Chicago White Sox slammed with brutal news on trade return

The Chicago White Sox finally parted ways with Luis Robert Jr. during the offseason, sending him to the New York Mets in exchange for infielder Luisangel Acuna and pitcher Truman Pauley.

While the Mets are not exactly thrilled with the trade themselves, as they assumed his entire $20 million salary for 2026 and watched him slash .224/.327/.329 in 24 games before hitting the injured list, the White Sox don’t have much to show for the deal, either.

Yes, a big part of the appeal for Chicago was clearing Robert’s salary, but you would have also hoped it would have received something of value in return for a player who smashed 38 home runs and made an All-Star appearance as recently as 2023 (although he was terrible in 2024 and 2025).

Pauley has great strikeout capabilities, but he owns a 6.98 ERA through eight appearances and seven starts in Single-A this season, and Acuna hasn’t been any better on the big-league level.

Acuna is slashing .181/.242/.193 with no home runs over 92 plate appearances this year, and Bleacher Report’s Tim Kelly has nearly seen enough of the 24-year-old.

Chicago White Sox infielder Luisangel Acuna has entered bust territory

A former top prospect from his years with the Texas Rangers and Mets, Acuna has not materialized like many had hoped, and Kelly just listed him among seven players who are closing in on being labeled busts.

“While the 24-year-old Acuna has provided some defensive flexibility on the southside, he’s hitting just .181 with a .435 OPS. It’s great that he can play both middle infield positions and in the outfield, but that only matters if he can couple it with some offensive production,” Kelly wrote.

Acuna produced very little across 193 trips to the dish in New York last season, as well, slashing .234/.293/.274 with no homers. He did flash some pop briefly in 2024, homering three times through 40 plate appearances with the Mets’ major-league club, but for the most part, Acuna’s run in The Show has been nothing short of disastrous.

It might still be too early to completely give up on the Venezuelan native, as we have seen late bloomers before. But there is no doubt the clock is ticking, and with the White Sox now expediting their rebuild and bordering on contention, they may not have the patience to sit around and wait for Acuna to develop.

Another issue is that Acuna doesn’t exactly have a ton of trade value, so unless Chicago includes him as a throw-in as part of a larger package, he probably won’t draw much interest between now and the MLB trade deadline, either.

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