Luis Robert, Jr.

[Peter Welch]

I saw the White Sox traded Luis Robert, Jr. to the Mets for Luisangel Acuna (Ronald Acuna's much-less talented brother).

I was hoping maybe the Tigers would be in on trading for Robert, although he's making $20 million this year.  I'm sure that's out of the Tigers' price range given their apparent tight budget.  

Robert has been an injury-riddled disappointment for the White Sox with some alleged attitude issues after looking like a potential star a few years ago.  He's only 27, though, and is a good fielder in CF and good basestealer.   Good trade for the Mets since Acuna isn't much of a prospect.  The Mets can afford $20 million to take a flyer on a player who could still turn out good.  

Peter

[Michael W]

That's a really tough call when I guy like that is available.  The last time we got a good young player coming off a disappointing year it was Austin Meadows.  Acuna is bargain price for the old Robert, but honestly a stiff price for the recent one.  The Tigers certainly had better talent to offer, and need a centerfielder desperately.   

Deals like this are where GMs earn their living, or fail to.  Time will tell whether the Mets getting Robert, the Tigers passing on him, or the Sox getting Acuna, was the smartest move.

Michael

[Paul Meloche]

And now the Mets got Freddy Peralta in a trade with Milwaukee. That’s a big market team that’s probably not interested in Skubal anymore, although that could change depending on how the season progresses. 

Paul M.

On Jan 21, 2026, at 4:21 PM, Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com> wrote:



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[Roger King]

Poor Brewers fans. Literally the best team in baseball last year and they are trading their ace for prospects. It may work out for them long-term, but not exactly inspiring for fans coming off the success last season.

Roger King
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[Peter Welch]

Brewers seem to find a way to trade guys like Peralta and still remain competitive.  They are a pretty well-run organization.  They got a couple of decent prospects from the Mets for Peralta (22-year-old SS-2B-OF Jett Williams and 25-year-old RHP Brandon Sproat).   Williams was one of the Mets' prospects rumored to be possibly involved with a Skubal trade.

Peter

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From: Roger King <pnag...@pnagency.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2026 10:36 PM
To: Paul Meloche <meloc...@gmail.com>
Cc: Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>; detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Luis Robert, Jr.

 

[Peter Welch]

Didn't Austin Meadows have a decent season with the Rays before we traded for him?

In 2021 with the Rays he had a .772 OPS with 27 homers at age 26 .  He had a bad season in 2020 (.667 OPS) in the Covid-shortened season (Meadows might have suffered long-term effects from Covid contributing to his quick decline with the Tigers, although I'm not sure extreme disabling anxiety is a symptom of long Covid, but who knows?).

I still think the Rays knew something about Meadows' potential health issues when they traded him to the Tigers for Paredes.  Al Avila burned again.

Peter

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Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2026 9:43 PM
To: Detroit Tigers e-mail list <detroit...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: Luis Robert, Jr.

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[Peter Welch]

Robert, Jr. still has a chance to be a good player and the Mets can afford $20 million to take that chance.  If he's a bust they can afford the hit.

Acuna is 4 years younger than Robert, but all he has is speed and some defensive versatility and not much else.  He has no power.  He's a bench player at best.

I guess the equivalent would have been the Tigers trading Hao-Yu Lee or Max Anderson for Robert, Jr. (although I think Anderson is a better hitting prospect than Acuna). 

I wouldn't have had a problem with that trade, but Robert's $20 million salary probably kept the Tigers away.  Also, perhaps the White Sox didn't want to trade within the division.

Peter

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From: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Michael W <miw...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2026 9:43 PM
To: Detroit Tigers e-mail list <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Luis Robert, Jr.

 

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[Roger King]

I don’t see any evidence the Tigers think they need another OF.  They believe a healthy Parker Meadows can get back to what he produced in the second half of 2024 and even if he doesn’t, Max Clark is waiting in the wings.

And they re-signed Vierling and still have Wenceel Perez.  Obviously, Greene and Carpenter are locks. Jones looks to be coming back as well as a role player. 

So I think management feels they are pretty set in the OF. 

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[Michael W]

> I don’t see any evidence the Tigers think they need another OF.  They believe a healthy Parker Meadows 

>can get back to what he produced in the second half of 2024   and even if he doesn’t, Max Clark is 

> waiting in the wings.

The world is filled with people who believe things that aren't true :-)

Clark may well become a high-quality everyday centerfielder for the Tigers, but not before 2028.  Those of you in the "let's keep Skubal and win in 2026" camp should want a centerfielder today.

Michael

[Roger King]

To be clear, I was presenting what I think is management's take.  Might have also added that Baez now plays CF too.

But on Max Clark, you don't think we see him until 2028 or just that he isn't going to be a full-time productive CF until then?  Because I get the sense Harris wants him & McGonigle with the big club sooner rather than later.  He clearly believes the Tigers internal options are better than what he could've landed on the free agent market (or even through trades) and I think is anxious to prove it.

Some of this may depend on what kind of start the Tigers get off to in the first 2 months.  If they are not looking like a playoff contender, Harris will be under some pressure to justify his job which I think will mean he'll want to get the prospects into the mix.  If the team has a good first half like last year, no rush to call those guys up.

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[Peter Welch]

Clark bats lefty so Hinch won't make a full-time CF.

Peter

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[Michael W]

Clark hasn’t played at AAA yet and was only average in his limited AA time.  Ideally he’d start this year back at AA, and demonstrate that he can hit there.  Tiger management might rush him to AAA, but they can’t rush him to succeed there.  I don’t see Clark *earning* a promotion to the big leagues before July, with September being more likely.  Of course they can call him up whenever they want, but calling him up before he can hit AAA pitching will likely slow rather than hasten his development.  All of this means to me that he’ll probably be legitimately ready for significant playing time in 2027, and will start to get useful results in 2028 (assuming he gets them at all!)

Michael 

[Roger King]

McGonigle was ranked the #2 prospect in all of baseball in the top 100 MLB pipeline list that came out last night. Max Clark is ranked #10 and the number one outfield prospect in MLB.

This Scott Harris comment from last October appears again in the prospect story this morning:

“I expect the players that posted dominant years in Double-A to factor into our big league team next year,” president of baseball operations Scott Harris said at the end of last season. “They’ve earned it. They posted incredible years as 20-year-olds, very young for the level. I expect their progress to continue, and I expect them to be in Detroit at some point [in 2026].”

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[Michael W]

Clark certainly wasn’t dominant at AA in 2025.  

Michael 

[Peter Welch]

The Tigers' "big 3" hitting prospects in AA in 2025:

McGonigle .254/.369/.550 (.919 OPS)

Clark .251/.360/.439 (.799 OPS)

Briceno .232/.335/.381 (.716 OPS)

Is this "dominant"?

Peter

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[Jeffrey Withey]

The same way Jackson Jobe was not at all dominant in his very limited AAA time but still got promoted to the bigs and pitched poorly in the playoffs.  They don’t seem to care. 

Jeff

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Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2026 9:21:51 PM

To: Detroit Tigers e-mail list <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Luis Robert, Jr.

 

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