We’ve lastly accomplished it, associates. Everyone take a bow. It took till July 20, however we’ve lastly discovered a house for the final holdout on Ben Clemens’ 2025 version of the High 50 Free Brokers. On Sunday, the Phillies took their shot on fortunate no. 46, agreeing to signal veteran reliever David Robertson to a $16 million contract. Prorated for the late begin date, the contract will really pay the right-hander someplace round $6 million. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic broke the information, whereas MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported the contract particulars. In response to Matt Gelb, additionally of The Athletic, Robertson will want a ramp-up interval, which implies he’ll must conform to an project within the minors.
So why the hell did this take so lengthy? Right here’s my finest reply: Uhh… ageism?
Let’s begin with Robertson’s blurb from the highest 50, which I don’t really feel dangerous about plagiarizing right here as a result of I wrote it:
Over the previous three seasons, Robertson has a 2.82 ERA and a 3.24 FIP. Over 188 appearances and 201 innings, he’s accrued 3.8 WAR, twelfth most amongst all relievers. As he enters his age-40 season, Robertson is coming off his finest FIP since 2017. His cutter averaged 93.3 mph in each 2023 and 2024, the quickest it’s been since Obama’s first time period. In response to Statcast’s run values, that cutter was value 19 runs this season, making it the sixth-most priceless pitch in all of baseball. Realizing what it is aware of about ageing curves and the volatility of reduction arms, ZiPS initiatives Robertson for 0.5 WAR, however we people ought to on the very least be open to the likelihood that he’ll reside perpetually. Till we see him crumble with our personal eyes, there’s no motive specifically to imagine that he gained’t simply maintain serving as an efficient bullpen arm till someday in the course of the subsequent decade. Robertson’s fourth straight one-year contract with a playoff hopeful would do fairly properly.
Common managers throughout the league clearly disagreed with me, however you understand who agreed with that final sentence? David Robertson. After putting out greater than a 3rd of the batters he confronted final season, Robertson declined his finish of a $7 million mutual choice with the Rangers. USA Immediately’s Bob Nightengale reported in April that Robertson was on the lookout for a one-year deal value $10 million. That’s what he bought from the Mets in 2023 and the Rangers in 2024 (with an extra $1.5 million buyout from the choice). I gained’t record all of the groups that appeared like a great match for Robertson. A staff that couldn’t use among the finest relievers within the recreation isn’t actually a factor. However presumably as a result of he was going through down his age-40 season, solely the Cubs and Tigers had been really linked to him through the offseason. Each groups discovered different right-handers. Robertson spent the primary half enjoying sudoku.
Presumably, he saved his arm heat too, as a result of he threw in entrance of scouts on Saturday in Windfall, Rhode Island (the Renaissance Metropolis, fittingly sufficient), and he impressed a bunch of them. In truth, he was so spectacular, that his signing marks our first We Tried of the deadline season. After Robertson confirmed that he was nonetheless the man he’d been in September, Rosenthal reported that the groups included the Mets and Yankees, and Jon Heyman of the New York Submit talked about the Purple Sox, Tigers, and “many others.”
The Phillies definitely seem to be an ideal match. After their bullpen imploded to the tune of an 11.37 ERA and 6.96 FIP within the NLDS, they let Jeff Hoffman stroll in free company, and he ended up with the Blue Jays. In change, they signed Toronto’s former nearer, Jordan Romano to a one-year, $8.5 million deal, betting on a rebound after a dismal 2024 season through which he put up a 6.59 ERA and 6.17 FIP. Romano’s FIP has bounced again to merely very dangerous, however his ERA is even increased and he’s blown three of his 11 save alternatives. In all, Philadelphia relievers rank twenty third with a 4.33 ERA, twenty second with a 4.19 FIP, and nineteenth with a 4.20 xFIP. In case you look simply at right-handed relievers, the numbers are much more stark: The Phillies rank within the backside 5 in ERA, FIP, and xFIP, and their -0.2 WAR ranks twenty eighth. To some extent, Robertson is there simply to cease the bleeding.
Extra importantly, the staff needs Robertson for October. In Could, Feinsand reported that the staff reached out to Robertson earlier than José Alvarado’s 80-game suspension for failing a PED take a look at grew to become public. Since Alvarado’s suspension, the Phillies have seen roughly the identical outcomes, however the bullpen’s 4.55 FIP and 4.39 xFIP rank within the backside 5 within the league. They’ll get Alvarado again in mid-August, however he gained’t be eligible for the postseason, and as nice as this Phillies staff has been over the previous 4 seasons, they’re arguably working out of probabilities to win the World Sequence that has to this point eluded them. Robertson has 42 profession postseason appearances, working a 3.04 ERA and three.45 FIP.
That mentioned, in case you’re a Phillies fan, you don’t want me to inform you that this has appeared like an ideal match earlier than. Robertson signed a two-year, incentive-laden, $23 million take care of the Phillies in 2019, with an choice for a 3rd 12 months. He bought into simply seven video games earlier than present process Tommy John surgical procedure. He didn’t play in any respect in 2020, and the Phillies didn’t decide up that 2021 choice. That will sound ominous, however the Phillies additionally traded for Robertson on the deadline in 2022, and he ran a 2.70 ERA over 22 appearances down the stretch, then pitched even higher within the playoffs. In all, Robertson has a mixed 3.30 ERA over 29 appearances with the Phillies, and it drops to 2.87 in case you embody the postseason.
There’s no assure that Robertson can be efficient. Possibly turning 40 actually will trigger him to show right into a pumpkin, or possibly he’ll throw his again out the primary time he tries to bend down and subject a comebacker. However no matter what occurred over the offseason, the competitors for his providers bought fierce over the weekend for a great motive. About to enter the seventeenth season of his profession, Robertson has a 2.91 profession ERA, and that quantity drops to 2.82 in case you look simply on the previous eight years. He’s now put collectively three glorious years in a row with no stint on the IL (except for a COVID subject in 2022). As a result of all he prices is cash, he’s a steal coming into the deadline. A full 12 months at $10 million was clearly sufficient to scare off each staff in baseball, however now that everyone’s a bit extra determined after 60% of the season, 60% of $10 million seems like a steal.
