With the World Series in the books, time for a new hot-stove season thread.
The White Sox are said to be picking up the 2026 option on centerfielder Luis Robert Jr., at $20 million. He had been an All-Star in 2023, when he hit .264 with 38 home runs, but has since trudged through two injury-plagued, unproductive seasons, in which he had nearly identical (and poor) statistics. The Sox had tried to trade him over the past two seasons, but apparently didn’t get any good offers.
I have to guess that they’re investing $20 million to hang onto a guy whom they hope gets healthy and productive again, and thus becomes legitimate trade bait again.
Maybe he’ll once again display the “elite tools” we keep hearing so much about. 
Good speed though. Career-high 33 stolen bases last year.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga is becoming a free agent.
Despite only hitting .223, with an OBP of .297, he wound up in 5th place in the AL in steals.
Doing the math, Robert got on base (setting himself up for a possible steal) roughly 113 times in 2025: 71 non-HR hits, 40 walks, and 2 HPBs – I didn’t include any times he reached on a fielder’s choice, as I’m not sure where to find that stat. He attempted 41 steals (33 successes, 8 caught stealing), meaning that he tried to steal on about 36% of the occasions where he got on base.