José Abreu is packing his bags — with plenty of money in them.
The Astros released the first baseman Friday, less than two years into his three-year, $58.5 million contract, the team announced.
The 37-year-old Abreu is still owed $30.8 million, according to ESPN.
General manager Dana Brown said this was an extremely difficult decision considering how much money he is still owed.
“It’s always tough when the deal doesn’t work out, but it just didn’t work out this time,” Brown said.
Abreu emerged as a top slugger in his time with the White Sox, but he failed to bring star power to the Astros after joining them as a free agent.
In the nine seasons he spent with the Chicago, Abreu won the AL MVP award in 2020 and notched three All-Star and Silver Slugger seasons.
He also earned Rookie of the Year honors in 2014.
The Astros rarely saw that version of Abreu after signing him in November 2022.
Across 176 games, he held a .217 batting average and .625 OPS.
This season, Abreu was batting .124 (14 for 113) with two homers and seven RBIs this season, during which he spent time in the minors trying to fix his swing.
Brown and manager Joe Espada met with Abreu on Friday afternoon to deliver the news.
“I have nothing but good things to say about him,” Brown said. “I thought he was very graceful. He handled it well. He understands baseball and he understands that he wasn’t producing and that he ran out of time.”
Espada raved about Abreu’s professionalism and said releasing him was difficult.
“Very tough day,” he said. “It was not an easy conversation. José Abreu has meant (a lot) to this organization, helping us get to another championship series last year. And with what he’s done in this game, it was not easy.”
This April, amid a brutal start to the season, he agreed to be optioned to the minors with the hopes of finding his old ways at the team’s facility in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Abreu played five games with the team’s rookie league squad and also appeared in two games with Triple-A Sugar Land during his nearly month-long stint.
The turnaround never came.
The 37-year-old hit .167 with a .186 on-base percentage and a .333 slugging percentage in 13 games after being recalled.
Abreu had just 14 hits in 113 at-bats this season, along with two home runs and seven RBIs.
The Astros will look to Jon Singleton to be their everyday first baseman for now, and he entered Friday hitting .213 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in 50 games this season.
“I actually don’t feel any different,” Singleton said, who will hope to give the struggling Astros (32-38) a boost in the AL West standings. “I’m still going to go out there and try to the best of my ability to help the team win ball games. I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
As for Abreu, he ran out of opportunities.
— with AP
