NY Mets Monday Morning GM: Luis Robert Jr. trade was worth the risk

When the New York Mets traded for Luis Robert Jr. as part of their late January frenzy, the two-letter word related to everything about him was “if.” If he could stay healthy. If he could reach his potential. If even some of what the Mets needed to go right with him did then he’d be a great grab.

Instead, after a hot start, he cooled off. Then he got hurt. We waited. And waited. By the time he was back the mission changed to creating trade value. Not even ever evolved and the team got to the point where they had to put him on waivers this past weekend just to try to save themselves some money.

There’s no rewriting this trade to call it anything but a bust. However, it was the right move to make for the potential it could have provided and what it cost the Mets.

Luis Robert Jr. hurt Steve Cohen’s wallet more than the Mets minor league system

Sure, we can think about alternatives to Robert the Mets could have added. Re-sign Cedric Mullins? Reunite with Harrison Bader? Stick with Tyrone Taylor in a more regular center field role? Other than snatching Tristan Peters from the Tampa Bay Rays after they DFA’d him then traded him to the Chicago White Sox for cash (the 1 in 100 idea I got right in the offseason), there weren’t too many available moves the Mets could have made. Perhaps adding a right fielder and making Carson Benge the starting center fielder could have worked, too.

At the cost of Luisangel Acuna who wouldn’t have had much to do with the 2026 Mets and Truman Pauley whose 5.47 ERA and more than 6 walks per 9 in Single-A haven’t made him a steal for Chicago. Robert was as close of a salary dump as it gets with players coming at a cost, too.

Robert didn’t accomplish nearly enough with the Mets to make this a success. His absence was one of the easiest to overcome once A.J. Ewing was called up. Robert was merely a tally mark on everything that did go wrong. He is, however, more Freddy Peralta than Jorge Polanco. We understood Peralta. Polanco required some adjusting. A poor-fielding second baseman to become a regular at first base despite not playing the position was difficult for many to accept. Many never will. This doesn’t even account for the fact it was to replace a beloved slugger, Pete Alonso.

Robert wasn’t a complete low-risk, high-reward type of player. The risk was the Mets chose him over others. The reward was something the White Sox waited years to see and his next team(s) will forever be on the search for.

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