The White Sox haven’t officially declared center fielder Luis Robert Jr. out for the remainder of the season, but it seems that a return to the field is in doubt. Manager Will Venable told reporters (including James Fegan of Sox Machine) that Robert is “probably running out of time” to return to the field before the end of the season, as the early days of his recovery process haven’t gone well enough to create much optimism about a quick return to action.
Robert, 28, suffered a grade 2 hamstring strain in late August and has been sidelined ever since. The mercurial center fielder is just two years removed from an All-Star appearance amid a dominant five-win season, but his career has been marred with injuries and inconsistency. After playing in just 166 total games between the 2021 and ’22 campaigns, Robert has slumped badly in each of the last two seasons while battling more injuries.
In 210 games since the start of 2024, he’s hit just .223/.288/.372 with a wRC+ of 83. While he’s stolen an impressive 56 bases in that time, including 33 this year, he’s struck out at a 29.6% clip without offering quite enough power or patience at the plate to justify those high strikeout rates. While he once earned a Gold Glove award for his excellent defense in center field, that aspect of his game has regressed considerably in recent years as well. He was worth just +1 OAA last year, and while that figure has rebounded to +7 in 2025 he’s been worth +0 DRS this year after posting a +1 the year prior.
Between Robert’s injuries, lower power production, lesser defense, and high strikeout rates, his value on the market has plummeted over the past two years. While the White Sox have resisted trading him even amid their rebuild as they’ve refused to part with him for less than what they view as his fair market value, other teams have begun to view Robert as a player on an underwater contract due to his flaws and inconsistency. When Robert remained in Chicago following this year’s trade deadline, many assumed that would mean he’d depart the White Sox without the club recouping anything at all for him, seeing as this is the final guaranteed year of his contract.
That may not prove to be the case, however, as the White Sox maintain that they intend to pick up his $20MM club option for the 2026 season. That’s not an entirely unreasonable decision given Robert’s past successes and his .293/.349/.459 slash line since the start of July, but that sample makes up just 37 games and his latest injury only serves as a reminder of how unreliable his presence in the lineup has been for Chicago in recent years. Chicago will presumably be open to moving Robert once again this offseason, assuming they do pick up his option but, unless they have a change of heart about their strategy when shopping him or the franchise finds a way to compete next year, it seems likely that they’ll enter the 2026 season banking on a big first half from Robert in order to maximize his trade value at next year’s trade deadline.
If the White Sox were actually playing for something then getting him back on the field before seasons end would be important, since they are not then why rush him for a few meaningless games at the end?
I would imagine it’s about getting him back on the field so he can go into the off-season feeling healthy and in a good frame of mind.
If he ends the year on the IL, it’ll leave a cloud over him until next year.
I was thinking the clock ran out on Robert in 2023. Like Bruce Willis said in Die Hard, ” Welcome to the party pal”. LOL
Ultimately the plan is to trade him. Getting him back on the field helps alleviate the impression he is a malingerer. No one wants to trade for one of those, especially one with a $20MM contract.
Playing the last week of the season does nothing to change whatever opinion any team has of Robert. He is buyer beware and a player that requires a very capable backup to cover his absence
I usually defend Chris Getz, but I don’t see a happy ending to this story for the Sox.
I see them picking up his option no matter what. Getz & Co have put too many coins in the slot machine to walk away from it now. They’ll go all or nothing on Robert for ‘26 in a last ditch effort to get a payoff. Good luck with that.
Oh, I agree. I just think it’s a big gamble. The odds are not in the Sox favor of that strategy working out.
Even if he regains some of his former form it will be to the tune of 20 million with another option of 20 million, and that’s with his crazy amount of ups and downs and injuries… unless they miraculously start contending next year it’s all bad
Luis Robert is like that stock you bought, watch it did well, got worried that if you sold you’d be losing out on a huge winner, and then when it tanked, you convinced yourself you should hold for a better price, because success was just right around the corner.
What stock is like that?
AMC – five years historical. It was a meme stock for a few years.
I don’t think meme stocks count as asset investment. You buy meme stock because you’re willing to spend money on trolling.
The people who don’t or don’t want to understand what a meme stock is and are still currently holding some of the 520 million outstanding AMC shares will not appreciate your statement.
Cracker Barrel.
And then when it ultimately goes bankrupt and you got nothing for your investment, you double down and reinvest in the reorganized company..
Plausible…
I would think they could spend that money on more dependable players.
I hope the Sox cut him loose. He will never be both healthy and productive while with this team. I don’t know what the deal is, but the Sox have waited long enough for him to really become a star.
Robert’s OAA is in the 94th percentile. Dude can still play an elite CF.
Robert is better than a 1 win player in both bWAR (1.4) and fWAR (1.2) in 110 games this year. A lot of that comes from his defense.
He is still valuable, as you point out. I think the issue is that hype fueled top prospect mindset.
If he could get his bat back to league average, he’d be a 2 win player. I don’t think that is worth $20 M though
Does it matter? Let him heal properly
Running out of time in MLB
The consummate underachiever.
Robert has the Marcus Semien attitude; he just hasn’t said it out loud. .
Move Robert to LF. Center is too pphysically demanding defensively and the White Sox need his offense to be at the ’23 level..
What gives it away that he’s running out of time to return? The calendar?
Not worth it. Like a poor man’s Buxton. You have to carry the best #4 outfielder in the world to make up for the IL time.
Off-topic, but Buxton missed 35 games and still has a 5.0 bWAR.
Many Reds fans were clamoring for a Robert’s trade………..whew!!!
Just a question: Would it be reasonable for the Sox to consider trading Colson Montgomery for Konnor Griffin. knowing that gold glove SS Billy Carlson is a year away?
For the Sox, yes. But the Pirates would never go for it. Colson’s probably 1/2ish of Konnor—at least as of today.
“dominant 5-win season”?