CHICAGO –– The possibility of a Luis Robert Jr. trade was high enough that White Sox starter Davis Martin felt the need to hug his teammate of four seasons after Monday’s win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Robert said he received text messages from friends containing trade rumors and did his best to keep his mind on the game.

General manager Chris Getz said Thursday evening that a fair amount of players were asked about, but he ended up trading just two: outfielder Austin Slater to the New York Yankees and starting pitcher Adrian Houser to the Tampa Bay Rays. So as Thursday’s MLB trade deadline passed, Robert, perhaps surprisingly, remained a member of the White Sox.

“I think it starts with Luis and how we feel about him,” Getz said over Zoom Thursday evening. “You look at what he’s done in the last month or so, and he’s impacting the game in so many different ways, which speaks to the talent he has. We believe in Luis Robert. Other teams have identified him as a guy that can help their club and there was an effort to acquire him, but certainly it wasn’t to the level we felt like could have met the mark for us to make a move on from a talent like Luis Robert.

“What he does defensively, offensively, what he’s capable of doing and certainly on the basepaths, we just love Luis Robert. We do. We’ve got more time and we just didn’t feel like it made any sense for us.”

Robert is in the midst of his best stretch of an otherwise down season, slashing .353/.441/.549/.990 with three home runs, 11 RBIs, five stolen bases, seven walks and 10 strikeouts across 59 plate appearances in July. In every other month this season, his batting average fell to .195 or lower with an OPS no higher than .646.

The recent surge, along with Robert’s consistently strong center field defense and 27 stolen bases, may have raised his trade value. But it wasn’t enough to ship off the 2023 All-Star.

The White Sox are 8-4 since the All-Star break and their 84 runs are second most in MLB. It’s taken a team effort to do so, including rookies like Colson Montgomery, Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero and Chase Meidroth hitting their stride. And Getz believes Robert’s presence has played into that.

“We really value having Luis Robert being part of this, we do,” Getz said. “Culturally and environmentally with what Will has done with the staff and the vibes throughout the clubhouse, that was part of the equation in who we were going to move and maintain here. Certainly there was a lot of interest up until the final minutes here. Obviously we didn’t match up but I’m really excited to have Luis Robert in the lineup come tomorrow.”

The White Sox keeping Robert past the trade deadline still leaves his future up in the air to a certain extent. Going into the 2026 and 2027 seasons, the White Sox have a club option to keep Robert for $20 million each year. If they decline the option, Robert is owed a $2 million buyout and becomes a free agent. In theory, the White Sox could also pick up the option and trade Robert, or decline the option and sign him after going through the arbitration process.

“We were open-minded and we’ll remain open-minded when there’s opportunities to do what we feel like will really move the needle in a transaction to help our major league club,” Getz said. “We went into the trade deadline willing to assess any concept, any offer. It just didn’t meet the mark, it didn’t. That’s OK because we feel like there’s more in the tank for Luis Robert and we’ve witnessed in the last month and the impact it can have on our major league club.”

Andrew Benintendi’s $17.1 million salary in 2025 is part of a five-year $75 million deal, which is the largest in White Sox history. Keeping Robert in 2026 would top Benintendi’s deal on a one-year basis, something Getz appeared open to doing.

“We anticipate [Robert] being here, we do,” Getz said. “If we felt otherwise, maybe we go a different course. We feel like we’re continuing to strengthen the infrastructure on the hitting side. We’re not quite there yet. We’re going to continue to exhaust our efforts and establishing ourselves as a top hitting environment.”

“That’s a big part of this offseason and the coming years, and we feel like Luis Robert is going to be a part of that and he’s really going to benefit with having the resources and the support that’s needed, and most importantly he’s a talented player. Elite bat speed, elite foot speed. This is a player that we feel like has a lot of great days ahead of him.”

Getz expanded that resources, in addition to dollars, can also mean the support around Robert, whether it be the front office, research and development program, strength and conditioning and information provided to players.

That’s all part of an ongoing rebuilding process, which has begun to show signs of promise with Robert and young players excelling after the All-Star break. And the next step could come in the offseason with free agent additions.

“We’ll continue to have the conversations in regards to future payroll. Obviously Jerry [Reinsdorf] and I will continue to dive into that further,” Getz said. “We’re open to adding to this team this offseason. I expect to do that. The most valuable thing here is having Luis Robert part of the equation, part of our lineup on a regular basis and we’re excited about that.”