Whereas the White Sox have been one of many major sellers within the deadline market, one in all their prime commerce candidates doesn’t seem like going anyplace, as reporter Francys Romero (X hyperlink) hears from sources that Luis Robert Jr. is “unlikely” to be on the transfer at this level. MLB.com’s Scott Merkin concurs, and so whereas an unexpectedly massive commerce provide would possibly change issues earlier than Tuesday’s 5 p.m. CT deadline, odds are Robert will nonetheless be in a White Sox uniform on July 31.
Robert missed about two months this season on account of a hip flexor pressure, and is hitting .201/.242/.440 with 12 homers and 13 steals over 220 plate appearances getting into Monday’s motion. With only a 99 wRC+ to indicate for his manufacturing, Robert isn’t precisely placing on a present for potential suitors, so it isn’t stunning that the White Sox would possibly need to maintain off till the offseason to reignite any commerce talks. If Robert returns to his 2023 kind over the season’s remaining two months, it’ll do rather a lot to re-establish his commerce worth and to assist Chicago’s possibilities at discovering an acceptable return.
Signed to a six-year, $50M contract earlier than his MLB profession even started, Robert remains to be one thing of an unproven amount as he approaches his twenty seventh birthday, as accidents have restricted his full potential. Enjoying in 145 video games final season, Robert hit .264/.315/.542 with 38 homers and completed twelfth in AL MVP voting, which supplied proof that Robert could be an elite participant when wholesome. A extra severe hip flexor concern in 2021 after which quite a lot of accidents in 2022 restricted him to 166 video games over these two seasons, although he nonetheless managed a .307/.344/.486 slash line and 25 residence runs in 697 PA, mainly delivering the equal of 1 spectacular full season.
Past Robert’s manufacturing on the sector, his contractual management provides to his worth as a commerce chip. He’s owed $15M in 2025, and the White Sox then maintain $20M membership choices on his providers for each 2026 and 2027. That is fairly an affordable value for a participant with a famous person ceiling, and thus the Sox may add for an enormous commerce package deal to additional help their rebuilding efforts.
Given the potential size of Robert’s deal, the White Sox may even nonetheless view him as a contributor to their subsequent profitable group, in the event that they really feel they’re beginning to make headway on a revived roster. After all, that will require a variety of progress in fairly quick order from a 27-81 group that’s threatening to ship one in all baseball’s worst-ever seasons, so it would look like a protracted shot if the Sox are capable of get on observe earlier than Robert’s time with the membership is over.
