It's Confirmed... Luis Robert Jr. is GONE!

It's official, the Mets will be trading Luis Robert Jr. at the upcoming Major League Baseball trade deadline. And not only are they dead set on moving the center fielder, but they are desperate to do so. David Stearns, one of his first moves of the past offseason, has in the eyes of his own vision of the team, backfired so heavily that they cannot wait to move on from the former superstar on the Chicago White Sox. What's going on guys, I'm Josh Byrne, you're tuned into Mets Digest. Thank you for all the daily support as me and Michael do to provide daily Mets updates as we head into the final week before the Major League Baseball trade deadlines. And guys, look, there's no sugarcoating it. The Mets are going to be sellers, and not only are they going to be sellers, but they could very well be one of the only sellers and the most active seller at this upcoming trade deadline. Multiple players in the outfield, think of Tyrone Taylor, and of course in this video this will be centered around Luis Robert, because David Stearns really took a gamble this past offseason in bringing in Robert. Not because of a lack of talent, but because it had been clear in recent years his production had cratered, and his ability to stay healthy just wasn't there. And he was asked, coming into this season, to be the primary everyday starting center fielder for the Mets. And he's been out most of this season with injury, and when he's been on the field, the results have been lackluster, and SleeperMOB pointed out a new update from Bob Nightingale on where things stand between the Mets and Luis Robert, saying quote, the New York Mets are desperate to dump Luis Robert per Bob Nightingale. And before we get into more of the ramifications of that, today's video is brought to you by PrizePix. PrizePix is the number one sports picks app in America. And the best way to get in on the action, download the app using the link in the description, and pin, comment, and use code Digest to sign up today. New users get $50 instantly in their lineups when playing your first $5, and it helps out the channel a ton. Now, Luis Robert Jr. has obviously been largely unavailable. And when he has been out there, this is what he's done. He's put up a 679 OPS, and he's looked okay in center field. But one thing that Nightingale said here really didn't sit totally right with me. And this is exactly what the quote was. He said, quote, the Mets made the brutal mistake of believing that center fielder Luis Robert would stay healthy, assuming his entire 20 million contract from the White Sox, and are now desperate to dump him. I agree that they made a mistake. But looking back on this move, what did they give up? They gave up Luis Angel Acuna. And this is what Acuna has done this year. He's put up a negative win above replacement, and he's hit one home run, a 279 on base percentage. He hasn't really shown any progress and development since what we saw from him as a New York Met last season, which wasn't all that much. He had a nice little run at the end of 2024 when he was first called up to the major leagues. There was a little bit of hype about him when the Mets made the trade for him involving Max Scherzer when they sold out in 2023. But Luis Angel Acuna is a perfect example of why you cannot be banking on any of the prospects that the Mets are about to receive in any of these trades, which actually leads me to believe even more strongly that the Mets should sell. Now, that might not make sense, you know, just within that sentence. But if you look at the bigger picture here, these prospects, such as what Luis Angel Acuna used to be, are all dart throws. And the better chance you have of hitting the bullseye is directly correlated with how many darts you have at your disposal. And the Mets need as many of them as they can possibly get their hands on because David Stearns has missed quite a few dart throws recently. And what is there to really give the Mets fan base hope that this won't be another series of misses at this upcoming deadline? Now, this whole notion that the Mets are desperate to move on to Robert, I think that's just kind of an overextension of words, if we're being honest. I mean, I don't really see why they'd be so desperate. I don't know if that's the right word here. They might be a little bit anxious about how much money that they are going to have to pay off, because one notable thing that Nightingale did point out is that Robert is making $20 million of the year and he's still going to be owed about $8 million for the remainder of this season. How much of that are the Mets going to be asked to pay and cover in order for a deal to go through? That's something that David Stearns is going to have to figure out. And based on the results this year, which haven't been overly encouraging for the veteran center fielder, it is highly likely that the Mets will have to cover some of his salary. But to me, nothing about the Luis Robert Jr. situation evokes desperation. If the Mets don't want to play him, they don't have to. If the Mets want to get rid of him, they can. Yes, he's been disappointing, but he is still a useful major league player. This is what Luis Robert Jr. has done across his career. And this is all before this season when he was a White Sox. He has been a productive player every single season. Yes, there's a number of seasons where he didn't play many games. Yes, in the past two years before this, he had a poor on-base percentage and a lot of strikeouts. But even during those seasons, he was a valuable hitter, especially against left-handed pitching, provided power, provided really