Astros legend's Jose Abreu take won't help Joe Espada make a tough call

When the Houston Astros signed Jose Abreu to a three-year deal ahead of the 2023 campaign, it appeared as if an already formidable lineup just got much better. Houston didn't get much production from the first base position when they won the World Series in 2022, and were signing a former MVP winner to fill that void.

Unfortunately for Houston, the signing has not panned out at all how they expected. While he did show up in the 2023 postseason, Abreu struggled for much of the regular season and those struggles have carried over into the 2024 campaign.

He was so bad, in fact, to the point where Houston sent him down to the minors for him to get right. Despite an incredibly small sample in minor league action, Astros legend Jeff Bagwell seems to think that Abreu has figured things out. A glowing review from Bagwell might force Joe Espada into a tough decision.

Astros legend's report on Jose Abreu might force Astros manager to make wrong decision

Here's what Astros GM Dana Brown had to say in regards to what he had heard from Bagwell:

“He’s making some adjustments and that’s a good thing. Bagwell gave a really good report on him. He’s starting to get his hands loaded. His timing is back, and we’d like to see him play a little bit more and really fine-tune it. Hopefully, his timing is back.”

Don't get me wrong. Abreu working on some things and looking better is obviously a good thing. This Astros team is at its best when Abreu is their first baseman producing like the Abreu of old, but are we really sure that with such a small sample size he's as close to being "back" as Bagwell thinks he is?

Bagwell's glowing review might give Abreu his job back in the not-too-distant future, which is not what Astros fans should want to hear. When last seen, Abreu was simply not a MLB-caliber player, recording just seven hits in 71 at-bats (.099 average) while playing mostly everyday. He had a .113 OPS, which is hard to fathom.

Sure, he might be better this time around, but he can't possibly be worse. He'd have a long way to go to replicating Jon Singleton's production too. Singleton has gotten most of the starts at first base since Abreu's demotion and has performed admirably, posting a .718 OPS with five home runs in 38 games. He hasn't lit the world on fire, but has been roughly a league-average hitter which is so much more than Abreu was.

The Astros were 9-19 when Abreu was sent down and are currently 23-28 entering Saturday's action. They went from ten games under .500 with Abreu starting most of the time to five games over .500 with him out of the picture. Some of that has to do with the team as a whole playing better, but the upgrade from Abreu to Singleton cannot be ignored.

Abreu needs more than just a short stint to prove he can be trusted with a recall to the majors. For now, the Astros need to ignore Bagwell's review and focus on playing Singleton while they continue to win games and get back into the hunt.