White Sox asking for "top prospects" for Robert

[Snopek]

10 minutes ago, Highland said:

The Sox are not getting much for Robert right now, and they certainly won't get anything close to a "haul."

Trading him for prospects? Really? You don't have a major league roster now. To hell with prospects already. A lot of them end up stinking up the place anyway. Screw the prospects.

What’s the alternative?

[Chicago White Sox]

12 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

You’re not the one writing the checks

Our payroll is ridiculously low and below where we ever were during the past rebuild if you adjust for inflation.  Even for Jerry it would be absolutely ridiculous to dump Robert right now now for scraps to rock a $50M payroll.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

8 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Our payroll is ridiculously low and below where we ever were during the past rebuild if you adjust for inflation.  Even for Jerry it would be absolutely ridiculous to dump Robert right now now for scraps to rock a $50M payroll.

What if Jerry is adamant about rocking a sub $50M payroll in 2025? You don’t get the option of waiting to see if a $15M player recovers his trade value by late July. You do things like package Benintendi with Crochet just to move the contract.

[Quin]

If Getz cheaps out on Robert — either by selling low or not picking up an option while payroll is reaching A's/Rays levels — then all he is is dancing monkey.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

6 minutes ago, Quin said:

If Getz cheaps out on Robert — either by selling low or not picking up an option while payroll is reaching A's/Rays levels — then all he is is dancing monkey.

It’s not at A’s level yet but if/when they move Robert and Benintendi it will be. I wouldn’t be surprised by that at all, that Jerry wants payroll stripped down to spare parts as he continues the process of readying the team for sale. I’m sure he’s also getting a lot of pressure from other board members as the organization continues to lose money year after year. This is a for profit business after all.

[Balta1701]

7 minutes ago, Quin said:

If Getz cheaps out on Robert — either by selling low or not picking up an option while payroll is reaching A's/Rays levels — then all he is is dancing monkey.

I'm as hard on him as anyone about dumping Cease last year for a deal I don't respect...but for Robert, there's another side to this -  Cease was a guy who at worst was a potentially good, affordable innings eating pitcher who could strike out a ton of guys. He had been as healthy and reliable of a starter as there is in all of baseball the previous 3 seasons. That's still going to return something at the trade deadline even if he continued to struggle, probably something comparable to what they got in the offseason.

Robert...is coming off a terrible year, is injury prone, and gets more expensive each year from here on out. If you can get something for him right now, even if it's not a top prospect...that may simply be better than nothing. 

Facing up to the prospect of losing Robert for nothing is a part of this. That seemed unlikely with Cease, as at the very least he's been as healthy as one could ask and has always been decent when he's been healthy. Neither of those are true with Robert, we could easily be sitting here next offseason with him worthless after another major hip or leg injury, or after another <1 WAR season, and yes having his option declined as a consequence where the White Sox wind up with nothing.

I don't know what the right answer is here, but a decent return, Robert bringing back something that makes the White Sox system stronger, is an offer that shouldn't be ignored out of hand.

[Balta1701]

9 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

It’s not at A’s level yet but if/when they move Robert and Benintendi it will be. I wouldn’t be surprised by that at all, that Jerry wants payroll stripped down to spare parts as he continues the process of readying the team for sale. I’m sure he’s also getting a lot of pressure from other board members as the organization continues to lose money year after year. This is a for profit business after all.

@Chicago White Sox, just so that you catch this, yes it was a real post this morning. Clearing out contracts is a thing you do before selling or moving the team and I'm not the only one noting this. 

[Sleepy Harold]

5 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Wow.  I understand the risk of Robert getting injured or tanking again in the first half.  Then you are facing a $20 million dollar option for 2026.  But is there no end to this team’s cheapness?  Their guaranteed payroll for 2025 is at like $66 million right now.  Selling him low doesn’t do much for this team either.

They must be truly gunning for the 2025 payroll (or lack thereof) championship.

[southsider2k5]

19 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

It’s not at A’s level yet but if/when they move Robert and Benintendi it will be. I wouldn’t be surprised by that at all, that Jerry wants payroll stripped down to spare parts as he continues the process of readying the team for sale. I’m sure he’s also getting a lot of pressure from other board members as the organization continues to lose money year after year. This is a for profit business after all.

It would explain a lot of things, such as why uou put Chris Getz in charge instead of finding a real GM

[nitetrain8601]

No need to simply just give him away considering he's still a good value at his current play, is young, and you need hitting anyway. Crochet, I completely understand, especially if you don't think he'll hold up.

[WhiteSox2023]

30 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

What if Jerry is adamant about rocking a sub $50M payroll in 2025? You don’t get the option of waiting to see if a $15M player recovers his trade value by late July. You do things like package Benintendi with Crochet just to move the contract.

Then good luck on the team ever having a decent lineup anytime soon.  Cuz we know the Sox aren’t going to be hitting on multiple position player draft picks or signing anyone good.

