White Sox trade Robert Jr. to Mets

Posted January 20, 2026 11:23 pm

By Tim Britton and Ken Rosenthal

David Stearns and the New York Mets hope the fifth time is the charm.

According to league sources, the Mets agreed to acquire center fielder Luis Robert Jr. from the White Sox late Tuesday night in exchange for infielder Luisangel Acuña and right-handed pitcher Truman Pauley.

Robert is the fifth center fielder that Stearns has acquired in two-plus years leading the Mets.

Robert, 28, is owed $20 million in 2026 with a club option for another year at $20 million in 2027 (with a $2 million buyout). The Mets are taking on the full salary to acquire one of the game’s better defensive center fielders, whose bat is both tantalizing and inconsistent.

Robert’s offensive reputation rests largely on a 2023 season in which he hit 38 home runs in 145 games for Chicago. That’s the only year in six big-league seasons that he’s qualified for the batting title. His bat has taken a big step back over the last two years, during which he’s combined to hit .223 with a .288 on-base percentage and .372 slugging percentage with 28 home runs over 210 games. He’s posted an 85 OPS+ over those two seasons, barely better than the 84 OPS+ compiled by Tyrone Taylor for New York.

Robert has been a popular trade chip for the past couple of years as Chicago has bottomed out in the American League Central. The Mets were interested in him last July at the trade deadline before deciding to add Cedric Mullins from Baltimore instead. That move didn’t work, as Mullins and the Mets floundered over the final two months.

Prior to Mullins, Stearns had acquired Taylor, Harrison Bader and Jose Siri as center-field options for New York. Taylor has performed adequately as a fourth outfielder but has been pressed frequently into starting duty — first taking over for a slumping Bader for the 2024 postseason, and then for the injured Siri for the majority of the 2025 season.

The Mets were desperate to add an outfielder, any outfielder, to the mix for 2026. Before the deal for Robert, they had only three outfielders on their 40-man roster, including Taylor and Double-A prospect Nick Morabito. While New York wants to give prospect Carson Benge a chance to win a job in spring training, it didn’t even have competition for him.

Now, with Robert in center and Juan Soto in right, the Mets have Taylor, Benge and perhaps Brett Baty as contenders for playing time in left field.

The return from Texas in the Max Scherzer trade in July 2023, Acuña showed flashes of his potential with the Mets but couldn’t gain a foothold in the majors. The acquisitions of Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette further blocked his path to playing time.

A 12th-round pick out of Harvard in last year’s draft, the right-hander Pauley pitched 4 1/3 hitless innings for Single-A St. Lucie in his first exposure to pro ball.