing Monday night. Abreu is scheduled to be introduced in a news conference Tuesday morning at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

Abreu gets a hotel suite on road trips and the right to buy a luxury suite for all Astros home games.

Abreu incentive bonuses:

• $200,000 US for winning an MVP award
• $175,000 for finishing second in the voting
• $150,000 for third
• $125,000 for fourth
• $100,000 for fifth
• $100,000 for earning World Series MVP
• $75,000 for League Championship Series MVP
• $75,000 for making the all-star team
• $75,000 for winning a Gold Glove or Silver Slugger

Jays push back Sunday home start times

The Toronto Blue Jays are making a small change to some home game start times next year, pushing back the first pitch for Sunday matinees by 30 minutes to 1:37 p.m. ET.

With a few exceptions over the course of the season, weekday start times will remain at 7:07 p.m. and Saturday start times will remain at 3:07 p.m.

The lone exception to the Sunday start time is the regular-season finale on Oct. 1 against the Tampa Bay Rays. First pitch on that day will be 3:07 p.m., the Blue Jays said Tuesday in a news release.

The home schedule at the newly renovated Rogers Centre will kick off April 11 against the Detroit Tigers.

Toronto finished second in the AL East division standings last season with a 92-70 record and subsequently swept in a two-game wild-card playoff by the Seattle Mariners.

Clevinger returning to AL?

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.