Mets Place Luis Robert Jr. on Waivers in Baffling Late-August Move

The New York Mets placing Luis Robert Jr. on waivers is the exact kind of late-August roster chaos that makes you wonder if the front office is making decisions via a magic eight ball.

Less than a month ago, the Mets held onto the centerfielder at the trade deadline, reportedly shopping him before deciding to keep him in Queens. Now, they are just putting him on the wire for anyone to grab. That is like refusing to trade in your car at the dealership only to leave it running with the keys in the ignition at a grocery store parking lot.

"MLB Trade Rumors tweeted: 'Mets Place Luis Robert Jr. On Waivers'"

New York originally acquired Robert back in January, shipping out prospect Luisangel Acuña to the Chicago White Sox in what was supposed to be a massive outfield upgrade. Instead, the 28-year-old spent most of the spring and early summer dealing with a lumbar spine herniation. He finally came off the 60-day injured list on July 20, but the grand return never translated into consistent production.

The timing here is brutal for anyone holding Mets futures tickets or backing them in daily matchups. New York just got completely dismantled in a series against the Milwaukee Brewers and dropped their weekend opener to the Houston Astros on Friday night. Dumping a former star mid-series while you are actively trying to salvage a weekend against Houston screams panic button.

When Robert came back in July, interim manager Andy Green talked about having a deep bench and too many options. It turns out the front office's solution to having too many outfielders was just to cut the guy they traded a premium prospect for. Rookie A.J. Ewing had already stepped up and taken the everyday center field job with a 116 OPS+, making Robert an incredibly expensive and fragile backup.

Now we wait to see if a contender takes a flier on a guy who still hits the ball 111 miles per hour when he actually makes contact. Any team claiming him will have to absorb his contract, but for a playoff push, someone might just take the bait. As for the Mets, they will finish out their series against the Astros on Sunday trying to pretend this was the plan all along.