LUIS ROBERT TRADED

[WestEddy]

1 minute ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

So if a full rebuild takes 5 years and Robert was only here for a maximum of 4 more years with his option years, why not trade him after his best season ever.  Surely the return would have been better than Acuña and Pauley.  That was pretty much my point.  No need to get salty when you can’t contest someone’s point.

Because if they were getting offers that were below his value, why should they have taken a lesser offer? You're saying this while pretending that everyone saw the Acuña/Pauley deal sitting here in 2026. There was no urgency to trade Robert in that off-season. Looking back, we know that was when his value was highest. Should they trade Colson Montgomery right now and take the best offer because in 3 years, they might want to trade him but only be offered garbage because of that injury and slump he's going to have in 2028?

[Y2Jimmy0]

Luis Robert won't be on the next good White Sox team. Acuna and Pauley might be. It's basically that simple. The league just told you what Robert is worth. Holding him into the season would be insane. He'll be hurt again. He's unreliable and I'm glad it's over. 

[WhiteSox2023]

4 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Because if they were getting offers that were below his value, why should they have taken a lesser offer? You're saying this while pretending that everyone saw the Acuña/Pauley deal sitting here in 2026. There was no urgency to trade Robert in that off-season. Looking back, we know that was when his value was highest. Should they trade Colson Montgomery right now and take the best offer because in 3 years, they might want to trade him but only be offered garbage because of that injury and slump he's going to have in 2028?

 

[Dick Allen]

10 minutes ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

Luis Robert won't be on the next good White Sox team. Acuna and Pauley might be. It's basically that simple. The league just told you what Robert is worth. Holding him into the season would be insane. He'll be hurt again. He's unreliable and I'm glad it's over. 

I really have no problem with the trade, What was insane was picking up Robert's option in the first place if the best you can do is what they did. If Tucker signs with the Mets, Luis Robert is doing exactly what you said would be insane.I'm thinking the Mets and Dodgers are probably the only teams in baseball that would take Robert without the Sox either eating money or taking a lot back. And from Getz's comments today, Robert's contract has hamstrung them all winter.

Edited 1 hour ago by Dick Allen

[chitownsportsfan]

Well hard to say the Sox lost what they never really had.  That said, we wasted a lot of words here on what ultimately was a nothing burger. Robert is clearly valued as a 1.5 WAR player on a bad one year deal. I don't really blame Getz if JR wasn't willing to pay any freight. At least they got something, even if the upside is a few years of a mildly useful Leury like utility guy. 

[Bob Sacamano]

The 5th highest paid player on the roster is Derek Hill at $900k lol everyone under him is league minimum ($820k)

[southsider2k5]

20 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

So if a full rebuild takes 5 years and Robert was only here for a maximum of 4 more years with his option years, why not trade him after his best season ever?  Surely the return would have been better than Acuña and Pauley, no?  That was pretty much my point.  No need to get salty when you can’t contest someone’s point.

We all recognized that Luis Robert had a career year in 2023.

We all recognized that it was the first time Luis Robert had been healthy for a full season, outside of his 60 game COVID season, including the minors.

What were the odds of Luis Robert being both healthy and productive going forward, when he had never done it before.

Understanding that Peak Value Luis Robert was almost certainly after 2023, you also have to recognize that if Luis Robert goes back to injured and/or not productive, his value drops immensely, that even if you didn't get VaLuE for him in 2023, that this ACTUAL return was almost certainly going to be the best you ever got because at the same time you are expecting him to return to his career norms, he was also getting exponentially more expensive.

Being a good GM isn't about keeping the masses happy, it's about being smarter than the masses.  If Chris Getz kept Luis Robert because he was worry about people like me on a message board, he is in the wrong line of work.  Who cares what fans would have thought if it was the smartest move, and on top of it all, he KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO BE  A TERRIBLE baseball team going forward that would take half a decade to rebuild.  That timeline only emphasizes the point to sell as soon as humanly possible on Robert.

So while now we have to pretend to be happy about a halloween prank of a return because ThIs Is WhAt He Is WoRtH nOw, we could have done something years ago, and that can't be ignored.

