JUSTgottaBELIEVE

Hey, he’s up to 61 wRC+ and -0.2 fWAR. Improvement! Their problem is the Sox are already more than a quarter of the way through their games prior to the trade deadline and he’s dug quite the hole. Next 30 games will have to put up a ~140 wRC+ just to get back to a league average hitter!

15 months ago I speculated the Orioles rebuild could emulate the recent Sox rebuild. Those over at Orioles Hangout as well as most here laughed at the idea. Well, here we are…

-0.4 fWAR this season and just 0.1 fWAR between 2024/2025 combined now. Assuming they don’t eat any money, will they even be able to find a trade partner as a pure salary dump in a few months?

It’s only been 26 games. Surely he will turn it around over the next 26 games and, if not, the turn around will surely start in the second half of the season as long as he’s not already on the IL.

I will say, I loved that trade from the jump. @WhiteSox2023 can attest to it. Crochet is a monster but that was a very nice return the Sox got for him.

His wRC+ had surged to 53 a few days ago but now back down to 45. We just have to give him another couple months and then maybe it’ll be up to 75!

Don’t worry, it’s only 24 games. Pretty soon it will be - don’t worry, it’s only 50 games, 80 games, etc..

Unfortunately, the only “right” decision was to trade him in the 2023-2024 offseason once the Sox decided to go scorched earth rebuild. The longer they wait, the more his trade value declines. That’s just the reality of the situation.

Fail? Like I said he’s heating up. Up to a 53 wRC+. Think he was around 35 a week ago.

wRC+ up to 53. Heating up

Exactly. I envision a scenario where Robert is sitting at a sub .650 OPS come July and Getz is asking for more than he’s worth, even at a now discounted rate. Rather than accept an offer that’s considerably worse than what he received in the offseason, Getz decides to hold him in hopes he can bounce back in the second half and then trade him in the offseason. Robert then proceeds to scuffle along for the remainder of the season on another historically bad team and the Sox then decide it’s not worth picking up the $20M option for 2026. Either that or he’s injured come July and untradeable anyways while the rest of the scenario plays out as described.

I guess it’s hard not to unless proven otherwise?

Admittedly, I haven’t watch much White Sox baseball in 2025 but I have seen a handful of Robert at bats. If you think this is the same hitter as the one prior to last season I’m not sure what to tell you. And I really don’t care what the underlying metrics say. He’s not the same guy. The swing looks BAD and he’s missing pitches center cut on a regular basis.

You really think they’re going to pick up a $20M option if he continues to carry a .657 or worse OPS this season? I sure don’t. Again, it’s not just about health only with him now like it was a couple years ago. There are also significant performance concerns now.

💯

Whatever the rumored deal was if it included more than one good prospect from the Reds I’m sure it was BS. Just like the rumored Cease to Reds trade was BS and the Dodgers proposed deal discussed in this thread is BS. Robert’s trade value is approaching salary dump only at this point. Might get a couple guys like Bergolla but that’s about it.

I’m saying there’s a better than 50/50 shot the Sox decline his $20M option for next season at this rate. Just like they declined Moncada’s option for this season…

Wait a minute…. You were on team “hold him until the trade deadline.” Can’t switch now buddy…

Odds that he goes the way of Moncada up to 60% now? It’s certainly rising and rising quickly.

wRC+ down to 33. Going to need a big May and June to have ANY trade value come July.

Heck, even simply replacing Andrew Vaughn with Pete Alonso would move the Sox from #26 in mlb to #16 in mlb on a total team fWAR basis from batters. Add in guys like Santander and Kim, who is expected to return in a month, plus the young guys that they’re promoting from AAA and it could have been a very interesting season in a weak AL. Oh well. Guess we sit here and just wait for Ishbia to take the reins..

Offense would look completely different with Alonso and Santander instead of Vaughn and Palacios but boy did I get a lot of pushback for wanting to pay for a big bat like Alonso even though he’d clearly be the face of the franchise for several years (instead of Andrew Vaughn lol)

I don’t know. It’s not like Eloy, Madrigal, Moncada, Timmy have gone on to have great success after their Sox careers.

It happened a little bit with the Cubs World Series team as Baez and Bryant turned into complete pumpkins in their late 20s as well but Schwarber is still mashing and Rizzo was productive into his early 30s. It’s just odd that all of the big Sox hitting prospects peak so early and then most are effectively out of the league before they turn 30.

“Trout 2.0” lol one thing I can’t figure out is why do Sox hitters peak in their low to mid 20s? We’ve seen it now with Timmy, Moncada, Eloy, Robert, Madrigal, Vaughn. Given the peak was short lived in most of these cases but each hitter got objectively worse when they entered their late 20s. Does this happen to other teams too? Seems odd to me.