Chron: Robertson among those cut....

[Uprising]

Robertson one of four cut by Astros
By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
RESOURCES


KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Lefthander Jeriome Robertson, who led the Astros with 15 victories as a rookie last season, was one of four players reassigned to Class AAA New Orleans today.


Veteran outfielder Ryan Thompson, who hit over .400 all spring, righthander Kirk Saarloos and infielder Phil Hiatt were the other three players reassigned. As a courtesy, Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker will let Thompson out of his contract if the 36-year-old veteran finds a major-league job elsewhere within a week.


Otherwise, Robertson, Saarloos, Thompson and Hiatt will start the season at New Orleans. Robertson will likely be the Zephyrs' opening day starter. Saarloos also will be in the starting rotation.

The Astros now have 28 players in camp, all of whom will travel to Houston for the two-game set against the Royals at Minute Maid Park on Friday and Saturday.


"In Robertson's case, this is a tough pill to swallow," Hunsicker said. "I understand he was behind the eight-ball."


Hunsicker still hasn't decided whether he will go with 12 or 11 pitchers on the opening day 25-man roster. If they go with 11 pitchers and 14 position players, utility infielder Eric Bruntlett will make the roster. If they go with 12 pitchers, Bruntlett will go to New Orleans.


Ricky Stone, Jared Fernandez, Brandon Backe, Mike Gallo and Brandon Duckworth are competing for either the final three or four spots in the bullpen. Gallo appears in good shape because he would be the only lefthander in the bullpen.


Hunsicker said he will announce the roster Saturday after the final exhibition.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2473502


Guess they aren't going to try to deal Robertson anymore. I was hoping we could get something good for him, but then again. Clemens is going to be gone after this season.

Robertson did have such good run support last season....what do you guys think about this?

[meh]

I don't see why this is such a tough pill to swallow. Other than the gaudy run-support, err... "Wins", Robertson didn't show a hell of a lot last year. And his stuff is nothing to be amazed at, so there's really no room for improvement.

[No Worries]

I bet the Astros are also shopping Saarloos and Fernandez (assumiing he does not make the final cut). I bet that Fernandez may be set free rather than re-assigned back to NO.

Article implies that the starting rotation in NO will be

Jeriome Robertson
Carlos Hernandez
Kirk Sarloos
Taylor Buchholz
Chad Qualls

Doug Sessions also started some last year for the Zephyrs. And at end of the season, Rodrigo Rosario may be ready for his come back.

[No Worries]

Originally posted by meh
Other than the gaudy run-support, err... "Wins", Robertson didn't show a hell of a lot last year.
Not factual. He pitched well in his wins (and terribly in his losses).

[robbie380]

Originally posted by meh
I don't see why this is such a tough pill to swallow. Other than the gaudy run-support, err... "Wins", Robertson didn't show a hell of a lot last year. And his stuff is nothing to be amazed at, so there's really no room for improvement.

hey....i thought robertson won games last year because of his run support but thats just not true. in each of his wins he gave up less than 3 earned runs. it's just that in his losses he was completely horrible. kind of like a poor man's matt clement in that sense. i think his ERA in his wins was like around 2.10 and in his losses it was like 12.00+.

just had to dispell that myth.

[bobrek]

Originally posted by No Worries
Not factual. He pitched well in his wins (and terribly in his losses).

You have to also look at who Robertson pitched well against. He was 4-0 with a 2.42 ERA against the Reds, 2-0 with a 0.79 ERA against the Rangers. So, take away two of the worst teams in the major leagues and he was a .500 pitcher with an ERA of around 6.05.

[robbie380]

Originally posted by bobrek
You have to also look at who Robertson pitched well against. He was 4-0 with a 2.42 ERA against the Reds, 2-0 with a 0.79 ERA against the Rangers. So, take away two of the worst teams in the major leagues and he was a .500 pitcher with an ERA of around 6.05.

ok so he pitched well against one of the best hitting teams in baseball and against a team that plays in one of the highest scoring stadiums in the league.

[yaopao]

Originally posted by robbie380
ok so he pitched well against one of the best hitting teams in baseball and against a team that plays in one of the highest scoring stadiums in the league.

That must mean he sucked against bad teams.

:p

No matter how you slice it, Robertson isn't that great.

What's ironic is that Redding had the lowest run support in the league, while Roberson had the highest, if not highest then close to it.

