Marlins Acquire Nate Robertson from Tigers

[Ramp]

that is some splendid facial hair
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Robertson has appeared in six Grapefruit League games for the Tigers, with three starts. He's 2-1 with a 3.66 ERA, with 19 strikeouts and seven walks in 19 2/3 innings.

love those strikeouts

[Bobbob1313]

See this is where looking at it in a vacuum belies the conversation. I don't disagree that Robertson is potentially as ineffective as Hensley, but he's a lefty, thus giving teams a different look after seeing Volstad. Hensley and Volstad give you the same look and same approach (2-seamer in and so-so breaking stuff).

Put it this way: the less comfortable you make an opposing team the better and adding a lefty helps remove some of that comfort. Adding a lefty that has shown an ability to pitch close to 200 innings helps our bullpen. To me, it's silly to try to find wrong in this. It's a move made to help now and if it doesn't, we can pull the plug and still give Hensley a shot.

I don't disagree that this is mostly a good move, I was just disagreeing with your point about not having Volstad and Hensley in the rotation.

I think we, potentially, run 9 deep in rotation arms now. I think at some point, 5 guys are going to step up.

I feel at least somewhat confident that 3 of Anibal, Volstad, Robertson, Hensley, Vanden Hurk, Miller, and West can get the job done.

Aren't we at least in better shape than we were last year having to try guys like John Koronka and Graham Taylor, or hoping that a green rookie a year removed from surgery could fill in?

We have depth in numbers and experience, even if we aren't necessarily running out a bunch of studs.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Some highlights from a new article by Frisaro.

"This is a now move with an experienced guy," Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest said. "We've got to make some decisions shortly."

"Robertson is going in the rotation. It is very likely that Hensley will make this team," Beinfest said. "We will figure out exactly how the back end of that rotation looks. We traded for Nate with the thought that he will go into the rotation."

Robertson has appeared in six Grapefruit League games for the Tigers, with three starts. He's 2-1 with a 3.66 ERA, with 19 strikeouts and seven walks in 19 2/3 innings. He had been in competition for a rotation spot with Dontrelle Willis and Jeremy Bonderman.

The Marlins had been working on this trade for almost a week. Recently, Mark Wiley, the former Florida pitching coach who now is an advisor, was following the Tigers, watching Robertson.

Before being finalized, the deal had to be granted the approval of the Commissioner's office, because more than $1 million was being exchanged. Robertson is signed for $10 million this season, and the Marlins are paying the minimum of $400,000, with the Tigers picking up the rest.

Robertson is expected to join the Marlins in Jupiter, Fla., on Wednesday.

"He is left-handed, which is something we didn't have here in the rotation," Beinfest said.

"He's been successful, and we know the guy," Beinfest said. "He's done well, and we know the type of person that he is."

The Marlins entered Spring Training with two lefties vying for rotation spots. But Andrew Miller and Sean West were sent down to Triple-A. West will miss about three weeks with a back injury. Miller, meanwhile, is a candidate to join the rotation at some point in the season.

"This just builds natural depth in the organization," Beinfest said. "It just adds another pitcher, and adds some depth."

Marlins acquire Robertson from Tigers

Didn't know West was hurt. I wonder if that happened before we sent him down or after.
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I had been of similar thinking as Swift in not wanting Volstad and Hensley to go back-to-back. Since they are similar pitchers and Volstad throws harder and is taller so has more movement on his sinker, I thought it was a bad setup to have Hensley pitch the day after him. I thought they would have been better off sticking Anibal in between Volstad and Hensley to break up the sinkerballers.

[emkayseven]

tell the truth, you just wanted to be able to tell us that volstad was the 3 starter

[wanks1212]

So the Marlins gave up someone who, at best, profiles as a LOOGY, for a 5th starter who basically projects as being equally effective as Hensley? Except this 5th starter is a lefty, and his acquisition means Hensley can come out of the bullpen? And this 5th starter only costs 400k?

Yeah, that's a fucking win. Even if Robertson goes all Al Leiter in 2005 on the Fish, they gave up next to nothing in the trade, and Robertson's salary isn't so high that the Marlins will be hesitant to pull the plug on him in the rotation.

At this price, it's a risk well worth taking.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

No, I knew it would have been interpreted that way which is why I didn't say anything except to KJC.

[Chewford]

Wait, KJC! Where is that flyin' Hawaiian?

Also, I like Nate Robertson, I like this trade.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Wait, KJC! Where is that flyin' Hawaiian?

Also, I like Nate Robertson, I like this trade.

Still cruising the world on his yacht.

[PitchingWinsGames]

I had been of similar thinking as Swift in not wanting Volstad and Hensley to go back-to-back. Since they are similar pitchers and Volstad throws harder and is taller so has more movement on his sinker, I thought it was a bad setup to have Hensley pitch the day after him. I thought they would have been better off sticking Anibal in between Volstad and Hensley to break up the sinkerballers.

