There is no doubt that the Chicago White Sox are in a deep hole as they have the worst record in baseball with people estimating that they will be sellers rather than buyers at the trade deadline on July 30. One of the players people are putting in trade rumors is White Sox star Luis Robert Jr. who even talked about the speculation on top of the massive struggles from the team.
So far this season, Robert is hitting at a .227 batting average to go along with 12 home runs and 24 runs batted in (RBIs) in what is his fifth season with Chicago. He said after the White Sox's 10th straight loss Wednesday that while he has heard “people talking” about the rumors of himself being traded, Robert has not “paid attention to that” according to ESPN.
“I haven't paid attention to that,” Robert said through an interpreter. “I hear people talking about it and some of the guys have been telling me, but I try not to pay attention to it.”
The loss Wednesday to the Texas Rangers, 10-2, was one that is a microcosm of Chicago's season as they had a 2-1 lead going in to the fifth inning where the opponents took control due to a stellar outing from pitcher Nathan Eovaldi. While the game had Robert hitting his 12th home run of the season, Texas would take the one-run advantage in the bottom of the fifth and opened up the lead more where they scored six in the eighth inning.
Robert talks how “hard” the season has been for the White Sox
It would be the White Sox's 38th time this season where they had a lead and lost the game by the end of the it on top of the team currently on a 10-game losing skid. To put matters worse, they have lost 16 of their last 19 games, a time which Robert admitted as been “very hard for everybody.”
“It has been very hard for everybody, players and coaches, as well,” Robert said. “This is something that nobody wants to pass through, but unfortunately, it's where we're at.”
One of the people that are especially taking it serious and do not feel at all an inch of satisfaction is White Sox manager Pedro Grifol, who has been in the position since last season. He would put it candidly that the team is “going through it right now,” but the mentality of Chicago is still the same.
“We're going through it right now,” Grifol said via ESPN. “But we're going through it with the mentality of, you know, we're coming to the ballpark every day to try to win a baseball game. But we're also coming to the ballpark every day to improve and develop and, you know, do the things that we have to do to set us up moving forward.”
Phillies have been a team mentioned trading Robert from Chicago
One of the teams mentioned that are in the running to trade for Robert is the Philadelphia Phillies, but there have been numerous people within baseball that can't see it happening. One of them is baseball insider Ken Rosenthal who said on the show “Foul Territory” that the Phillies “don't necessarily have a need for that type of guy.”
“I don’t see them trading for Luis Robert Jr., to answer everyone’s question,” Rosenthal said earlier this month. “Because they don’t necessarily have a need for that type of guy right now. Everyone would love to have Robert, of course, but they also want to preserve what they have in young talent, the prospects coming, to balance their payroll in the years ahead.”
In any sense, the White Sox have a 27-77 record which puts them last in the AL Central and is the worst record in the majors as said before. They look to break their long skid as the series finale against the Rangers is Thursday afternoon.
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