Robert Option Picked Up

[MikeKreevich]

Amazing that just average baseball players can make  $20 million for one year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WhiteSox2023]

52 minutes ago, MikeKreevich said:

Amazing that just average baseball players can make  $20 million for one year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sox gave Robert this contract with these additional team options when they thought he would be an annual All-Star player.  Now they are stuck chasing trade value by overpaying him and hoping he has a healthy (unlikely) and successful (hit or miss) first half, unless they decide to sell him off low in ST before he gets injured.

[spiderman]

On 11/4/2025 at 8:29 AM, LittleHurtCG said:

The Luis Robert experience continues for one more year in Chicago. Maybe this is finally the year he stays healthy and puts up a monster year! Stop me if you've heard that one before... 

Going on Year 3 of this. It's unrealistic to expect a guy who has been bad over the last 2 seasons to suddenly play at a higher level (even average).

[spiderman]

On 11/4/2025 at 8:54 AM, PaleAleSox said:

Why some of the media acted like they weren’t going to pick it up was so weird. Getz literally said they were the entire time. 

The media is extremely pessimistic on the White Sox. Also, I wouldn't put too much stock into things they say.

[Lip Man 1]

12 minutes ago, spiderman said:

The media is extremely pessimistic on the White Sox. Also, I wouldn't put too much stock into things they say.

Based on results you can't blame them.

[spiderman]

6 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Based on results you can't blame them.

Not at all. They don't deserve the benefit of the doubt. That doesn't mean I trust some of the commentary I hear from the media though.

[WestEddy]

3 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

The Sox gave Robert this contract with these additional team options when they thought he would be an annual All-Star player.  Now they are stuck chasing trade value by overpaying him and hoping he has a healthy (unlikely) and successful (hit or miss) first half, unless they decide to sell him off low in ST before he gets injured.

The game changes. Hahn was a "genius" when he tied up Quintana, Sale and Eaton to those contracts, then was a dupe when he tried replicating the same template on Robert, Yoan and Eloy. 

I don't think they're overpaying him by much. 

They don't have a CF in the upper minors. He's a nice risk to take. If he turns in his regular last two years of ho-hum, for them, that's solid if he can stay on the field. If he finds his old self, maybe somebody panics in July and gives them a guy or two. 

[caulfield12]

5 hours ago, MikeKreevich said:

Amazing that just average baseball players can make  $20 million for one year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Try looking at Conforto or Santander for $$$ spent per fWAR.

Or Benintendi’s entire Sox career so far.

[Lip Man 1]

1 hour ago, spiderman said:

Not at all. They don't deserve the benefit of the doubt. That doesn't mean I trust some of the commentary I hear from the media though.

Fair point.

[WhiteSox2023]

2 hours ago, WestEddy said:

The game changes. Hahn was a "genius" when he tied up Quintana, Sale and Eaton to those contracts, then was a dupe when he tried replicating the same template on Robert, Yoan and Eloy. 

I don't think they're overpaying him by much. 

They don't have a CF in the upper minors. He's a nice risk to take. If he turns in his regular last two years of ho-hum, for them, that's solid if he can stay on the field. If he finds his old self, maybe somebody panics in July and gives them a guy or two. 

He managed to sell high on Q, Sale, and Eaton.  I don’t think there was ever really a chance to sell high on Yoan and Eloy but there was with Robert after the 2023 season.

[WestEddy]

16 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

He managed to sell high on Q, Sale, and Eaton.  I don’t think there was ever really a chance to sell high on Yoan and Eloy but there was with Robert after the 2023 season.

Yes, in retrospect, the best time to trade Robert was in that off-season. 

I'm not sure why Getz should have traded Robert, but not Yoan, Eloy, Benintendi, Vaughn and Crochet after 2023. He probably saw Robert as part of the remaining "core", to be evaluated in the first 4 months leading up to the deadline. 

[southsider2k5]

23 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Yes, in retrospect, the best time to trade Robert was in that off-season. 

I'm not sure why Getz should have traded Robert, but not Yoan, Eloy, Benintendi, Vaughn and Crochet after 2023. He probably saw Robert as part of the remaining "core", to be evaluated in the first 4 months leading up to the deadline. 

If he REALLY saw a 121 team on the horizon, he should have been selling like crazy.  The problem is most of those guys had no value because of injuries or just generally being awful.