 

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

44 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

And some here whined about the Crochet trade because Getz was only able to pry 2 of Boston's top 5 prospects away. 

I know it sucks for fans that this rebuild is just going to be a slow burn with Getz holding onto as much youth as he can because he's in a no win situation. 

Fans can't really do much except dream that JR might possibly allow a $90M 26 man roster and make up trades for Sosa and Quero while hoping every prospect turns into value. 

This is what we've been reduced to. 

I now hope Baldwin magically becomes a mini Mickey Mantle and becomes what we always hoped Robert could be while getting immersed on how to read the ball off the bat in the OF so his defense doesnt drag down what I hope can be 25 HR power this year.

I have to hope Sosa keeps getting better and hits 30 HRs. 

I have to hope For Semien like defensive improvement from multiple questionable fielders. 

I have to hope Montgomery and Murakami and Colson give us 75 HRs between them. 

I have to hope all our top prospects live up to expectations sooner rather than later. 

I need to see at least a 10 win improvement this year with a lot of luck from acquired assets , development that gets a bit more upwardly linear from last years rookie and the coming classes of rookies.

Any way you get the picture because I'm hoping so many things go right while knowing a change of ownership is down the road , a road I hope is not as rocky  as it can appear in these remaining off seasons of Reinsdorf ownership. 

Edited 1 hour ago by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[Tnetennba]

6 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Like I said, Getz was promoted to GM with Robert coming off of his best season in 2023.  How does it make sense to immediately start a rebuild and not trade his best asset?  Robert was never going to be around for the next contending Sox team.  Getz then traded his best asset in Crochet one year later.

Getz got all the credit in the world for selling Crochet high but people seem to forget that he could have done the exact same thing with Robert.

Maybe they were lying to themselves about not wasting a year as much as they were lying to us? 

[WhiteSox2023]

4 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

The 5th highest paid player on the roster is Derek Hill at $900k lol everyone under him is league minimum ($820k)

That is crazy.  You can’t make this stuff up…

White Sox 2026 Payroll — $67 million

Kyle Tucker’s 2026 Salary — $60 million

Juan Soto’s 2026 Salary — $51 million

[WestEddy]

23 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

I really have no problem with the trade, What was insane was picking up Robert's option in the first place if the best you can do is what they did. If Tucker signs with the Mets, Luis Robert is doing exactly what you said would be insane.I'm thinking the Mets and Dodgers are probably the only teams in baseball that would take Robert without the Sox either eating money or taking a lot back. And from Getz's comments today, Robert's contract has hamstrung them all winter.

But why is it "insane"? Here are the 2 choices:

A) Pay $2 million, get nothing. 
B) Pay nothing, get two players. 

The more people criticize this deal, the more I think that Chris Getz won going away. 

[BamaDoc]

There are now about a half a dozen players who are out of options.  Would they keep Acuna and cut/waive someone else to try and justify the trade?  At some point in the future we might have that to look at as well though fringe guys are fringe for a reason.

 

[WestEddy]

15 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Being a good GM isn't about keeping the masses happy, it's about being smarter than the masses.  If Chris Getz kept Luis Robert because he was worry about people like me on a message board, he is in the wrong line of work. 

I guess pretending that Chris Getz is secretly trying to impress you and only you is a better argument than pretending that everybody can see the future and judge the returns of a trade against what is waiting for them in 2 years. 

It's like the old Earl Weaver anecdote: "If you knew you were going to hit into a double-play why didn't you just strike out?"

[Dick Allen]

6 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

But why is it "insane"? Here are the 2 choices:

A) Pay $2 million, get nothing. 
B) Pay nothing, get two players. 

The more people criticize this deal, the more I think that Chris Getz won going away. 

That's like saying, I got wasted and drive 10 miles home and make it with no accident or getting pulled over. I saved Uber fare. I won. 

[kitekrazy]

take that money and pay for Benintendi to go away

[hogan873]

5 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

But why is it "insane"? Here are the 2 choices:

A) Pay $2 million, get nothing. 
B) Pay nothing, get two players. 

