The Yankees screwed Brian Roberts

[Enjoy Terror]

The point is, your comment that Roberts took money is wrong.

You're right. I made a mistake.

[auzzy98]

You're right. I made a mistake.

Yes...u did

[Fuzzball22]

Baseball is a business. It's not a charity. The Yankees made a smart business decision and saved $250,000. They knew they were going to upgrade the position so why throw money down the drain? I would think that almost every if not all MLB teams would have done the exact same thing.

[Roll Tide]

We all know that the Yankees were hoping for lightning in a bottle with Brian and even though he remained healthy, he was still a horrible let down. Getting designated for assignment this afternoon after the trade deadline was not all that surprising.

But finding this out was:

According to Cots, Brian Roberts has Plate Appearance incentive bonuses. This makes sense as they obviously wanted to hedge his playing time against the 1/$2M contract. He gets bonuses for 250+ PA, 300+ PA, 350+ PA... and so on up to 650 PA's.

Brian is currently sitting at 348 Plate Appearances. His game log over the past 2 weeks:

7/19 - 2 for 4

7/20 - 2 for 4

7/21 - 0 for 4

7/22 - 2 for 5

7/23 - DNP

7/24 - 0 for 4

7/25 - 1 for 4

7/26 - 0 for 3

7/27 - DNP

7/28 - 0 for 3

7/29 - DNP

7/30 - DNP

He got benched in 3 of his last 4 games to keep him from reaching the next pay check bonus. I realize that this is a business and I don't fault the Yankees for making a smart business decision on a player they were preparing to drop anyway... but it still ticks me off. The Orioles would never have done this to Brian if this exact contract were in Baltimore.

Brian earned a ton of money for hitting himself over the head with a bat and not being able to play. I have a hard time feeling sorry for him. Also I doubt he needs the money.

[UpstateNYfan]

Yanks did not screw Roberts. I might be in the minority here, but a classy move (once the O's clinch the AL East), the last week in September is to sign him (if it doesn't mess with the 40 man roster plans) and let him retire (if he plans to retire) in an O's uni. A lot of ifs, but it might be nice.

[Tony-OH]

Yes, as we all know, the New York Yankees are the stingiest of teams. A tiny performance bonus would definitely alter their plans more than, say, Brian Roberts not being good at baseball anymore.

I'm going to go with this. Brian Roberts was not performing, pure and simple. In his last 28 days covering 17 games, he was batting .194/.229/.269/.497. At the end of the day, he wasn't performing and the Yankees let him go. If they saved a little cash at the same time I'm sure they were not upset over it, but I doubt it was a driving factor.

[bobmc]

Yanks did not screw Roberts. I might be in the minority here, but a classy move (once the O's clinch the AL East), the last week in September is to sign him (if it doesn't mess with the 40 man roster plans) and let him retire (if he plans to retire) in an O's uni. A lot of ifs, but it might be nice.

Yes - to soothe Can o Corn's "cockles". We did give him his obligatory return to OPACY homer though so there is that....:clap3:

[Redskins Rick]

I'm going to go with this. Brian Roberts was not performing, pure and simple. In his last 28 days covering 17 games, he was batting .194/.229/.269/.497. At the end of the day, he wasn't performing and the Yankees let him go. If they saved a little cash at the same time I'm sure they were not upset over it, but I doubt it was a driving factor.

Exactly, with the Yankee payroll pushing 200 million, that 250K savings is nothing.

[Tony-OH]

Yanks did not screw Roberts. I might be in the minority here, but a classy move (once the O's clinch the AL East), the last week in September is to sign him (if it doesn't mess with the 40 man roster plans) and let him retire (if he plans to retire) in an O's uni. A lot of ifs, but it might be nice.

I guess I just don't understand this love for Roberts and the desire to have him return in any way. He was a good player for a number of years, but let's not forget he is an admitted steroid users who's body broke down on him (something that happens with steroid users) after he signed a huge contract. Some of the injuries he caused himself and instead of being a team player and realizing he wasn't able to play effectively, he stuck around and kept the Orioles in limbo over the second base position for years. Then, he comes back, announces himself the starter and goes out and plays below average once again.

