Mariners Did Themselves a Massive Favor by Steering Clear of Luis Robert Jr.

Sometimes in Major League Baseball, certain players get talked about in the rumor mill for years at a time. One of those players is Luis Robert Jr. of the Chicago White Sox.

He was a highly thought of prospect when he signed out of Cuba. He had a good start to his career as he finished behind Kyle Lewis in the American League Rookie of the Year race in 2020. Since then, he has shown glimpses of talent, but never put it all together for a variety of reasons.

Robert has dealt with lots of different injuries throughout his career, and has struggled to put together a full season of the All-Star-caliber stats that he has shown off in smaller sample sizes. He has been a subject of lots of trade speculation in the media for years because he has been a talented jewel on a bad White Sox squad that is in a rebuild. For them, trading Robert Jr. could potentially bring back prospects to help that rebuild.

The Mariners were wise to give Luis Robert Jr. a wide berth

What was thought to be the asking price a year or two ago for the center fielder was much higher than people thought it would be this year around the trade deadline. Instead of having to consider dealing away one of their young starting pitchers, the thought now was the Seattle Mariners or some other team could get Robert at a relative discount.

The White Sox center fielder was hitting under .200 for most of the season, but now his slash line is .223/.297/.364 with 14 home runs. That is not the type of stat line you expect from a guy who has shown off high-end talent like Robert, but many people thought a change of scenery where he got to play on a more competitive team would help his numbers improve.

However, the Mariners (who were rumored to be thinking about a trade for him to play right field) dodged a bullet by not acquiring him.

In July, Robert Jr. was helping his case for being traded by slashing .353/.441/.549. However, after not being traded, he fell back down to a .256/.287/.402. Now, Robert Jr. is down again with a hamstring injury and could be done for the year.

If the Mariners had traded for him as their key bat at the deadline and only had him for a few weeks where he didn't play very well, that would have put them in a tough position. The additions of Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez have been huge for the lineup and have made a major difference to the team as a whole. If they only acquired one of them and added an injured and struggling Robert, the Mariners might not be in the position they are in now.

Overall, the Mariners should be thankful that they made the moves they did and did not acquire Robert. They also just got Victor Robles back for a few games before he now serves a seven-game suspension. Having Robles coming back for the stretch run helps add to right field and made it a good call for the Mariners to avoid trading for Luis Robert Jr.