The 2024 Chicago White Sox are shaping up to be one of the worst Major League Baseball teams ever. Entering play Thursday, the Southsiders are 15-47, riding a 13-game losing streak, and are in danger of breaking the 2003 Detroit Tigers' record for fewest wins in a 162-game season (43). But there is exactly one window of time for the White Sox to win big this season: the 2024 trade deadline. It's already painfully obvious that the Sox are going to be sellers, but to what degree? The rentals like Tommy Pham are already surfing Zillow to compare housing prices across the contending teams' cities, but Chicago has the opportunity to make real waves by trading either Luis Robert Jr, Garrett Crochet or both.
There's a chance those two could be the best hitter and pitcher dealt at the deadline this season and the White Sox could finally jumpstart their future after stagnating for the past three seasons.
So with Robert now healthy after an extended IL stint early in the season and under team control for up to three more seasons, would any general manager pull the trigger on a deal with the hope of unlocking the 2023 Silver Slugger version of La Panterra? Here are three teams that have the present need and the championship dreams necessary to pull off such a blockbuster:
Philadelphia Phillies
If Luis Robert Jr is dealt this season, my money is on the Philadelphia Phillies being the organization to pull off the move. GM Dave Dombrowski is famous for his “go for broke” philosophy and if anything is holding this Phillies team back from winning a World Series, it's the lack of offensive production in the outfield.
If Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos are both healthy and hitting well, Robert slots in perfectly to his typical center field slot and relegates the struggling Johan Rojas to defensive replacement duties. The Phils currently rank 20th out of the 30 teams in fWAR for center fielders at 0.5, most of which is derived from Rojas' strong defense. Robert brings about 90% of Rojas' defensive upside to the table and offensively, the difference is quite literally night and day.
As we've seen in the past two postseasons, a lot of the Phillies' offense is dependent on the home run ball. Acquiring Robert would be leaning into that trait and acquiring one of the game's most potent longball threats, lengthening their lineup and allowing manager Rob Thomson another righty to balance out his lineup, which is currently fairly heavy on lefties. The Phillies also have four prospects in the MLBPipeline Top 100 and more than enough system talent beyond that to make a deal come to fruition.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Would a team that added Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler Glasnow before this season really make more moves to add payroll? Well, this is the Los Angeles Dodgers we're talking about, so it's almost a rhetorical question. And essentially the only wrench thrown into the Dodgers' season thus far has been the lack of center-field production, so in some ways, it would almost be surprising not to see L.A. make a push for Luis Robert Jr at some point.
James Outman may have had a flawed rookie season, but no one could have foreseen the drop-off in his production being this dramatic. He went from a 111 OPS+ hitter to a 48, while his batting average against fastballs fell over 100 points and his barrel rate fell off a cliff. A demotion to AAA was unquestionably the right move to get the sophomore's psyche in order, but what if he never fully recovers this season?
Having Robert to bat in the fifth or sixth slot in the Dodgers' order would do wonders for everyone involved. The Dodgers would have another right-handed power threat to pair with Mookie Betts, Will Smith and Teoscar Hernandez. Robert could relax and play his best baseball without having to worry about carrying the offense on his back. And because the Dodgers always have a stacked farm system, almost anyone the White Sox could acquire in a potential trade would help boost the level of play in their own prospect pipeline.
Texas Rangers
This team is the wild card in the Luis Robert Jr equation. They're still the defending champs and their core led by Marcus Semien and Corey Seager may not have too many more peak years left. And once again, center field has been one of the main pain points for this team, as Leody Taveras still hasn't ever really heated up with the bat since his monster first half of the 2023 season.
We've heard a lot about the Rangers' 2024 payroll being affected by the uncertainty around their regional sports network, Bally Sports Southwest, which is reportedly set to be taken over by FanDuel at some point in the near future. But if money isn't an issue here, would it not be in the Rangers' best interest to pair Robert with Adolis García, creating the greatest Cuban-born outfield duo in the history of MLB?
All season, the defending champs have suffered from injuries and young guns struggling to carry their weight, so bringing in Robert would ease the burden on everyone. It would allow Evan Carter to work his way back slowly from his back injury, Wyatt Langford to continue to split time between the outfield and DH and role players like Taveras and Robbie Grossman to stay role players. And the Rangers, owners of MLBPipeline's seventh-ranked farm system entering the season, unquestionably have the star power on the farm to get a deal off the ground.
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