The 2025 trade deadline has come and gone and with it the hopes that the Philadelphia Phillies would land a big outfield bat. The Phillies did make a giant splash by acquiring closer Jhoan Duran for the bullpen. However, their outfield addition of Harrison Bader wasn't quite the big move fans were hoping for as the 6 p.m. ET deadline passed.
Bader is certainly a solid player on both sides of the ball and will help this lacking Phillies outfield. But he's not going to bring the top-end talent of rumored targets Steven Kwan of the Cleveland Guardians and the Chicago White Sox's Luis Robert Jr.
We were teased with thoughts of bringing in either one of those outfielders. Leading up to the trade deadline, the Phillies were reportedly in pursuit of both long-shot trade candidates. The asking prices were understandably high, as both Kwan and Robert would have come with multiple years of control.
Phillies pivot away from Luis Robert Jr. at trade deadline after White Sox ask too much
It looks like the White Sox executive vice president and general manager Chris Getz was asking for a lot for Robert, according to Francy Romero, who posted the asking price on Thursday morning.
"Luis Robert continues to draw interest on the market, per sources," Romero wrote. "The White Sox are seeking an MLB guy and two prospects in return for the Cuban outfielder, per industry sources. Phillies, Mets, and possibly the Padres are in the race."
Luis Robert continues to draw interest on the market, per sources. The White Sox are seeking an MLB guy and two prospects in return for the Cuban outfielder, per industry sources.
— Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) July 31, 2025
Phillies, Mets, and possibly the Padres are in the race."
After this, the Phillies pivoted to acquiring Bader from the Minnesota Twins. The rival New York Mets pivoted to Cedric Mullins from the Baltimore Orioles.
Despite going through a down season, Robert had turned it on as of late. Since July 8, he has a .353/.441/.549 slash line with three home runs, 11 RBIs and five stolen bases in 15 games. Still only 27, he's a multi-tool talent but doesn't have the health record or consistency to entice teams to fork over such a hefty return.
It's true that Robert has two more years of control, although those are $20 million per year club options. A major league player plus two prospects (and likely very high prospects based on Chicago's previous asks, per ESPN's Buster Olney and Jesse Rogers) was too much for Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to swallow.
After unloading two top-10 prospects in the Duran trade, it didn't seem like Dombrowski wanted to part with any more top-5 prospects. We know No. 1 prospect Andrew Painter was off the table in any trade scenario (subscription required) per The Athletic's Matt Gelb. Shortstop Aidan Miller (No. 2) and outfielder Justin Crawford (No. 3) were likely not going anywhere after the Phillies parted with catcher Eduardo Tait (No. 4) and right-hander Mick Abel (No. 6) for Duran.
It wouldn't be at all surprising to see the White Sox dangle Robert in the offseason (again), assuming they pick up his option for 2026. It feels like the price won't come down enough to entice Dombrowski and the Phillies back to the trade table.