The Chicago White Sox traded Luis Robert Jr. because they didn’t want to pay him — and voluntarily accepted a worse return because of it.
The Chicago White Sox made a late-night deal on Tuesday that sent shockwaves through Major League Baseball.
Chicago traded center fielder Luis Robert Jr. to the New York Mets in exchange for infielder Luisangel Acuña and right-hander pitcher Truman Pauley.
The reaction was immediate — and split.
Most White Sox fans winced at the return. Chicago didn’t get much back, largely because the Mets are paying the entirety of Robert’s $20 million salary for 2026. That financial relief came at a cost: a watered-down prospect haul.
A small segment of the fanbase, however, celebrated. They’re happy to close the book on the Luis Robert Jr. era, happy to fully sever ties with the previous regime. With Robert gone, every remaining player from the 2021 White Sox team is officially out of the organization.
And then there’s the national media angle — an ill-informed, borderline dishonest spin that conveniently does the organization’s bidding.
“White Sox gamble to pick up Robert’s $20M option pays off,” Jon Heyman tweeted roughly an hour after the trade was announced.
“The Chicago White Sox’s gamble to pick up Luis Robert’s $20 million option instead of dumping him pays off,” Bob Nightengale echoed.
Almost exactly the same company line. That’s rich.
This isn’t a gamble paying off. It isn’t “cashing in.” It’s the White Sox dumping one of their most talented players — and one of their most valuable upside assets — because ownership couldn’t stomach paying him $20 million in 2026.
Even in a down 2025 season, Robert stole 33 bases, posted an .842 OPS against left-handed pitching, and ranked in the 93rd percentile in Outs Above Average. He remains a tremendous defensive outfielder, an elite base runner, and a rare athlete with bat speed and power that simply can’t be replicated.
He has value. And more importantly, he has upside.
I said all offseason that the White Sox would — and should — hold onto Robert Jr.
Why? Because trading a player with that kind of ceiling for pennies on the dollar is simply bad business.
There was no baseball downside to keeping Robert on the roster to open 2026. If he stayed healthy and rebounded under a new hitting staff, you suddenly have a legitimate superstar capable of commanding a king’s ransom on the trade market. At the very least, you’d have a player who protects young hitters in the lineup, helps the next core develop, and makes your team more competitive in the short term.
But baseball logic rarely wins out with this ownership group.
Jerry Reinsdorf has shown time and time again that what’s best for the team on the field takes a back seat to what’s best for his checkbook.
The downside of paying Robert $20 million — with even the possibility that he underperformed that number — was apparently too much to bear.
That’s not a move worth celebrating. And it’s not something White Sox fans should excuse.
This organization claims it wants to take a meaningful step forward in 2026. It claims it doesn’t want to be years away from contention.
And yet here we are, with one competent MLB outfielder on the roster — Andrew Benintendi, who might honestly be better suited as a DH at this point.
The White Sox have two, maybe three trustworthy starting pitchers, and that’s me being generous and giving Anthony Kay the benefit of the doubt.
The bullpen they promised to improve? There hasn’t been much action worth writing home about.
It would be one thing if I had confidence the White Sox would turn around and use this $20 million to address multiple roster needs and enter the season as a more complete team.
Of course, I’d argue they should’ve done that anyway — instead of clutching pearls over $20 million while operating with the lowest payroll in Major League Baseball.
But even then, I don’t have much faith. The White Sox don’t exactly have a history of reinvesting “saved” money in meaningful ways.
These are the subtle differences between well-run organizations and teams stuck at the bottom of the barrel. Even if you were determined to trade Robert — which I wouldn’t endorse — the bare minimum would’ve been to eat some of the salary to enhance the return.
But as we’ve learned, that’s not how Reinsdorf operates — especially when the other owner involved is Steve Cohen, one of the wealthiest men in sports.
It’s ego. It’s budget-cutting. It's Reinsdorf not wanting to send cash to Cohen.
Reinsdorf was part of the old-guard ownership bloc that tried to prevent Cohen from taking control of the Mets to begin with. He was afraid Cohen's spending power would break the game...or worse, force him to open his checkbook!
And it’s White Sox fans who pay the price.
The organization will speak glowingly about Acuña in upcoming media sessions. They’ll sell this deal as a smart buy on a former top prospect — a move they “had” to make.
And plenty of media members will dutifully echo that message. Either to take things sunny side up or because of a need to always sound like the smartest person in the room.
I don’t have restrictions preventing me from giving you the real deal. I’m not afraid to call out a bad baseball move when I see one.
To be clear, not all of that praise will be fictional. I’m sure the White Sox see things they like in Acuña, and he deserves a fair opportunity to show what he can do on the South Side.
But the bat doesn’t project as a difference-maker — and that’s a disappointing "headliner" in a return for what should have been Chicago’s most valuable trade asset.
So no, I don’t really care about Robert’s injury history, his uneven production the past two seasons, or whether he's overpaid — though I’d argue his salary is entirely reasonable in today’s market.
At this stage of the rebuild, I care about one thing: Is this team making a real, good-faith effort to get better?
I’ve been impressed with several moves GM Chris Getz has made this offseason. But this one feels different. It feels forced. It feels like a decision made above him — one that voluntarily made the roster worse to save a buck.
And for a team already sitting at the bottom of the payroll standings, that’s unacceptable.