[DoUEvenShift]

 

[ChiSox59]

It's literally impossible for the Sox to find a better player on the FA market with anywhere close to this upside on a 1 year $20M deal (really $18M because $2M was sunk cost), with an additional 1 year team option at the same rate. 

Absolute no brainer move imo. I get why a chunk of Sox fans want to move on, but this was an easy decision. 

[Lip Man 1]

2 hours ago, ChiSox59 said:

It's literally impossible for the Sox to find a better player on the FA market with anywhere close to this upside on a 1 year $20M deal (really $18M because $2M was sunk cost), with an additional 1 year team option at the same rate. 

Absolute no brainer move imo. I get why a chunk of Sox fans want to move on, but this was an easy decision. 

And if by some miracle he plays well and stays healthy the Sox can ship him out at the deadline get something back for him and JR will be happy he won't have to pay him for the final two months. 

[Paulie4Pres]

On 11/4/2025 at 11:44 AM, joejoesox said:

can't wait til all the low IQ players are gone

What does this even mean?

[caulfield12]

Robert has even less value to the White Sox than the rebuilding Twins holding onto Byron Buxton through 2028.

At least Buxton is a fan favorite and sells some tickets.

It might even make sense if the White Sox were actually going to spend and attempt to compete going into 2027…but everyone knows they will not.

So you have 1/3 or maybe 1/4 odds the bet with Robert actually pays off.

Would rather spend it on competing with Detroit KC and Cleveland, with massive investment in building up organizational advantages over those teams and exploiting them in 2028-30.

Note:  None of those 3 teams has the luxury of spending anywhere close to $20 million off the field.
 

Especially if Detroit isn’t going to trade Skubal, they will need each and every $$$ not tied down and still not neglect looking under the seat cushions for loose change.

Edited November 6 by caulfield12

[WhiteSox2023]

I doubt Getz could spend $20 million dollars more wisely than on a player like Robert who has upside if we get lucky and he both stays healthy and actually hits.  Getz would probably spend that money on 3 or 4 veteran players and we would likely want the majority of them DFA’ed by the All-Star break.

That being said, Robert has finished with a 1.4 bWAR in back-to-back seasons.  He is definitely overpaid at $20 million dollars for the 2026 season.  People are thinking that he is barely overpaid because of what he did in 1.5 seasons across 2021 and 2023 even though he hasn’t been that same guy in the past two straight seasons.  Meanwhile, his proneness to injury is astronomical each season.

Edited November 6 by WhiteSox2023

[WestEddy]

1 hour ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

I doubt Getz could spend $20 million dollars more wisely than on a player like Robert who has upside if we get lucky and he both stays healthy and actually hits.  Getz would probably spend that money on 3 or 4 veteran players and we would likely want the majority of them DFA’ed by the All-Star break.

That being said, Robert has finished with a 1.4 bWAR in back-to-back seasons.  He is definitely overpaid at $20 million dollars for the 2026 season.  People are thinking that he is barely overpaid because of what he did in 1.5 seasons across 2021 and 2023 even though he hasn’t been that same guy in the past two straight seasons.  Meanwhile, his proneness to injury is astronomical each season.

I'm not saying he's "barely" overpaid. One bWAR is worth about $8-9M on the free agent market. So Robert's 1.4 bWAR is worth about $12M. If he hits and stays healthy, maybe he could clear 2 bWAR, which pays for itself, as the difference between opting in or out is $18M. 

Getz signed a bunch of free agents. For the (roughly) $16M he paid to Houser, Alexander, Perez, Bryce Wilson, Maton, Slater, Michael A. Taylor, Tauchman, Rojas - they produced around 5 bWAR. Of those 9, Wilson, Maton and Rojas can be said to not have really worked out. 

[southsider2k5]

6 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

I'm not saying he's "barely" overpaid. One bWAR is worth about $8-9M on the free agent market. So Robert's 1.4 bWAR is worth about $12M. If he hits and stays healthy, maybe he could clear 2 bWAR, which pays for itself, as the difference between opting in or out is $18M. 

Getz signed a bunch of free agents. For the (roughly) $16M he paid to Houser, Alexander, Perez, Bryce Wilson, Maton, Slater, Michael A. Taylor, Tauchman, Rojas - they produced around 5 bWAR. Of those 9, Wilson, Maton and Rojas can be said to not have really worked out. 

He has played more than 110 games once in his career.

Over his last 956 ABs he has put up an OPS+ of 86.  

That IF is doing some heavy lifting. 