[Texsox]

7 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Getz apparently being delusional.  Robert may be worth top prospects if he has a massive first half.  I can’t see a team meeting that high of a price until he proves himself again.

Kind of like going into a car dealer and wanting the absolutely lowest price on a new car and the highest price on a trade in. You gotta start from a reasonable point. 

[Chicago White Sox]

1 hour ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

What if Jerry is adamant about rocking a sub $50M payroll in 2025? You don’t get the option of waiting to see if a $15M player recovers his trade value by late July. You do things like package Benintendi with Crochet just to move the contract.

Then I’d assume Jerry is more concerned with making money than ever winning again.  I can’t stress how little payroll $50M is when each team gets well beyond that amount in national TV money on top of every other revenue source.  Even in a rebuild year it’s an absurd number for a team in Chicago.

[Sleepy Harold]

6 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Then I’d assume Jerry is more concerned with making money than ever winning again.  I can’t stress how little payroll $50M is when each team gets well beyond that amount in national TV money on top of every other revenue source.  Even in a rebuild year it’s an absurd number for a team in Chicago.

As a couple others have mentioned, the only way stripping the payroll down that low makes sense is as a precursor to a sale. At least that's the only thing in my head that can make sense of that approach. 

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

18 minutes ago, Sleepy Harold said:

As a couple others have mentioned, the only way stripping the payroll down that low makes sense is as a precursor to a sale. At least that's the only thing in my head that can make sense of that approach. 

I said this a year or so ago, and I still think so but I sadly feel this is the expected state until he passes away and not some precursor to one prior to that. Run it like the rays so the sheets clean when I pass is his logic. 

[kitekrazy]

Who is going to play CF and good enough to cover for the ineptness of the corner players.

[Chicago White Sox]

1 hour ago, Balta1701 said:

@Chicago White Sox, just so that you catch this, yes it was a real post this morning. Clearing out contracts is a thing you do before selling or moving the team and I'm not the only one noting this. 

Robert has an option for next year so we don’t need to clear his salary to help facilitate a sale.

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Robert has an option for next year so we don’t need to clear his salary to help facilitate a sale.

Unless they would rather save the money on Benintendi/Robert vs. the possibility of getting anything resembling career "norm" fWAR/bWAR results and being able to get better prospect trade returns vs. the very real and equal possibility of getting nothing back in return but even more squandered payroll.

Risk/reward...opportunity cost...risk tolerance/mitigation, whatever term Hahn used to use that fits here.

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Robert has an option for next year so we don’t need to clear his salary to help facilitate a sale.

Robert basically has to be a 3 fWAR player for that to pay off...at $20 million...but I have a feeling that JR wouldn't see ENOUGH value, because that's being sunk on another 100 loss team with Bottom 5 attendance and local broadcasting advertising revenues or individual team or package subscriptions.

So he really needs to be the 4 but much more likely 5/6 fWAR version of 2023 to return to his perceived status of being a "premium" player again...but the odds of that actually happening (being both productive and 100% healthy) are what, 25%?  50/50?

[Sleepy Harold]

3 hours ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

I said this a year or so ago, and I still think so but I sadly feel this is the expected state until he passes away and not some precursor to one prior to that. Run it like the rays so the sheets clean when I pass is his logic. 

Well at least they're trying to bring in some (hopefully) competent FO staff to at least mimic the Rays, even if it's the Dollar General version at this point.

[Quin]

1 hour ago, Sleepy Harold said:

Well at least they're trying to bring in some (hopefully) competent FO staff to at least mimic the Rays, even if it's the Dollar General version at this point.

Temu Bay Rays

[Lip Man 1]

4 hours ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

I said this a year or so ago, and I still think so but I sadly feel this is the expected state until he passes away and not some precursor to one prior to that. Run it like the rays so the sheets clean when I pass is his logic. 

I agree. The team will be sold but not until JR  has passed. It'll be sold by his family. 

[Paulie4Pres]

10 hours ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

It’s not at A’s level yet but if/when they move Robert and Benintendi it will be. I wouldn’t be surprised by that at all, that Jerry wants payroll stripped down to spare parts as he continues the process of readying the team for sale. I’m sure he’s also getting a lot of pressure from other board members as the organization continues to lose money year after year. This is a for profit business after all.

They're not losing money.....

[WhiteSox2023]

3 hours ago, Paulie4Pres said:

They're not losing money.....

Lose money that they could normally be earning but still in the green with overall earnings.  Just slash payroll to account for your losses.

Edited November 26 by WhiteSox2023

[Kyyle23]

14 hours ago, nitetrain8601 said:

No need to simply just give him away considering he's still a good value at his current play, is young, and you need hitting anyway. Crochet, I completely understand, especially if you don't think he'll hold up.

It’s just Russian roulette hanging on to him though, if he gets injured yet again in the early season and misses a large chunk of the season yet again, the return for him will be next to nothing.