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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
That must mean he sucked against bad teams. 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.
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.
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."
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).
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.
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.
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."
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.
