Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu has accepted the $17.8 million qualifying offer ahead of Thursday's deadline, according to Jim Bowden and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic:

Abreu's decision to sign the qualifying offer means that he will get to enter the market as an unrestricted free agent next winter.

The White Sox were favorites to retain Abreu, though there were some indications that the two sides would begin negotiations on a multi-year deal. Instead, Chicago will lock up Abreu for 2020 while they continue to chase top-tier pitching in free agency.

Abreu has quietly been one of the most productive hitters in baseball since his debut in 2014. He ranks fourth in baseball in RBIs and 12th in homers during that span, and last season Abreu led the American League with 123 RBIs. The 32-year-old also does the little things, leading the AL with 10 sacrifice flies last season.

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Management all but guaranteed that Abreu would remain with the White Sox in 2020. General manager Rick Hahn stated as much back in September (via Vinnie Duber of NBC Sports Chicago):

“With Jose, we’ve heard his thoughts that even if we don’t re-sign him he’s going to re-sign himself. We’ve heard Jerry’s thoughts about he’s always going to wear a White Sox uniform. I don’t think they are going to be teaching this in negotiation classes in college any time soon how this one is unfolding,” Hahn said to laughs. “But my takeaway from all that is that there’s a strong desire on both sides to figure out a way to keep Jose in a White Sox uniform beyond this year.

With Abreu on board, the White Sox turn their attention to guys like Stephen Strasburg and Zack Wheeler, amongst others.

Chicago has some of the most promising talent in baseball (Eloy Jimenez and Yoan Moncada, to name a few), but they hope to make at least one splash after missing out on Manny Machado and Bryce Harper last year.