The Philadelphia Phillies have remained pretty quiet so far this offseason, but could the team make a splash by trading for a high-risk, high-reward slugger?
Philadelphia has been lurking in the weeds this offseason as their main National League East rival broke the bank for Juan Soto.
However, most following the Phillies figure that sooner or later, the team will begin making moves. One move that Christopher Hennessy of ClutchPoints urges the team to make is trading for Chicago White Sox outfielder Luis Robert Jr.
Now that the White Sox dealt staff ace Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox, most observers believe that trading Robert is the next natural step for a team in complete overhaul after making Major League Baseball history in the worst way last season.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale has reported that the White Sox would “love to unload” Robert, but that the organization is asking for too much in return for the talented, yet injury prone, slugger.
In 2023, Robert showed what he can do when he is healthy. He earned his lone Silver Slugger award after hitting 38 home runs with 80 RBI and a .264 average.
Yet, that season was only the second full season that Robert was available for. The other was the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign in which Robert won a Gold Glove Award and finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year while playing 56 of his team’s 60 games.
Otherwise, Robert’s five-year MLB career has been plagued by an assortment of maladies that have had him miss over 60 contests per season.
The talent and fact that Robert remains under club control for up to three more years makes him still very attractive for a team in the right situation.
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