White Sox outfielder facing lengthy absence

The White Sox placed center fielder Luis Robert Jr. on the 10-day injured list over the weekend, and while the team didn’t provide a timetable for his return, Robert himself told the Sox beat that he’s been diagnosed with a Grade 2 hip flexor strain. 

Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the Sox are currently anticipating an absence of six to eight weeks for the star outfielder. Some in the organization are more concerned and think Robert could miss three-plus months, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes.

Robert exited Friday’s game against the Royals after he injured himself rounding first base on a double into the left field corner. An exact timetable surely depends on how he progresses through the early stages of his rehab process. 

The outfielder endured a strain in this same right hip flexor back in 2021 as well, though that was a Grade 3 strain — more severe than his current injury. He wound up missing nearly three and a half months with that injury.

Robert, 26, made his first All-Star team and nabbed some down-ballot MVP votes in 2023 after he hit .264/.315/.542 with 38 home runs and 20 steals in 145 games. 

He was out to a slower start to the 2024 season, batting .214/.241/.500 with a pair of big flies and an uncharacteristic 38 percent strikeout rate — albeit in a tiny sample of 39 plate appearances.

The Sox weren’t ever expected to compete this season, but a minimum month-and-a-half absence — and potentially a good bit longer on the shelf — for their best player is a critical blow to a largely torn-down roster. 

With Robert out for the foreseeable future, the Sox will likely turn to offseason trade acquisition Dominic Fletcher in center. He’s already started two games there since Robert first sustained his injury. 

Listed at just 5-foot-6, Fletcher is undersized relative to other big leaguers but touted as a plus defender at all three outfield spots. 

Veterans Andrew Benintendi and Robbie Grossman are lined up for frequent corner work now, although the team surely hopes 25-year-old Oscar Colas can get back on track in Triple-A and reenter the right field mix after a dismal 2023 season.

There was some speculation regarding a potential trade of Robert over the winter, as the Sox are once again in a rebuilding mode — under new front-office leadership for the first time in two decades. 

But general manager Chris Getz never seemed all that likely to trade Robert, who is one of the game’s most dynamic talents and is signed to a club-friendly contract. 

Robert is being paid $12.5M this season and $15M next year. The Sox hold a pair of club options for the 2026 and 2027 seasons, both valued at $20M with a $2M buyout. 

In other words, he’s guaranteed $29.5M over the next two seasons but could be controlled through 2027 for a total of $67.5M.

It’s an eminently reasonable price, though the mounting injury history for Robert is certainly a concern. He’s only reached 100 games in a big-league season once (last year) and seems unlikely to get there in 2024 following this injury. 

Critics might argue that his trade value was at his peak this offseason, coming off a season of MVP-caliber production in a career-high 595 plate appearances. 

It’s overwhelmingly rare to see an established talent with this much team control traded, however, and Getz would’ve been well within his right to hold out for a return that rivals any of the largest trade packages we’ve seen in recent memory.

On the plus side for the Sox, Robert is so talented and still signed for so long that even if he misses multiple months, his trade value ought to remain considerable. 

And, of course, the team doesn’t need to trade him this summer, even next offseason or at the 2025 trade deadline. Depending on how the team’s current rebuild progresses (or fails to do so), Robert could conceivably still be part of a contending White Sox club in a few years. 

And if things do stall out longer than the team currently hopes, he’d command a haul even if he were being marketed with “only” two years or one and a half years of club control remaining.

For now, the focus will be squarely on getting Robert back onto the field — though it seems a late-May return is a best-case scenario. Nightengale suggests the Sox will at least be open to the idea of outside acquisitions and lists free agent Tommy Pham as a potential fit.