I never really think to have this concern with sinkerballers, it's not like it's a timing thing, seeing to 95mph flame throwers on back-to-back days.

[geemoney]

Also, Pedro got pro rate 2 mil last year, and totaled up 500k in incentives.

If Robertson costs us 2-3 mil, I'd imagine Pedro would be a lot better use of those resources. Both are likely going to suck but Pedro at least has upside

Going back to this, before the whole pro-rated discussion went on and on: I'm sure the Marlins got Robertson mostly for his left-handedness, of which Pedro is not. So to the Marlins, I think the comparison would likely be apples to oranges.

[Swifty]

I think the timing of this move suggests we at least were "in" on Washburn to some extent, yet the fact that there's reportedly a bidding war for him (I know!) is why we pulled the trigger on the veterans minimum guy.

[nny]

So the Marlins gave up someone who, at best, profiles as a LOOGY, for a 5th starter who basically projects as being equally effective as Hensley? Except this 5th starter is a lefty, and his acquisition means Hensley can come out of the bullpen? And this 5th starter only costs 400k?

Yeah, that's a fucking win. Even if Robertson goes all Al Leiter in 2005 on the Fish, they gave up next to nothing in the trade, and Robertson's salary isn't so high that the Marlins will be hesitant to pull the plug on him in the rotation.

At this price, it's a risk well worth taking.

I really wouldn't consider it a win, then. I'd consider it a lateral move for the franchise next season, and one that'll either be a lateral move or hurt the franchise down the road. I mean at best Robertson goes awesome (Considering he's 32 years old, seems unlikely, though this is a pitcher we're talking about so age isn't as big of a factor in that kinda stuff). But more than likely, best case scenerio is this really did not upgrade our team.

This was brought to my attention though

Career FIP against LHP: 3.34
Career FIP against RHP: 5.21

I mean, he'd be a damn good LOOGY out of the pen. Considering neither of our lefties are LOOGYs (Infact you could make the argument they're better against RHP, since Meyer's best pitch is a cutter and Pinto's is a change up, and results so far have shown that way), he could really bolster our bullpen. That 3.34 FIP is mostly from starting, go into the bullpen where he can be max effort and that should drop even more.
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Could also do something like Robertson v.s. Lefty-heavy teams, Hensley v.s. righty-heavy teams. But we wouldn't do somethign like that.

[wanks1212]

I really wouldn't consider it a win, then. I'd consider it a lateral move for the franchise next season, and one that'll either be a lateral move or hurt the franchise down the road. I mean at best Robertson goes awesome (Considering he's 32 years old, seems unlikely, though this is a pitcher we're talking about so age isn't as big of a factor in that kinda stuff). But more than likely, best case scenerio is this really did not upgrade our team.

Robertson makes this team better because:

1. Robertson's left-handedness is a huge advantage when facing the Phillies, if for no other reason than Howard's splits, but also because of the remainder of the Phillies lineup.

2. Robertson being in the lineup pushes Hensley into the bullpen, which strengthens the bullpen and leaves the rotation at pretty much the same production level as they'd be if Hensley were in the rotation.

3. Robertson allows RVH to go to AAA, which is nice because he can get adjusted to coming out of the 'pen in AAA instead of at the MLB level.

4. Even if you think Wood and RVH can do better/equal to Hensley in the bullpen, and therefore Robertson's acquisition doesn't really increase the production level of the bullpen, Robertson allows RVH to eventually replace a struggling pitcher in the bullpen (such as Hensley, if he struggles, or even Sanches). And RVH can replace this struggling pitcher without having any effect on the MLB rotation depth.

And with regard to the future, Robertson, at the least, gives Miller and West (before West was hurt) more time to work their shit out in AAA, and it's likely that Robertson gives better production than either Miller or West would in the immediate future. And Miller and West can move further down the starting rotation pecking order, because the organizational depth is better.

And the price is Jay Voss.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

With regard to VandenHurk, they are putting him back into the rotation in AAA so, if he does come back as a reliever, he would be learning at the major league level.

I'm still going to remain open-minded about this trade until I actually see Robertson pitch some games for us. I'm willing to give him a chance.

[nny]

1. That's true but the Phillies are the only one really with a line up that drastic that it makes that much of a difference and it'll only come into play, what, 4 games?

2-4. I think Wood/Leroux/Strickland are just as good as Hensley. Which also then kinda goes against what you're saying, since I think a number of bullpen arms in our minors can replicate current production (It's not like we have to replace a Joe Nathan, we're replacing fungible arms to start with), we wouldn't need to resort to RVH before.

and 5. I think the expected level of performance for Robertson compared to miller and west would be equal, the difference is the later two have considerable more upside. I do think they should be in the minors so that they can reach their upside, but that then put Hensley in the rotation.

For the most part, fair enough though. An upgrade is still an upgrade even if it only impacts 2% of the games and Jay Voss likely won't be anything special. I'd still say that's a hell of a lot closer to lateral move than fucking win though.