The White Sox on Thursday signed top CF prospect Luis Robert to a six-year, $50M contract with a pair of options through '27, continuing GM Rick Hahn's "spending spree and the busiest offseason" in recent team history, according to Paul Sullivan of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Hahn said the White Sox "put our money where our mouth is in terms of our level of excitement about this player." But Sullivan notes Hahn then "tried to temper expectations for Robert's rookie season." However, this is the "wrong time to convince Sox fans to be a little more patient, and Hahn has no one else to blame but himself after owning the offseason in Chicago." The White Sox "made a similar deal last spring with their last core prospect," LF Eloy Jimenez, who also "got paid like a star before proving himself at the major-league level." Whether Robert "would've started the 2020 season with the Sox without the megadeal is anyone's guess," but the "big 'service time' decision is now a moot point" with his new contract (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 1/3). In Chicago, Daryl Van Schouwen writes the White Sox, who have been "adept at signing young players to long-term deals well before they are eligible for free agency, are the only team to give extensions to two players with no major-league service time" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 1/3).
ALL COMING TOGETHER: In Chicago, Vinnie Duber wrote Robert's deal goes along with the rest of the White Sox' "incredible amount of offseason activity to date" -- the signings of C Yasmani Grandal, Ps Dallas Keuchel and Gio Gonzalez, the trade for RF Nomar Mazara and the "reported -- though not yet official -- signing" of DH Edwin Encarnacion. The moves have "dramatically improved the roster, as well as both the short- and long-term prospects of the team." This is what White Sox fans were "waiting for as the rebuild moved along, and every move has stuck" to Hahn's rebuilding plans (NBCSPORTSCHICAGO.com, 1/2). Duber wrote Hahn's front office has "followed its rebuilding plans to a T." Plenty of fans "wanted this kind of offseason." Duber: "I'm not sure how many expected it. Well, the White Sox have done it" (NBCSPORTSCHICAGO.com, 1/2).
