The Yankees could consider a $20 million upside play as a pivot

Luis Robert Jr. is someone the Yankees have checked in on in the trade market according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, and it seems a bit interesting considering his poor offensive production over the last two seasons.

He has posted a sub-.700 OPS in 2024 and 2025, but Robert’s upside is still there and there’s a belief that he could end up rebounding without the White Sox organizational stench on him.

Depending on how the roster ends up looking this pivot could give the Yankees a fairly explosive left field position with an in-house option who could platoon with Jasson Dominguez.

Whether the team is willing to pay part of that contract and the prospect capital needed to get this done remains to be seen, but its among the options the club is considering if Cody Bellinger walks.

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Why Luis Robert Jr. Is Part of the Yankees’ Pivot Plans

A few years ago, Luis Robert Jr. was viewed as one of the best players in the game as in 2023 he clubbed 38 home runs and recorded a 4.9 WAR in 145 games for a miserably bad White Sox team.

Fast forward two years later, and the 28-year-old outfielder has lost a lot of his shine due to injuries and a steep offensive regression.

This past season we saw some positives that are worth paying attention to given his .761 xOPS and career-high 9.3% walk rate, and getting away from Chicago might help him a lot.

Looking at the splits he had against righties and lefties, Robert’s career .293 AVG and .505 SLG% against southpaws would make him a nice match with Jasson Dominguez for that third outfield spot.

Dominguez had a .274 AVG and .420 SLG%, good for a .768 OPS against righties this past season, and both of these players have dynamic baserunning abilities.

What Robert has over Dominguez is elite-level defense and there’s a chance that you could potentially slide him into left field with centerfield being his backup role in-case of an injury to Trent Grisham.

There are cons to this; owed $20 million for this season the Yankees would have to pay in prospects to lower the Luxury Tax hit if that’s an issue for them.

It also seems like the White Sox have asked for a lot back in negotiations, which has turned off some teams such as the Mets and Reds who like the player but have been unable to get a deal done.