The more people criticize this deal, the more I think that Chris Getz won going away. 

I can understand being salty about the return, but you're right.  Unless the Sox chipped in money, which was unlikely, they were not going to get much in return for the oft-injured, inconsistent Robert on a one year $20 million deal.  They ended up paying nothing and got a guy with plenty of question marks but some potential and a pitcher.  As you said, the other option was to pay $2 million and get nothing.

[Dick Allen]

6 minutes ago, hogan873 said:

I can understand being salty about the return, but you're right.  Unless the Sox chipped in money, which was unlikely, they were not going to get much in return for the oft-injured, inconsistent Robert on a one year $20 million deal.  They ended up paying nothing and got a guy with plenty of question marks but some potential and a pitcher.  As you said, the other option was to pay $2 million and get nothing.

And again, if Kyle Tucker signs with the Mets, Robert is still a White Sox. Not to mention Getz now says they can get aggressive. Perhaps they wanted no one off the board at this time, but I doubt it.  Risking $20 million for a potential $2 million in savings wouldn't be a risk I thought was worth it.

Edited 1 hour ago by Dick Allen

[WestEddy]

12 minutes ago, BamaDoc said:

There are now about a half a dozen players who are out of options.  Would they keep Acuna and cut/waive someone else to try and justify the trade?  At some point in the future we might have that to look at as well though fringe guys are fringe for a reason.

 

Getz is saying that the Sox are now going to be very busy. 

 

White Sox GM Chris Getz told reporters today the team is in a position to add players after trading Louis Robert Jr and the $20 million contract obligation.

— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) January 21, 2026

 

[hogan873]

3 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

That's like saying, I got wasted and drive 10 miles home and make it with no accident or getting pulled over. I saved Uber fare. I won. 

Taking on Acuna and the other guy, while dumping $20 million in payroll, does not have potentially disastrous results.  At worst, neither pan out and they're quietly released.  At best, Acuna plays great defense, is a terror on the basepaths, and the bat improves a bit; and Pauley is a semi-useful bullpen piece.

[ron883]

On the bright side, Jerry will use the money we saved on good players when we are contending. 20m more to spend when we contend. This is a big win. 

[WhiteSox2023]

7 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Getz is saying that the Sox are now going to be very busy. 

 

 

Ahhh, good old Bruce.  “Louis” Robert Jr.  For a second, I thought he was talking about this guy…

Edited 56 minutes ago by WhiteSox2023

[Chicago White Sox]

14 hours ago, T R U said:

I’m interested to hear from all the people who said they had money to work with and they wouldn’t carry such a low payroll. You have to imagine if that were true they don’t make this trade. 

I was one of those people and unless the money is redeployed, then I’m willing to admit I was wrong.  But by doing so, Caulfield comes back and with a vengeance.

[WestEddy]

6 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

That's like saying, I got wasted and drive 10 miles home and make it with no accident or getting pulled over. I saved Uber fare. I won. 

Except that the downside here isn't killing a family or getting a DUI but having a good defensive CF on your team for 4 months. 

You're saying they couldn't have traded Robert to the Reds, Pirates, Dodgers, Yankees for anything. 

[Dick Allen]

13 minutes ago, hogan873 said:

Taking on Acuna and the other guy, while dumping $20 million in payroll, does not have potentially disastrous results.  At worst, neither pan out and they're quietly released.  At best, Acuna plays great defense, is a terror on the basepaths, and the bat improves a bit; and Pauley is a semi-useful bullpen piece.

I understand that. My point is the option shouldn't have been picked up in the first place. Sure, they would have $2 million less in their checking account, but if they now can spend money, a far larger pool of players to target, and not having to worry about dumping the contract, would have been available this winter. And Getz wouldn't have had to lie to White Sox fans about the team's desire to have Robert patrolling CF in 2026.

Edited 48 minutes ago by Dick Allen

[WestEddy]

9 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I was one of those people and unless the money is redeployed, then I’m willing to admit I was wrong.  But by doing so, Caulfield comes back and with a vengeance.

I don't get that last part. He was saying that Pete Fairbanks was going to get somewhere in the $40M guaranteed range.