Mets to acquire White Sox CF Luis Robert Jr.

The long-awaited deal for center fielder Luis Robert Jr. seems to be at the finish line. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports the Mets are going to get Robert for Luisangel Acuna and minor leaguer Truman Pauley.

Robert looked like a budding star back in 2023 when he put up a 4.9 fWAR as a 25 year old. But he fell on hard times the past two years, perhaps dragged down by a horrible White Sox team.

He seemed to be turning things around in the second half of 2025. Robert had a .298/.352/.456 line in his final 126 PA before his season ended with a left hamstring injury.

When healthy and motivated, Robert is a potential two-way star. He had a +11 FRV in 2023 and last year in 865.2 innings, he had a +7 FRV.

With the Mets’ emphasis on starting good defensive players, Acuna’s role on the team became even more limited. He’ll get more of a shot with the White Sox than he would have received in Queens.

Pauley was the Mets’ 12th-round pick in the 2025 Draft out of Harvard. He appeared in three games and tossed 4.1 IP for Lo-A St. Lucie.

No word yet on how much the Mets will pay of Robert’s salary but with this minimal return, the expectation is that it will be most or all of it.

I think it’s a great trade. An obvious risk with both Robert’s health history and his production for most of the past two seasons. But the Mets gave up next to nothing and if he can approach what he did in 2023, it will be a tremendous thing for the team.

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