Astros obvious Jose Abreu replacement makes Houston sticking with him more frustrating

The Houston Astros are in a pickle. They signed Jose Abreu to a three-year deal ahead of the 2023 season expecting him to be their first baseman and it simply has not worked out.

Abreu struggled mightily in the 2023 regular season and has been even worse this season. The 37-year-old has four hits in 59 at-bats (.068 BA) and has yet to hit a single home run. He has a total of one RBI. He has been worth -1.4 bWAR already, which is unfathomable less than one month into the season.

Replacing Abreu is a must for Houston. Releasing him is probably out of the question given his $19.5 million salary for 2025, but he needs to, at the very least, be benched. The Astros happen to have a perfect option in the minors, yet they continue to stick with Abreu. That's incredibly frustrating.

Astros having an obvious replacement in the minors makes it more frustrating that they stick with Jose Abreu

The Astros are 7-16 on the season entering play on Tuesday and are coming off a series loss against the Nationals. Despite all that has gone wrong for them, they're showing absolutely no urgency. Perhaps that's acceptable when the team has made seven straight ALCS appearances, but their team has not been 7-16 in any of those years.

It's time for the Astros to acknowledge that there is a problem, especially at first base, and bench Abreu. In his place, it's time to promote Joey Loperfido.

Loperfido was a Spring Training standout and all he's done in the minors since is hit. In his 19 games for AAA Sugar Land, Loperfido is slashing .260/.359/.688 with ten home runs and 24 RBI. Yes, he has six more home runs than Abreu has hits. No, I don't care that it's the PCL. There's no doubt in my mind and there should be no doubt in Houston's mind that Loperfido would be far better than Abreu has been. Not that it takes much, but the point remains.

One potential flaw in promoting Loperfido to replace Abreu at first base is his lack of experience at first base. He's primarily an outfielder with just 56 appearances at first base in his minor league career (five this season) but his defense has been "better than expected" in his limited action at the position.

Even if he is a subpar defender at first base, it's not like Abreu, a player not known for his glove, is any better. The difference offensively will almost certainly be night and day. There's no reason not to do this at this point. If the Astros want to make a run, they must replace the weakest link. There's no debating who that is. The fact that they have a ready replacement just waiting for the call makes this situation just that much more frustrating.