José Abreu is playing his tenth season in the MLB, and in half of them he has hit at least 30 home runs. But in his first year with the Houston Astros he hasn’t hit the ball out of the park in more than 40 games.

That is a good measure of how difficult this Major League season has been for the Cuban first baseman, who was MVP of the American League in 2020 and who reached the sky as a free agent after 9 seasons with the Chicago White Sox.

The Astros chose Abreu over Yuli Gurriel, who is having a good season with the Marlins. And maybe now they’re sorry, looking at his .220/.269/.262 line with 7 doubles as the only extra-base hits on 36 hits and just 17 RBIs.

The 36-year-old veteran hasn’t let on his concern about the slump he’s in, but he sure feels the pressure after coming in on a three-year, $58 million contract.

“The only thing I do is look for a way to find the solution,” he recently told the press. “In the end we come to work every day to be in the best position to compete. That’s my approach.”

“I live in peace with my life. The boys love me. My family loves me. No matter what else, the rest will come,” added the Cuban.

Some analysts have begun to float the possibility that the 2022 World Series champion team led by Dusty Baker will put Abreu on the market before the trade deadline.

A player of his quality has the talent to come back from his bad offensive moment and for sure that is what they expect in Houston, but they should not change it either because with the departure of Gurriel there is no one to assume the defense of the initial team. In addition, a negotiation would be extremely difficult to agree on due to the Cuban’s age and his salary of $19.5 million per year.