A tough part of the offseason for fans who write about their teams and/or talk about them on podcasts is coming up content during October when your team is no longer playing. It sometimes leads to wild trade proposals and that’s exactly what happened with the Marine Layer Podcast earlier this week, when a Luis Robert Jr. trade proposal was roasted all over social media.
To be fair, this was part of an offseason wishlist, so it’s not these guys are saying a trade for the lone White Sox star is even realistic, it’s just in their perfect world, this could happen. However, the trade package that Lyle Goldstein came up with after consulting with a few White Sox writers from Just Baseball wasn’t exactly welcomed by White Sox fans.
Luis Robert Jr. Trade Proposal to Mariners
Mariners get: Luis Robert Jr.
White Sox get: Bryan Woo, Cole Young, Jonatan Clase
Over at the Pinwheels and Podcast, Lyle accepted our invitation to join this week’s show to defend his trade proposal. You can watch that below. (6:55)
It’s just so tough coming up with trade proposals for stars and it’s even harder when a guy like Robert is still under contract for two more relatively cheap years at $12.5 million in 2024 and $15 million in 2025, plus another two years of control through club options that are worth $20 million in 2026 and 2027.
Robert ended the 2023 season with a 5.0 fWAR, hitting 38 home runs while posting a 128 wRC+. Oh and he also played gold glove defense in center field.
Our guy Lyle mainly wanted to defend the future value of Bryan Woo, who made 18 starts during his rookie season in 2023. The 23-year-old recorded a 4.21 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, with 93 strikeouts in 87.2 innings. Woo is still under team control for six more years and will be pre-arb for a few more years.
Meanwhile, Cole Young is a 20-year-old middle infielder, who is Seattle’s No. 1 prospect and ranked 37th in MLB Pipeline’s top-100. Jonatan Clase is a 21-year-old outfielder, who played at high A-Ball and Double-A in 2023. His best tool is his speed, stealing 79 bases in his two minor league stops, while posting a .242/.353/.449, slash line in 129 games.
You can listen to our entire conversation with Lyle from the Marine Layer Podcast below. Spoiler alert, other fans want nothing to do with most of the White Sox roster.
The Whitw Sox will be more boring without Luis Robert next season. The Sox are always the last choice for Chicago sports fans, and Reinsdorf is the reason why.