good base running, and provided a useful asset in the outfield and could potentially do so on a deeper roster as a platoon player moving forward. He's played so little this year that he doesn't even qualify for most measurements on baseball savant. But one you do see and notice is that his walk percentage is at a career high and it's continued since he's gotten back from the injured list. He has been a more disciplined hitter. That was one of the knocks on his offensive game. And he's worked on that and good for him. I don't know if he's going to sustain that walk percentage, but that is encouraging for him. And I do think that assuming he stays healthy, which is a massive assumption to make, obviously, but let's say he does play out the rest of the season, I believe there's no reason not to think he can at least be a useful platoon player and a guy who can be an adequate, if not above average, center fielder. And if you go back to years, he's graded out very well in center field defensively year after year. This year, it's been graded out a little more on the average, but largely speaking, this is a guy that is going to have a market. A market that is not going to be where it was over this past offseason, which by the way, the Mets only had to give up Luis Angel Acuna, who yes, was at a higher value at that point, but was coming off a really unsuccessful 2025 and wasn't viewed as a top prospect. So I wouldn't, especially now, expect the Mets to get any of a team's top 10 prospects, but this notion that the Mets are desperate, what exactly is there to be desperate about? What's going to happen most likely is they're going to trade Luis Robert, they're going to get a low level minor league prospect back, and you're just going to have to hope that that prospect eventually pans out to something. Will they? Likely not, but Luis Robert's going to be a free agent after this year. There is no point in keeping him. And frankly, the Mets have two very solid young outfielders in Carson Benjen, A.J. Ewing, and it would be a shame if they lost at-bats to Luis Robert Jr., which I don't think will happen even if somehow the Mets don't end up dealing him. But it's incredibly apparent that they are about to deal him. It's just the desperation aspect from Bob Nightingale is a little bit of an over-dramatization in my opinion. Now, before we get into the outlook of how this lineup and how this roster is going to be managed after this impending move, getting rid of Luis Robert Jr., I'm going to go through my daily picks. Again, guys, use the code in the comments. 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Now, another guy the Mets are looking to move off of is Tyrone Taylor, who's been absolutely unconscious at the plate. He will be moved just like Luis Robert Jr. will be moved. But unlike Luis Robert Jr., he is not getting paid $20 million and he has more control than Luis Robert Jr. has. Tyrone Taylor is going to potentially net the Mets a legitimate prospect. Doesn't mean that prospect will pan out, but I would think there's going to be a higher likelihood of that being the case than what they'll get from Luis Robert. And that means that for Andy Green for the remainder of this season, I can't say it's going to be really a new look because both Luis Robert Jr. and Tyrone Taylor have been hurt for a good portion of this year anyways, so they've been without them. But given the fact that Juan Soto is now hurt and he's going to be down for probably at least six weeks and that Luis Robert Jr. and Tyrone Taylor are currently in the midst of their final days as a New York Met, then I am excited and also curious to see how exactly Andy Green and David Stearns play this out. Because you have Carson Benz, you have AJ Ewing, but to me, are they going to recall Nick Morabito? And I definitely think that that is the correct move here. We saw Nick Morabito earlier in the season basically get a cup of coffee at the Major Leagues. Didn't look overwhelmingly impressive, but it was such a short sample size. Morabito's been one of the better hitters for the AAA Syracuse New York Mets. And I think in a season that's going nowhere where half of your veteran depth is about to be gone, whether that be due to injury or being traded away, it would only be right that the Mets called up Nick Morabito and perhaps play him a little bit in center field and allow AJ Ewing to get more repetitions at second base. Because let's be honest guys, second base is up for grabs as well. Because do we really think Marcus Simeon is going to be the second baseman of the future? Absolutely not. Even if he was a decent player now, he wouldn't be. But of course he's not. Even though he hit a home run yesterday, he has been absolutely horrific. I have my doubts he'll be on the team next year. And I think if the Mets do call up Nick Morabito upon making trades of Luis Robert Jr. and Tyrone Taylor, that could open up a possible scenario where if AJ Ewing performs well at second base the remainder of the season and Nick Morabito shows that he's able to be a competent Major Leaguer moving forward, then that could solve two issues with the Mets right there where they can settle their outfield alignment and also find a suitable solution at second base. But of course we'll have to see how it goes. Curious to see what the Mets are going to get for Luis Robert Jr. and the Mets are apparently very anxious to get rid of him and see what this can look like with their young outfielders and move past the continuous errors and unfortunate results from the past offseason. Comment below, let me know what you guys think of this situation and as always, let's go Mets.