[BigM]

not a big deal. i'd like to go to some ranger's games and tell their fans we got a 15-game winner in triple a though.

[Blatz]

:D

[Rocket Fan]

that is one heck of a AAA rotation!

[deepellumrocket]

Am I the only one here who thinks the word 'cut' is sorely misused in that headline? When I saw that, the first thing that went through my head was "What the crap?! The released him?"

'Cut' and 'demoted' have two completely different meanings.

[MadMax]

Originally posted by deepellumrocket
Am I the only one here who thinks the word 'cut' is sorely misused in that headline? When I saw that, the first thing that went through my head was "What the crap?! The released him?"

'Cut' and 'demoted' have two completely different meanings.

completely agree...when i read the title on the chronicle's website this morning, i was initially upset. was relieved to read that "cut" didn't mean "cut."

[meh]

Originally posted by robbie380
hey....i thought robertson won games last year because of his run support but thats just not true. in each of his wins he gave up less than 3 earned runs. it's just that in his losses he was completely horrible. kind of like a poor man's matt clement in that sense. i think his ERA in his wins was like around 2.10 and in his losses it was like 12.00+.

just had to dispell that myth.

Actually, it's still not a myth. Because you didn't consider his no-decisions. Which he had an ERA of over 8.

You're right that Robertson is kind of similar to Clement or Andy Pettite, where he tends to either get rocked or pitch quite well. But the guy's record is definitely more sparkling than his pitching indicates. Because he got bailed by his offense a few times when he pitched badlly. And he always got the win when he pitched well(hardly given considering what Redding got).

[GreenVegan76]

How many options do these guys have left?

[leroy420]

Originally posted by deepellumrocket
Am I the only one here who thinks the word 'cut' is sorely misused in that headline? When I saw that, the first thing that went through my head was "What the crap?! The released him?"

'Cut' and 'demoted' have two completely different meanings.

I thought the same thing.

Robertson and Saarloos are still firmly on the trading block. The move back to AAA was going to happen no matter what. It doesn't affect any possible deal as they are both stil lyoung, relatively unexperienced, but talented starters. There are many teams that are looking for these types. The Rangers come to mind first and foremost.

[Groogrux]

Originally posted by leroy420
The Rangers come to mind first and foremost.

Or the Astros in a couple of years.

[RocketManJosh]

Originally posted by meh
I don't see why this is such a tough pill to swallow.

I don't look at this in terms of how well he did last year. If you were in his situation at the end of the year last year, you would have believed 100% that you would be back in the rotation for at least the beginning of the next year. The fluke of the Astros getting two dominant pitchers to fill a monster rotation is what makes this a tough pill for Robertson to swallow.

No worries though .. I think he'll have a great year in AAA and he can fill in when someone goes down.

[Buck Turgidson]

Originally posted by GreenVegan76
How many options do these guys have left?
Not sure how many, exactly, but this hasn't been mentioned by management as being a concern.

No reason to trade pitching now, let 'em both pitch well in AAA (no reason they can't), wait until May when guys have had a chance to get hurt or be ineffective. Then see who we can pillage.

"Desperation is a stinky cologne."

[Baqui99]

I think the idea is to trade Robertson before the rest of the league finds out that he sucks. There's a good chance that he goes to AAA and sucks it up.

Other teams will look at his record and think that he's a stud, without realizing that his fastball is clocked no higher than 85 mph.

[bobrek]

Originally posted by Baqui99
I think the idea is to trade Robertson before the rest of the league finds out that he sucks. There's a good chance that he goes to AAA and sucks it up.

Other teams will look at his record and think that he's a stud, without realizing that his fastball is clocked no higher than 85 mph. \

I certainly hope that major league teams have more resources to rely on than looking at a pitcher's W-L record.

[Uprising]

Bruntlet gets final position on Astros roster.

Gallo final cut as Astros set roster
04/03/2004
By Alyson Footer / MLB.com

HOUSTON -- It's not usually quite so silent when a team loses an exhibition game, but you could hear a pin drop in the home clubhouse at Minute Maid Park on Saturday as three pitchers and one position player sat in their chairs and waited to hear their fate.
Actually, they were probably hoping to make it through a five- or 10-minute period without anyone in a position of authority with the Houston Astros walking over to them to have "the talk."

