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Phillies Are Keeping ‘Close Tabs’ on White Sox Slugger

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jacob Mountz | Last updated Jun 26, 2025 8:00 AM ET

The Philadelphia Phillies have seen their outfield misfortunes gradually improve in unison with the bat of Brandon Marsh. Nonetheless, according to one insider, Dave Dombrowski still has significant changes in mind.

In a recent article from USA Today, Bob Nightengale gave us some insight into the Phillies’ trade deadline plans, linking them to Luis Robert Jr. When discussing Robert and his situation with the White Sox, he had this to report:

“The likelihood of Robert being traded barring an injury? Just about 100%," Nightengale wrote. "The White Sox don’t want him. They don’t need him. And they know they should have traded him during the winter. All they can hope for now is that he starts performing much better after hitting .184 with seven homers, 31 RBI and a .573 OPS this season.

"He has played better of late with a .703 OPS the last two weeks, leads the league with 22 stolen bases and plays a terrific center field. It’s not as if anyone is going to pick up the $20 million options on him this year or next, but the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies are keeping close tabs on him.”

As if jinxed, Nightengale’s opening line about a potential injury seemed to foreshadow a hamstring ordeal that would befall Robert just hours after the article was published. Thus far, we have only heard that he is dealing with hamstring tightness.

It might not be that bad, but knowing Robert’s long history of injury, it’s best to take nothing for granted. For now, we’ll drop Nightengale’s 100% chance of a trade down to 85%.

As it stands today, Robert’s numbers aren’t outperforming any Phillies’ outfielder. However, his ceiling is much higher, and his Gold Glove defense would offer a vast improvement over the others. This is why he is drawing Dombrowski’s interest.

For now, Robert will need to get his medical evaluation and perhaps buy a lucky rabbit’s foot in anticipation of the next time Nightengale writes about him.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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