While the White Sox don’t have the record to show for it, they look like a much better team than last year. The bar is extremely low in that regard, but with limited improvements in the lineup during the offseason, it is nice to see players having significantly better at-bats.
None of this changes the timeline for the White Sox, as they will continue to look to moves pieces to further their rebuild. The last big fish left on the team to trade is Luis Robert Jr., but because of his poor play last year and now to start this season, a trade for him may be difficult to facilitate.
There is evidence of this, as there were reports from Bob Nightengale today that the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox recently tabled a deal that would have sent Robert Jr. to the Dodgers.
According to Nightengale, the deal would have revolved around outfielder James Outman and one of their frontline prospects. This would be a solid place to start for both teams, but with Robert’s slow start, these talks could be picked up closer to the deadline when it becomes clearer on how Robert is going to play this season.
As it currently stands, this would be an interesting trade for the White Sox, but it very much depends on which prospect they’d receive. Outman is a solid player but is going to be 28 years old this season, so he wouldn’t really fit in the timeline.
When Outman has played in the majors he has been pretty productive, so he could be a nice piece in the outfield until help arrives, as the White Sox don’t have any top outfield prospects knocking on the door of the major leagues.
Outman broke out in a big way in 2023, as he hit .248 with a .353 OBP. He added 23 homeruns, 70 RBIs and, 16 stolen bases, en route to a very solid 3.4 WAR season. He didn’t play nearly as well in 2024, but he didn’t get into many games due to the Dodgers being stacked.
The real determinant on whether the deal would be a good one for the Sox is the prospect coming over with Outman. Outside of Roki Sasaki, the Dodgers have five top-100 prospects on the MLB Pipeline list. If they were able to get any of their position players in the deal, such as C/OF Dalton Rushing (MLB #28), OF Josue De Paula (MLB #37), SS Alex Freeland (MLB #68), or OF Zyhir Hope (MLB #71), this would be a very solid trade.
But, at this point it seems that both teams, more likely the Dodgers, aren’t comfortable making this deal due to Robert’s start to the season. However, when the trade deadline comes along, this could be a foundation for a deal if Robert begins to pick it up. The White Sox will likely be motivated to find a buyer for Robert, as they won’t want to pick up his options for 20 million the next few years, as they seem to be shredding payroll.
Hopefully for all parties involved Robert’s play picks up, as the White Sox could use a few more hitters in their system to help compete in the future. But, if Robert beings to play closer to how he did in 2023, the Dodgers will likely need to throw in more to get it done.
