Jose Abreu's words keep coming true, so is winning time next for White Sox?

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At times, it sure seems like Jose Abreu is a dad-gummed soothsayer.

The All-Star first baseman capped a season’s worth of talking about how badly he wanted to remain on the South Side by predicting that he’d be in a White Sox uniform come Opening Day 2020. Granted, that wasn’t too difficult a prediction to make. But it came true, anyway, and he’ll be suiting up for the White Sox for the next three seasons after signing a multi-year extension that was announced Friday.

Again, anyone remotely paying attention could have confidently guessed that Abreu and the White Sox would have ended up reuniting. While the process took a somewhat unexpected jaunt through Qualifying Offer Junction, it wound up at the prescribed destination.

But Abreu’s words keep coming true. Prior to calling that he’d re-sign with the White Sox, he discussed the importance of the final month of the 2019 season, saying "the 2020 season, it starts in September," and that if the team’s young core was serious about stepping into contention mode, the way they played in those final few weeks would say a lot.

All the White Sox most important hitters did in September was rake, with Abreu, Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez and Tim Anderson having gigantic months.

So what’s Abreu’s next called shot?

It’ll sound familiar to those who followed his giddy descriptions of the White Sox bright future throughout 2019. But after Moncada, Abreu's locker buddy, blossomed into the team’s best all-around hitter; after Jimenez, who said Abreu was “like a father” to him, hit 31 home runs as a rookie; after Anderson, who said on the final day of the season that he'd be "very disappointed" if Abreu wasn't back in black, won a batting title; after Luis Robert, the next fellow Cuban destined for a place under Abreu's wing, was the best player in the minor leagues; after the White Sox went out and signed free-agent catcher Yasmani Grandal to a four-year deal; more of Abreu’s words are ringing true.

“I know that everybody has noticed us for the talent we have, for the young talent we have, for the young players that we have. I think everybody realizes we are going to be a very good team because we have talent and we have very, very good young guys,” Abreu said through team interpreter Billy Russo on a conference call Friday. “For me, there’s not any doubt that we are going to be really good because I know these guys. I’ve been working with them. And I know their desire to get better, their desire to compete and their desire to be champions.

“I know we are going to be good, and it’s going to be noticed around the league.”

Abreu’s been talking up the White Sox promise for the future for a while. After six losing seasons, he had no desire to depart for greener pastures, believing that things are about to get pretty green on the South Side. His pledges to re-sign himself if the White Sox didn’t give him a new contract had a lot to do with his respect for the organization and his admiration for team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who he thanked profusely in his comments Friday. But he’s seen the development of this young core up close and knows, perhaps better than anyone, what it’s capable of.

“It has been incredible, because we have been able to prove to those people that maybe didn’t believe in us that we’re going to be good,” Abreu said in July, during All-Star festivities in Cleveland. “And we’re showing them that we are right where we need to be and that we’re going to get better.

“It’s good when you see that all the sacrifices you have been through are paying off. For us, it’s a very exciting moment, and the future is going to be very, very good for us.”

White Sox fans have been hearing this for years now, of course, and while all the ingredients seem to be in place for the transition from rebuilding to contending to take place in 2020, they’re not out of the woods yet. The 2019 season, for all its bright spots, still ended with 89 losses. And there are still holes to fill this winter.

Grandal’s signing at this early stage of the offseason did an awful lot to dispel the notion that the White Sox won’t do what it takes, from a financial standpoint, to win. Certainly Abreu was a fan of the move. “I’m very happy, my friend!” he exclaimed, in English, when asked about Grandal’s addition Friday.

Abreu, like his general manager, isn’t ready to set specific 2020 expectations in stone quite yet. Waiting until the White Sox roster is fully formed is a necessity before declaring whether this team should make plans for October — even if staff ace Lucas Giolito is chomping at the bit. But the future that’s so long been coming, is at the very least in view, if it hasn’t already arrived.

“I can't talk about time, but I can tell you we're going to work hard every single day to get better and to do our best every day,” Abreu said, very in character for a guy so often praised for his daily work ethic. “It won't take us too much longer to be a really good team. If it takes us longer than expected, I'm going to be very disappointed. But I'm sure it won't take us longer to get to the point we are working for and to the point where we want to be, and that's the playoffs.”

You heard it here. Abreu’s got a recent track record of speaking the future into existence. Now he’s got exactly what he wants: a young core around him and a contract that keeps him in a White Sox uniform for the foreseeable future.

Next up? For the first time in his career, winning.

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