It is getting to be the time to start asking if playing through injuries has sapped him the way it did guys like Yoan and Eloy, and this is who Luis is now.

 

[WhiteSox2023]

23 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

I'm not saying he's "barely" overpaid. One bWAR is worth about $8-9M on the free agent market. So Robert's 1.4 bWAR is worth about $12M. If he hits and stays healthy, maybe he could clear 2 bWAR, which pays for itself, as the difference between opting in or out is $18M. 

Getz signed a bunch of free agents. For the (roughly) $16M he paid to Houser, Alexander, Perez, Bryce Wilson, Maton, Slater, Michael A. Taylor, Tauchman, Rojas - they produced around 5 bWAR. Of those 9, Wilson, Maton and Rojas can be said to not have really worked out. 

I wasn’t specially replying to you, just the general sentiment.  Robert is probably more worth resigning just for the hope that he produces well and becomes a trade chip again, because no matter what he does he isn’t going to turn the 2026 team into a contender.

But you can’t just look at 9 guys and say that they provided an accumulative total of 5 bWAR for $16 million as if that’s actually a good thing.  All those guys took up roster spots and it’s still only 5 bWAR across 9 players.  That’s inefficient and still pretty bad actually, considering one good player can earn $16 million, put up 3+ bWAR and only take up one roster spot.

Edited November 6 by WhiteSox2023

[WestEddy]

11 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

He has played more than 110 games once in his career.

Over his last 956 ABs he has put up an OPS+ of 86.  

That IF is doing some heavy lifting. 

It is getting to be the time to start asking if playing through injuries has sapped him the way it did guys like Yoan and Eloy, and this is who Luis is now.

 

Not so much. He's put up 1.4 bWAR in part, due to his only playing 100 games a season. His injuries are baked in, at this point. I agree that this is the player he is, now. That's why my "IF" maxes out at 2+ bWAR, not 5. 

[southsider2k5]

20 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Not so much. He's put up 1.4 bWAR in part, due to his only playing 100 games a season. His injuries are baked in, at this point. I agree that this is the player he is, now. That's why my "IF" maxes out at 2+ bWAR, not 5. 

At that rate, he would need to play around 150 games to round up to 2.

[WestEddy]

18 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

I wasn’t specially replying to you, just the general sentiment.  Robert is probably more worth resigning just for the hope that he produces well and becomes a trade chip again, because no matter what he does he isn’t going to turn the 2026 team into a contender.

You can’t just look at 9 guys and say that they provided an accumulative total of 5 bWAR for $16 million as if that’s actually a good thing.  All those guys took up roster spots and it’s still only 5 bWAR across 9 players.  That’s inefficient and still pretty bad actually, considering one good player can earn $16 million, put up 3+ bWAR and only take up one roster spot.

I think Robert serves a few purposes on this team - He still plays plus defense in CF, which they don't have in the upper levels. His offense is middling, for a CF, but again, he covers the position for a team with no good options in the upper levels. He also has name recognition, which isn't nothing. 

For the state that this team was in, yes, you can look at a bunch of players in aggregate. They needed bodies to play positions and eat innings. For that $16M, they covered RF, backed up CF, and got 185 innings pitched (not counting Wilson's 47). 

I'd argue that Maton and Rojas didn't block anybody who was worthy of ML playing time, and Wilson was eventually displaced by somebody more deserving. If you spent $8M on a starting pitcher, and $8M on a RF, you're still slotting in replacement players for bullpen innings and OF/IF backup.

[WestEddy]

53 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

I wasn’t specially replying to you, just the general sentiment.  Robert is probably more worth resigning just for the hope that he produces well and becomes a trade chip again, because no matter what he does he isn’t going to turn the 2026 team into a contender.

You can’t just look at 9 guys and say that they provided an accumulative total of 5 bWAR for $16 million as if that’s actually a good thing.  All those guys took up roster spots and it’s still only 5 bWAR across 9 players.  That’s inefficient and still pretty bad actually, considering one good player can earn $16 million, put up 3+ bWAR and only take up one roster spot.

And this is all in hindsight, admittedly. In 2025, Getz chose well, or got lucky. In 2024, he didn't. If he paid Perez $8M, and 2023 Perez showed up, that's bad. It's more that spending that $16M on one or two guys puts all your eggs in one or two non-elite baskets instead of spreading it around on 9 guys, 6 of whom actually worked out reasonably well.