Yeah apparently he said he wouldn't trade Gilbert for a rental but didn't say he wouldn't for a non rental player. Would suck to lose Gilbert but Robert is a proven MLB player.
I think I said or on those 2. I picked Chas or Jake as the trade bait b/c I don't believe Julks has enough value around the league to get you a quality #4 starter (or much of anything) but I think both of those 2 do. And trading Tucker is an entirely different thing then a good for good trade. That's where I landed on with them as a good for good. And yeah Dubon can play there just fine in a pinch.
I mean, what is his problem in the clubhouse, do you have any idea? Doesn't like baseball? Just a prick? Lazy? He's pretty damn talented and 4 years of club control kicks the can on down the road to get to Javier, Brown, Pena and Yordan territory where the future starts to get pretty murky.
When it comes to CF, it's him and Trout as the best at their respective position. If the Astros can pull this off... that lineup...
Yeah - he has the reputation of not being focused, doesn't always practice hard or do as he is told. He isn't the only one, Moncada is a close friend to Robert and also has a lot of issues and is viewed as a distraction. The chemistry with the White Sox is really poor, and a lot of the blame internally has been put on some of the younger guys from Cuba and the Dominican. Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert are at the top of that list - they have the reputation of having poor training habits, poor weight control, easily distracted and not always concerned about playing baseball. How much of that is actually true and how much of that is them being scapegoats? IDK Robert has been benched a few times for lack of hustle and in the minors he was talked to about the need to give greater effort as well. He has had some hip and wrist issues as well.
The White Sox are at a critical moment. They have a 5% chance of making the playoffs, a crummy farm, and a lot of valuable trade chips. They can either stick to trading rentals, continuing to middle away while their few good players proceed toward free agency, or they can go all in on a rebuild and put themselves in position to be the division favorites starting in 3 years. I don’t have much faith in them. But Robert, Jimenez, and Cease alone could single-handedly transform their farm system into one of the 5 best in the league. Their rentals (Grandal, Andrus, Giolito, Clevenger, Lynn, Lopez, Middleton) could be traded for young MLB ready pitching to set up the back of their rotation and bullpen for long term success. They could tank the rest of this season, sign rental backfills for their traded players and roll the dice again next year, expecting to have another lost year with trading those same rentals plus Anderson, Moncada, Graveman, Kelly, Bummer, Hendriks, and Kopech before spending big in the 2024-2025 offseason to start their run as all their prospects start flooding in. As for the Astros, I would think a package of Gilbert, Lee, Arrighetti, Leon, and Whitley would at least get the White Sox attention for Robert. That package represents the Astros best position player prospect, their best pitching prospect, a high floor MLB ready catching prospect, and the 2 highest upside prospects in Houston’s system (whose stock is down). That deal would hurt, but I would be ok with it, especially if Chicago threw in an upside afterthought like Wes Kath or Matthew Thompson or Jared Kelley. I would also love for the Houston pitching coaches to get a crack at Michael Kopech. Aside from Gilbert, they would really only be gutting the AAA roster, which can be replenished with AAAA signings for a year until the farm recovers.
What the White Sox ultimately do will be up to Michael Reinsdorf (Jerry Reinsdorf's son) and their board of like 4-5 minority stake owners. Jerry was handling the decisions until this past year - he gave way to his son after the LaRussa fiasco. Traditionally the White Sox have kept Kenny Williams and Rich Hahn no matter what - for decades. However, Hahn recently has said he believes his job at risk - and Michael Reinsdorf isn't necessarily the same as his dad. The White Sox believed that they were set up for the future after their last rebuild, and that collapsed incredibly fast so I am curious to see what will end up happening. I would do the package you suggested for Luis Robert.
That deal would hurt. It would basically leave us without any pitching prospect remotely close to the big leagues, no catching prospect worth talking about (and I still want another good catcher going forward even loving Diaz and his bat- I want a guy who can credibly play 1/2 the time back there) and without a "can't miss" type impact player in the entire system. Also, not a ton of upside guys. BUT, you would be set for 4 years at CF, 2 years at RF, 3/4 years at LF (chas/Jake). You'd really need LMJ and Garcia and Urquidy to come back healthy (at least 2 out of 3) at some point in time next year. Gulp. I probably do it, but I'd have a lot of worry about that.
The crazy thing is that if Houston made that trade, their 2024 1st pick would be the ONLY 1st round pick left in their entire farm system.
Robert would be a great add. Without knowing much on the CWS farm, I'd guess they would want Gilbert and Meyers as the headliners for the Astros with 3-4 prospects as filler. Meyers has more control than Chas. If Chas was in the deal instead of Meyers, it would likely need to be 3-team deal.
I would make that trade for Robert. However, the big glaring weakness is that he's striking out just under 30% of the time this year. You can live with it because he is slugging .567. His OBP isn't great at .324. I like that he has 2 team options in 2026 and 2027. If he does become a problem, has a bunch of injuries, or doesn't play well you can walk away without too much pain.
I'm not planning on Brantley coming back and even if he does I'm looking at making Meyers part of another trade for another starter. The reason I like Donovan is defensive versatility and a strong bat. That's worth a lot. He's got a better bat than any OF on this team not named Tucker. Hicks would solidify the bullpen and this trade would help clear out a lot the surplus in the minors. I would also offer Lee, Meyers, Santos and most importantly have the Mets take on Montero plus 25% of Verlanders salary to bring JV back to Houston. You would still owe JV about 33 mil over the next 3 years if my math is correct.
Serious question. What kind of trade value does Luis Garcia have? Maybe to a team like St Louis or the White Sox who are likely out of it this year but expect to compete next year and are losing 3 SP?
I must have missed the Donovan part. Donovan has actually hit better than Chas since he was called up. Chas has hit better this year. I find your post weird as most of times Chas is mentioned in this thread (or implied in this case), he is compared to guys that have been hot (i.e., slightly better 2023 rate numbers than Chas, a lot more PAs, but last 2-3 numbers are worse than Chas's rate numbers) and have less control than Chas. That said, the Cardinals aren't trading Donovan.
I think Luis Robert's is plan A and B. In trade. I would also think we could add another inf bat. Idk who would be a great addition but the Donovan guy would be decent.
No. He is a plus arm with years of control and this isn’t the last year the Astros are expected to be good.
