July 10: The teams have announced the trade. Chicago sent cash back to Toronto in return for Robertson, who has been optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.
July 9: The Blue Jays are reportedly trading outfielder Will Robertson to the White Sox. The move, which has not been announced by either team, was first reported by @JeffreyCole2525 and confirmed by James Fegan of SoxMachine. Toronto designated Robertson for assignment over the weekend.
Chicago already has an opening on the 40-man roster after outrighting Vinny Capra. They’ll use the spot to take a flier on Robertson, a 27-year-old with three major league games under his belt. The Jays promoted the lefty-hitting outfielder in the middle of June. He was optioned back to Triple-A a little over a week later and DFA last week when Ryan Burr returned from the 60-day injured list.
A Creighton product, Robertson was Toronto’s fourth-round pick in 2019. He has never been a huge prospect, but he’s hitting well in his second season at the Triple-A level. Robertson has connected on 14 homers with a .292/.403/.578 slash line in 62 minor league games this year. He has taken walks at a massive 15.5% clip while striking out around a quarter of the time. The Jays have a fairly deep outfield and didn’t give Robertson an opportunity to see how much of that Triple-A production he could carry over against big league pitching. He has a bit of center field experience but fits better in a corner.
The White Sox could look to trade Luis Robert Jr., Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman this month. Backup outfielders Austin Slater and Michael A. Taylor could also be traded or let go. They should be able to find a taker for Tauchman, who has taken the starting right field job behind a .297/.379/.459 showing. Robertson might begin his organizational tenure on optional assignment to Triple-A Charlotte but should be in line for decent playing time after the deadline.
sox found there new everyday OF
What did they give up?
@ChiSox_Fan
Probably cash… Could be a lottery ticket too… No, really. A Powerball lottery ticket.
Are those valid in Canada?
Sure, but the tax rate is 100%.
@JoeBrady
Actually the proceeds of gambling aren’t taxed at all. There are quite a few businesses here that will get your taxed winnings from Vegas.
I was kidding, but does this mean a professional poker player pays no taxes, or is that just for lotteries?
@JoeBrady
My bad Joe. I know that as a Canadian that frequented Vegas regularly I was able to recoup my winnings (as rare as that was) but there was a case up here where our taxman wanted to assess a full-time gambler income taxes on his winnings claiming that gambling was his “job” and subject to applicable taxes. I don’t know the outcome of that case. The legal reasoning would be interesting though. I can only speak to my situation of being exempt from taxes because I’m not an American citizen.
Who and where did they find him
.982 OPS for Buffalo this year. Solid move, maybe they catch lightning in a bottle.
Danger Will Robertson
Dude, you old.
That was one of my wife’s favorite shows growing up. She’d wear the same white boots that Penny wore. I wish I’d have known her then.
Came here to say that… damn you Theo
They are going to need a couple of outfielders to play in Charlotte in August and September, since they are likely to trade two of their major league outfielders. It beats some of the washed up veterans they were running through Charlotte in the past.
Yes-Tauchman should be on the move….and Robert as a prorated cash dump (b/c JR will not/conveniently should not pick up 20mil club option. Buyer FO’s know that of JR when talking to Getz and someone gets high end reclamation project).
Guessing Tauchman, Slater, and Benintendi are all moving, I see Sosa being moved too, the guy has had a quietly good season so far. Not quite sure about Robert as they will need to sell really low on him.. I still think that whoever gets Robert will get him for a steal as their coaching staff will find a way to both keep him healthy and fix his hitting approach.
Sad really, as the Sox will keep their inept hitting coaches but will not keep the guy that said hitting coaches should have helped get back on track.
Can someone explain to me why this is a trade and not a waiver claim? Isn’t it AL teams have first priority and Chicago has the worst record in the league? Does league no longer matter? Is Getz that worried about a Colorado claim?
Believe there is a short period Toronto can work out a trade with anyone if WSox weren’t willing to give them something. If you recall LAD released former hyped prospect Cartaya-Twins traded them something b/c they knew he wouldn’t get to them in the waiver priority order.
