For most of the last two years, Luis Robert Jr. has been the subject of rampant trade speculation. While the Chicago White Sox were falling apart in 2023, Robert was busy putting up a career year, realizing his five-tool potential en route to an .857 OPS with 38 homers and 20 steals. That combination made him ideal trade bait, and pretty much the lone asset of value as Chicago looked to stockpile assets for the future.
But instead, the White Sox chose to stand pat, clinging to the belief that Robert's age (he won't turn 28 until August) and team-friendly contract (two more team options in 2026 and 2027) meant that he'd still fit on this roster the next time it was ready to contend. Safe to say, that ... has not worked out.
Chicago isn't going to be ready to contend any time soon, off to another abysmal start this season. But Robert hasn't helped matters: While he leads the league in steals, he has just a .589 OPS, with 52 strikeouts in his first 44 games. His game appears to have totally bottomed out, and the discourse around a potential trade feels increasingly removed from the reality of who Robert is as a player right now.
But don't take our word for it: Just ask Robert himself.
"Right now, as my season is going, I do not think anyone is going to take a chance on me," Robert told reporters on Tuesday when asked about his thoughts on the near-constant trade rumors.
You have to hand it to him for his self-awareness, if nothing else. But his blunt assessment hides a more upsetting truth for Chicago: No matter how badly they try to cling to their sky-high asking price for Robert, wish-casting him into the role of franchise player, no one else is buying — and it could set their rebuild back even more.
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White Sox may have already missed their shot to trade Luis Robert
Robert was pretty much the only trade chip at Chris Getz's disposal. And after a 101-loss season in 2023, it was clear that things were going to get worse before they got better on the South Side, no matter how badly the team wanted to believe in its erstwhile core of guys like Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez and Andrew Vaughn.
To everyone else, the next step was obvious: Cash in now, while Robert's value was at its highest, and acknowledging that your timelines simply weren't in alignment. But the White Sox for some reason thought there was something to salvage here. 18 months or so later, that's been shown to have been a disastrous assumption, and now Robert has been dragged down by the terrible roster around him. He's pressing, flailing at the plate, trying to do way too much as the only semi-reliable bat in this lineup. The team context has taken its toll, and there's no telling when or if he'll get back to the player he was.
And if he doesn't, that will only dig Chicago's hole deeper. The White Sox now finally have some interesting young players to start dreaming on, but they're in need of a lodestar, a no-doubt foundational player around which everyone else can be oriented. Robert could've fetched that player in a trade once upon a time, but now he seems destined to go down with the ship.