The All-Star Game is about to commence, but Luis Robert Jr. won't be part of it, because he is part of the 2023 White Sox whether he likes it or not.
That's not the official reason, but it's effectively the same reason the White Sox themselves provided in a tweet at 4:15 p.m.:
During the first round of Monday’s Home Run Derby, Luis Robert felt tightness in his right calf. He underwent an MRI in Seattle and is listed as day-to-day. Robert will not play in tonight’s All-Star Game as a precaution and will be evaluated again before the season re-starts Friday in Atlanta.
I laughed out loud -- guffawed, even -- when I saw this, because with the White Sox 16 games under .500 at the All-Star break, there's no point in registering pain. Robert's health was one of a few triumphs, as he played in 89 of 92 games. Considering his own injury history and the team's inability to field players who are at or close to 100 percent, either Robert would be a beacon of stability and vitality as the roster crumbled around him, or he'd get hurt and leave an abyss to stare into.
To the extent that any hope remains, the best outcome is that this is merely precautionary, similar to the hamstring issue that was a subplot in the strange lack-of-effort episodes at the end of April, but posed no long-term effects. Robert already participated in one showcase, so he didn't need another.
The worst outcome? That's already happening, so any injured list stint would merely count as a raindrop in a flood.