Hours before the midnight deadline for clubs to set their 25-man Opening Day rosters, two cliches fit the situation in the Astros clubhouse perfectly: silence is golden, and no news is good news.

Ricky Stone sat motionless in his chair, fully dressed in his street clothes, waiting.

Jared Fernandez stayed by his locker, waiting. Same for Brandon Duckworth and Eric Bruntlett.

And no one said a word to them.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"They made their decision. But I know the situation. If guys don't perform, they'll make another decision."
-- Jared Fernandez

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Meanwhile, left-hander Mike Gallo was engaged in a lengthy closed-door conversation with general manager Gerry Hunsicker, manager Jimy Williams and pitching coach Burt Hooton, who broke the news that the club optioned him to Triple-A New Orleans.

Combined with the pregame announcement that right-hander Brandon Backe was headed for New Orleans, that brought the roster down to 25.

The Astros' 11-man pitching staff consists of starters Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Wade Miller and Tim Redding and relievers Dan Miceli, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel, Duckworth, Fernandez and Ricky Stone.

The extra roster spot went to infielder Bruntlett, who will serve as a second backup option behind utility man Jose Vizcaino. The other infielders are Jeff Bagwell, Jeff Kent, Adam Everett, Morgan Ensberg and Mike Lamb.

The club will carry five outfielders: starters Lance Berkman, Craig Biggio and Richard Hidalgo and backups Orlando Palmeiro and Jason Lane.

Two catchers, starter Brad Ausmus and backup Raul Chavez, complete the roster. Lamb, who can play all four infield positions, can also serve as an emergency third catcher.

The Astros wanted to retain Gallo, the only left-handed candidate for a bullpen spot. But they were concerned with Gallo's struggles against right-handed hitters, and they did not want to allot a precious roster spot to a one-batter specialist.

The club felt there were more benefits to using Fernandez, whose knuckleball enables him to throw every day, giving the bullpen more flexibility when pitchers need rest.

"With 11 pitchers, it's virtually impossible to go with a situational guy, because of the depth," Hunsicker said. "We just don't have that extra arm where every time you bring a situational lefty in, you've got to go get somebody else a couple batters later. It's just a luxury we didn't think we could afford. Plus, in a guy like Fernandez, you've got a guy with a rubber arm who can pitch every day."

Gallo was disappointed but determined to give the Astros what they want when he starts the season with New Orleans.

"I'm going down, and I'm gong to work on the fact that I need to be as aggressive to righties as I am to lefties," he said. "I know I can do it, but I think I put so much emphasis on getting lefties out that I neglected that side of the plate.

"I've had success here, and I know I can pitch here, I've got to take this as a bump in the road, but an educational bump."

Meanwhile, as time progressed, the other pitchers were beginning to realize that the silence from the coaching staff meant they made the team.

It was not until then that they were willing to admit just how nerve-wracking the past week has been.

"I have a wife and two kids," Fernandez said with a slight chuckle. "She says, 'Where should we get an apartment?' I don't know. 'Should we go to Houston?' I have no idea. But, that's the life of a baseball player. You never know where you're going to be day to day or season to season."

Added Duckworth: "You didn't know what was going to happen. It's always tough going down to the last day with nothing cut and dried. The last day, when there are that many spots up, you don't know what the deal is, and they can go any number of ways."

Prior to Saturday's announcement, the Astros gave no indication whether they would go with an 11- or 12- man pitching staff. Williams traditionally likes to have the extra pitcher rather than a position player, but unlike last year, the Astros' starting staff will likely be the strength of the club. It would be difficult to justify the need for an extra long reliever when all five starters are expected to be able to pitch deep into games.

Bruntlett, who is versatile at a number of positions, ensures the club will not be short-handed on the bench.

"We have a switch-hitter like Vizcaino, and if you get into a situation where you might feel you're going to use him earlier in a game, you still have Bruntlett available," Williams said. "With that in mind, it maintains the strength of your club. It also gives you an individual in Bruntlett's case who can play first, second, short and third and also played in center and right field during Spring Training."

Just as they took nothing for granted during the tryout season in Florida, those who made the team know they have to produce results to remain in Houston.

"They made their decision," said Fernandez, who has played in parts of seven seasons in the minor leagues. "But I know the situation. If guys don't perform, they'll make another decision."