The Orioles paid him a lot of money for a little production over the last four years he was here. They owe him nothing. Roberts was a me-first kind of player and I find it of no surprise that the team has won without him. Buck has worked very hard to get the right guys in his lockerroom and I was not surprised the orioles showed no interest in resigning him despite second base being a wide open competition this spring.

[StottyByNature]

We all know that the Yankees were hoping for lightning in a bottle with Brian and even though he remained healthy, he was still a horrible let down. Getting designated for assignment this afternoon after the trade deadline was not all that surprising.

But finding this out was:

According to Cots, Brian Roberts has Plate Appearance incentive bonuses. This makes sense as they obviously wanted to hedge his playing time against the 1/$2M contract. He gets bonuses for 250+ PA, 300+ PA, 350+ PA... and so on up to 650 PA's.

Brian is currently sitting at 348 Plate Appearances. His game log over the past 2 weeks:

7/19 - 2 for 4

7/20 - 2 for 4

7/21 - 0 for 4

7/22 - 2 for 5

7/23 - DNP

7/24 - 0 for 4

7/25 - 1 for 4

7/26 - 0 for 3

7/27 - DNP

7/28 - 0 for 3

7/29 - DNP

7/30 - DNP

He got benched in 3 of his last 4 games to keep him from reaching the next pay check bonus. I realize that this is a business and I don't fault the Yankees for making a smart business decision on a player they were preparing to drop anyway... but it still ticks me off. The Orioles would never have done this to Brian if this exact contract were in Baltimore.

I think you're wrong, but I am for anything that causes a more intense hatred of the Yankees.

[webbrick2010]

I guess I just don't understand this love for Roberts and the desire to have him return in any way. He was a good player for a number of years, but let's not forget he is an admitted steroid users who's body broke down on him (something that happens with steroid users) after he signed a huge contract. Some of the injuries he caused himself and instead of being a team player and realizing he wasn't able to play effectively, he stuck around and kept the Orioles in limbo over the second base position for years. Then, he comes back, announces himself the starter and goes out and plays below average once again.

The Orioles paid him a lot of money for a little production over the last four years he was here. They owe him nothing. Roberts was a me-first kind of player and I find it of no surprise that the team has won without him. Buck has worked very hard to get the right guys in his lockerroom and I was not surprised the orioles showed no interest in resigning him despite second base being a wide open competition this spring.

Ditto, well said

[Malike]

Well, at least they replaced him with a superior player. Stephen Drew will play 2B while Prado heads to the OF from what I've read today. Drew is crushing it at a .583 OPS, and Prado is closing in on .700. Once they don the magic uniform, I expect both to be world beaters.

[mdbdotcom]

The Yankees are so cheap they replaced Roberts with a guy who hits like Schoop that they will pay $5 million for two months.

If Brian was getting screwed, at least he was wearing the pinstripes he'd dreamed of as a child.

[DrungoHazewood]

I guess I just don't understand this love for Roberts and the desire to have him return in any way. He was a good player for a number of years, but let's not forget he is an admitted steroid users who's body broke down on him (something that happens with steroid users) after he signed a huge contract. Some of the injuries he caused himself and instead of being a team player and realizing he wasn't able to play effectively, he stuck around and kept the Orioles in limbo over the second base position for years. Then, he comes back, announces himself the starter and goes out and plays below average once again.

The Orioles paid him a lot of money for a little production over the last four years he was here. They owe him nothing. Roberts was a me-first kind of player and I find it of no surprise that the team has won without him. Buck has worked very hard to get the right guys in his lockerroom and I was not surprised the orioles showed no interest in resigning him despite second base being a wide open competition this spring.

I don't want Roberts back, I agree the team owes him nothing, but I also think that part of the reason he got the reputation for being a me-first player was that for almost his entire career the O's surrounded him with crap teams. If he wasn't playing for himself, what would he have been playing for? Freddy Bynum and Adam Stern and Daniel Cabrera?

His loyalty to the team was nice, but I almost would think more of him if he'd signed elsewhere. What kind of person actively wants to play for the 2007-era Orioles?

[DrungoHazewood]

If Brian was getting screwed, at least he was wearing the pinstripes he'd dreamed of as a child.

Is that actually true? And if he really dreamed of being a Yank all those years, why did he keep re-upping with the terrible Orioles?