Mets Land Luis Robert Jr. in Blockbuster Trade

The Mets and White Sox are in agreement on a trade sending outfielder Luis Robert Jr. to New York, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Rookie infielder Luisangel Acuña and minor league right-hander Truman Pauley are headed back to Chicago, Passan adds. This brings an end to what had been years of Robert trade rumors. The White Sox have held their center fielder through multiple rebuilding seasons. In retrospect, they surely wish they’d moved him over the 2023-24 offseason. Robert was coming off a career year and looked like a budding star entering the prime of his career. The past two seasons have been much more challenging, as he has battled injuries and generally struggled offensively while fielding plenty of questions about when he would eventually be traded. Robert was a high-profile prospect when he signed with the Sox out of Cuba in 2017. He commanded a hefty $26MM bonus, the kind of massive sum for an international amateur that would subsequently be prohibited in the collective bargaining agreement. Robert’s dominant minor league performance further spurred optimism, and the White Sox signed him to a $50MM extension over the 2019-20 offseason. At the time, it was the largest extension for a player who had to make his MLB debut, and it ensured he’d break camp in 2020 without any kind of service time games. More to come.