The Los Angeles Angels are approaching a crossroads of whether to buy, sell or some combination of the two at the MLB trade deadline in a little over a month. If the Angels do decide to sell, they might find that they could come away with a king’s ransom given that the assets from the teams that are worse than them are not that desirable. Whether it’s the Rockies, Nationals, Marlins, A’s or Pirates, the definite sellers do not have many blue-chip players (if any) to part ways with (it remains to be seen what the Orioles, Rangers or Braves will do). The same goes for the Chicago White Sox, but they do have one player whose trade status just got a little more juicy.
Per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic:
“The Chicago White Sox recognize they are in no position to impose the same conditions on teams that express interest in their two most expensive players, outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Luis Robert Jr. In both cases, according to sources briefed on the team’s plans, the White Sox are open to including cash in trades.”
Ken Rosenthal
No matter what the Angels record is after the next month, trading for Robert Jr. AND having the White Sox chip in cash should be near the top of Perry Minasian’s to-do list. As Minasian did with Yoán Moncada and Tim Anderson, a buy-low acquisition of a player with Robert Jr.’s talent should be tantalizing even with his putrid numbers at the plate this season. Unlike those two, his ceiling is still sky-high given what he’s shown in the past.
His market might have shriveled up given his 2025 on-field production, but the Angels could use a player who patrols centerfield like him. The Angels desperately need to shore up their outfield defense, if nothing else. Furthermore, taking him out of Chicago and sticking him in a lineup with Mike Trout, Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel, Logan O’Hoppe, Jo Adell, Christian Moore et al would be a far better situation for the 28-year-old. Right now, he is the main focus of opposing pitching staffs with the lack of intimidating White Sox hitters around him.
Slotting Robert Jr. in center, moving Adell back to right field and keeping Trout right where he is at DH would look great for the next several years. Robert Jr. could allow the Angels to part way with Jorge Soler, who may or may not be washed. Robert Jr. has two $20 million club options the next two seasons, which Rosenthal speculated that the team that trades with the White Sox could have them chip in more money if they pick up one or both of those.
The Angels will surely take some flak if they bring in Robert Jr. and they fall out of the playoff race. That would be deserved, for sure, but bringing him in cheaply is as much of a play for 2026 and 2027 as it is for this season.