League doesn’t matter anymore
Thank you, JD. Must be worried about someone else trading for him.
They paid some cash and jumped the line. DFA is a 7-day process, and waivers is a 2-day process. A team gets the other 5 days to work out a trade before they have to place a guy on waivers.
“Danger Will Robertson” … Oh wait. Wrong Will
Of all the names listed as tradeable only one is doing good that is Tauchman.
Luis Robert Jr., and Andrew Benintendi are sell low candidates that teams are not going to like to take on whatever is left on the contract. Although robert is in final year but way overpaid maybe a team will give him a shot but not going to bring back as much value as WS will hope
meanwhile the backups are actually doing better than at least Robert
Austin Slater and Michael A. Taylor — they may be most tradeable but not going to return much in value.
White Sox are
just riding the waves with no destination in sight . They need to clean house from top to bottom.
They cleaned house 2yrs ago. They’ve got promising pitching in the minors and a few good young arms on the team. Their minor league system is rated as high as 3rd best by some analyst (Fangraphs). It they can pull off a couple of trades for good prospects and have a good draft they should be in good shape sooner rather than later.
“3rd best”.. likely before they moves a bunch of guys up. The White Sox consistently have a subpar minor league system, Im not talking about upper tier prospects they have gotten in exchange for their veterans, Im talking development. The only thing consistent about their system is their high draft pick pitchers tend to work out, their high draft pick position players typically stink, and they can hardly ever develop any diamonds in the rough, which good systems do. Bottom dollar Jerry does not want to invest in his system and it shows. Im just surprised their Pitching instructors don’t leave for better paying jobs in orgs that care about their development.
90 % of MLB players are overpaid
Does anyone actually read the article before commenting?
As if he’s some type of upgrade over Julks, DeLoach or Fletcher at AAA.
I would give Fletcher another shot. Maybe he learned something at AAA.
Robertson’s has 14 homers with a .292/.403/.578; Fletcher has 10 HRs and a line of 252/.321/.440. They’re both 27
While a great OF, Fletcher learned he is a AAAA player at best. Maybe a utility man, but not a hitter, which is needed at the majors far more than a fielding..
Yknow if half of these guys would learn to bunt they would likely see their averages go up by about 20 to 30 points and actually be able to get on base then they would be useful at the major league level.. Saw Rojas trying to bunt last night, painfut as it was.. and that guy has been around forever….
Will Robertson is pretty unique in that his college team (Creighton) and drafting MLB organization have the same nickname (Blue Jays). That is very rare when you consider most college teams do not use MLB team names. Stanford gets close. Maybe someday San Francisco will draft a player from the College of the Sequoias (CA), although they aren’t referring to the same kinds of Giants.
Ron Jeremy
Could be a nice addition, Robertson is hitting the ball in AAA, 14 HRs and a .294/.403/.578 slash – those numbers are comparable to Roman Anthony’s AAA slash in ’25: .288/.423/.491 — he doesn’t have nearly as good of a track record and is in his age 27 season but could be a Rooker in the haystack.
Tauchman is a solid ballplayer. I hope they keep him.
Sadly Tauchman is likely gone, same with anyone that has any value… Sosa has had a quietly good season which not many are talking about, I would not be surprised if he is moved as well.
The kids are not bad, but most are coming back down to earth as the pitching book is getting filled and since the Sox have no hitting coach at the majors, just a poser filling the office and jersey, they are likely going to another 100+ loss season. (never mind Katz who refuses to come out to talk to his pitchers BEFORE they give up a few runs). Never mind that really the cupboard is already fairly bare as most of the guys they got in flips are already up here, which exception of the other Montgomery.
I guess we will see how good this org is if they can get a group of good prospects for the middling MLB players they want to move now as they will need to as there is virtually no good instructors for the position players in the minor league system
And he promptly strikes out 9 out of his first 12 at bats. He’ll fit right in.
I think that’s how Thames coaches his hitters.. The strike out is quickest way to get out of the heat for a bit of time until you have to go back out on the field..