Abreu still with Chicago White Sox, but under new contract terms

The Chicago White Sox are still going to have Jose Abreu under contractual control for the next three seasons, assuming they don't trade him.

But after the first baseman opted out of the final three years of his contract on Monday and opted in to three years of salary arbitration, the White Sox are going to have to pay more to keep Abreu.

After defecting from Cuba, Abreu signed a six-year, $68 million contract with the Sox on Oct, 29, 2013.

He received a $10 million signing bonus and was paid $7 million in 2014-15 and $10 million last season.

Under the original deal, Abreu was scheduled to make $10.5 million this upcoming season, $11.5 million in 2018 and $12 million in 2019.

After opting into arbitration, Abreu is likely to make roughly $12 million this upcoming season and he'd be in line for hefty raises the next two years.

In his first three seasons with the White Sox, the 29-year-old Abreu has a .299/.360/.515 hitting line with 91 home runs and 308 RBI.

After slumping in the first half of the 2016 season, Abreu batted .319 with 14 homers and 48 RBI after the all-star break.

He credited assistant hitting coach Greg Sparks for helping him through the first rough patch of his career.

"He helped me a lot during my struggles during the first half and worked with me and battled with me to find what we were doing the wrong way," Abreu said. "He was the one who helped me the whole season, trying to find a way to get my rhythm in my offense and to try to help my offensive play. Finally, I did it in the second half, and I'm very thankful and grateful to him."