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
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.
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.
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.
Does it matter? Let him heal properly
Running out of time in MLB
The consummate underachiever.