{"id":953958,"date":"2026-11-01T04:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T04:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/953958\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T04:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T04:44:09","slug":"orioles-decline-club-option-on-luis-robert-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/953958\/","title":{"rendered":"Orioles Decline Club Option On Luis Robert Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"

OCTOBER 31: The Orioles have declined Robert\u2019s option, according to Alden Gonz\u00e1lez of ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

OCTOBER 29: The Orioles are expected to decline their $20MM club option on outfielder Luis Robert Jr.<\/a>, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR<\/a>. Robert will become a free agent and collect a $2MM buyout on his way out the door.<\/p>\n

Robert, now 29, signed an extension with the White Sox back in 2020. That deal ran through 2025, with $20MM club options for 2026 and 2027, both of which came with $2MM buyouts. Robert hadn\u2019t yet made his major league debut at the time that deal was signed but he would go on to flash some All-Star upside in subsequent years.<\/p>\n

That was especially the case in 2023. He got into 145 games that year, hit 38 home runs and stole 20 bases. He slashed .264\/.315\/.542 for a 129 wRC+. FanGraphs credited him with five wins above replacement. He finished 12th in American League Most Valuable Player voting. The rest of the deal looked good and the club options looked like bargains.<\/p>\n

A lot has changed since then. Robert battled injuries in the final two guaranteed years of his deal. He got into a total of 210 games over the 2024 and 2025 campaigns and produced a lackluster .223\/.288\/.372 line and 85 wRC+ in the process. The Sox picked up his 2026 option but then traded him to the Mets for Luisangel Acu\u00f1a<\/a> and Truman Pauley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Mets were hoping to get the 2023 version of Robert but got more of the 2024-25 version. He spent almost three months on the injured list with lumbar spine disc herniation. He hit .223\/.303\/.399 in 58 games around that IL stint. The Mets weren\u2019t able to line up a trade at the deadline, likely because Robert had just come off the IL less than two weeks prior.<\/p>\n

They did put him on waivers in August. Robert still had about $3MM in salary remaining to be paid out, plus the $2MM buyout on the 2027 option. Despite his poor health, subpar results and that financial commitment, teams were still willing to bet on the upside. He was claimed by the Orioles and they weren\u2019t the only team willing to do so. Subsequent reports indicated that the Padres<\/a> and Rays<\/a> submitted claims, but the Orioles had higher priority by virtue of having a worse record at the time.<\/p>\n

The O\u2019s were clinging to some hope of making a playoff push. It\u2019s hard to add talent after the deadline, so they decided to pony up for Robert. That didn\u2019t work out. He got into three games before left hamstring discomfort put him on the IL. He stayed there the rest of the year. The O\u2019s finished 79-82, four games back of a playoff spot.<\/p>\n

They could have brought him back for 2027 but the price is fairly hefty when looking at recent trends. Presumably, the Orioles called around to see if any other club was willing to pay Robert $20MM next year. Since they appear to be turning down his option, it looks like they couldn\u2019t line up a trade, implying none of the 30 clubs like Robert at this price.<\/p>\n

Robert is still young enough to have enticing upside but it\u2019s hard to bet on it after three years of injury absences and disappointing numbers. He will probably be a popular name as a low-cost bounceback option. Despite his flaws, he\u2019s arguably still the most exciting player on the center field market<\/a>. Teams such as the Astros, Reds, Rays, Royals, Phillies and others might be interested.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OCTOBER 31: The Orioles have declined Robert\u2019s option, according to Alden Gonz\u00e1lez of ESPN. OCTOBER 29: The Orioles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":953959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,4008,462,82],"class_list":["post-953958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-luis-robert","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/953959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}