6 genius decisions by Jed Hoyer - Not giving Abreu a third year
In what felt like a giant swing and miss at the time, the Cubs, who had formerly been heavily rumored to be going after Jose Abreu, wound up missing their top target due to the Houston Astros offering the slugger a three-year deal. The Cubs would not budge above two years, and looking back now, it appears that Jed Hoyer was right on the money in doing so. This season, Abreu's production has fallen off the face of the Earth.
With a 37% worse-than-league-average bat, Abreu's .224/.279/.309/63 wRC+ slash line indicates that last season's power outage was an ominous sign that things would only worsen. The power has not returned, and the average is taking a big hit. The Cubs avoided disaster by not guaranteeing Abreu more than two years are 20.0M per season. Cudos to Hoyer for not getting too aggressive with this signing because this one would have significantly hindered the Cubs' spending and confidence in more significant contracts.