Yankees release Brian Roberts

[Can_of_corn]

One off-season, Jim Duquette said that first base would be a priority for the O's, because he was sure they could do better than Kevin Millar. Guess who the starting 1B was next opening day. Yup, Kevin Millar.

LOL, you got me, Jim Duquette would do it.

[SeaBird]

"On the day he was DFA'd Brian Cashman had nothing but praise for both Roberts."

"Brian Roberts is one of the better baseball people I've come across," the GM said.

http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2014/07/yankees_stephen_drew_will_start_at_second_base_brian_roberts_cut.html

[SeaBird]

They certainly were not going to say they didn't want him back.

Who does that? No one.

They don't have to say they don't want him back. How about they say something generic to the effect that they are considering all options and may need to look in a new direction if they can't work something out.

[mdbdotcom]

"On the day he was DFA'd Brian Cashman had nothing but praise for both Roberts."

"Brian Roberts is one of the better baseball people I've come across," the GM said.

http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2014/07/yankees_stephen_drew_will_start_at_second_base_brian_roberts_cut.html

And Brian Cashman replaced him with a player he had to trade for who is an even worse hitter and will cost the Yankees an additional $4+ million between now and the end of the season. That's how much Brian Cashman wanted to get rid of Brian Roberts, regardless of the nice things he said after letting him go. Roberts simply can't do the job anymore.

[bobmc]

One off-season, Jim Duquette said that first base would be a priority for the O's, because he was sure they could do better than Kevin Millar. Guess who the starting 1B was next opening day. Yup, Kevin Millar.

LOL, you got me, Jim Duquette would do it.

Ha ha - I thought mdb was going to say, "Garrett Atkins", but Millar works just fine! :laughlol:

[auzzy98]

And Brian Cashman replaced him with a player he had to trade for who is an even worse hitter and will cost the Yankees an additional $4+ million between now and the end of the season. That's how much Brian Cashman wanted to get rid of Brian Roberts, regardless of the nice things he said after letting him go. Roberts simply can't do the job anymore.

Apparently he can do the job better than what our current 2 2B can.

Ryan Flaherty .205 BA .269 OBP and .592 OPS

Schoop .215 BA .251 OBP and .591 OPS.

Roberts .237 BA .300 and .659 OPS

Everyone on here wanted Flaherty over Roberts so bad last year, even when his numbers didn't warrant him a starting position and STILL don't. I just don't understand the arguments. Just by looking at what i just posted shows that Roberts would be more valuable to this team than either of those two. Plus he was 19th in the entire league this year in pitches seen per AB. And don't try to tell me his defense and errors would be a huge downgrade either because Schoop has 9 errors this season.

Also, I cannot believe Roberts was a "me first" type of player, and that he wore out his welcome with Buck. If he was a "me first" type of player, he would have balked when they removed him from his leadoff position last year. The position he manned for some 6-8 years. Instead I remember him saying "i'm willing to do whatever I can to help the team win"

[russ snyder]

Apparently he can do the job better than what our current 2 2B can.

Ryan Flaherty .205 BA .269 OBP and .592 OPS

Schoop .215 BA .251 OBP and .591 OPS.

Roberts .237 BA .300 and .659 OPS

Everyone on here wanted Flaherty over Roberts so bad last year, even when his numbers didn't warrant him a starting position and STILL don't. I just don't understand the arguments. Just by looking at what i just posted shows that Roberts would be more valuable to this team than either of those two. Plus he was 19th in the entire league this year in pitches seen per AB. And don't try to tell me his defense and errors would be a huge downgrade either because Schoop has 9 errors this season.

Also, I cannot believe Roberts was a "me first" type of player, and that he wore out his welcome with Buck. If he was a "me first" type of player, he would have balked when they removed him from his leadoff position last year. The position he manned for some 6-8 years. Instead I remember him saying "i'm willing to do whatever I can to help the team win"

I'll grant you that Roberts might be a slight offensive upgrade at 2b, but IMO bringing him back would serve little or no purpose. The Orioles have obviously moved on from Roberts, and are in first place despite the lack of offense from Schoop and Flaherty. I disagree about Roberts defense. Both Schoop and Flaherty are superior defenders, and this is primary reason that the Orioles have stuck with this pair this season. IMO Roberts is done. There is obviously no one clamoring for his services right now. Further, I don't have any eveidence that Roberts is a "me first" player, however, I do not miss watching his sporatic lack of hustle on routine ground balls. My hope is that the Orioles do not bring him back in any capacity this season.

[auzzy98]

I'll grant you that Roberts might be a slight offensive upgrade at 2b, but IMO bringing him back would serve little or no purpose. The Orioles have obviously moved on from Roberts, and are in first place despite the lack of offense from Schoop and Flaherty. I disagree about Roberts defense. Both Schoop and Flaherty are superior defenders, and this is primary reason that the Orioles have stuck with this pair this season. IMO Roberts is done. There is obviously no one clamoring for his services right now. Further, I don't have any eveidence that Roberts is a "me first" player, however, I do not miss watching his sporatic lack of hustle on routine ground balls. My hope is that the Orioles do not bring him back in any capacity this season.

I'm not saying that bringing him back is the answer, altho I think it would be a nice ending to his career to be be able to help in the playoffs with the team he spent 13 years with. If nothing else it would be a cool story. But I'll bet during the playoffs most everyone here would agree you would rather have Roberts at the plate down by a run, runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs in the 9th than Schoop, Flaherty or Davis right? We wouldnt have to play him at 2b much. Just against good matchups. Let him pinch hit some. I don't see the harm.

[russ snyder]

I'm not saying that bringing him back is the answer, altho I think it would be a nice ending to his career to be be able to help in the playoffs with the team he spent 13 years with. If nothing else it would be a cool story. But I'll bet during the playoffs most everyone here would agree you would rather have Roberts at the plate down by a run, runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs in the 9th than Schoop, Flaherty or Davis right? We wouldnt have to play him at 2b much. Just against good matchups. Let him pinch hit some. I don't see the harm.

Count me as one who would not like to see this scenario. I don;t think that Roberts can play defense well enough to merit a roster spot over Flaherty or Schoop. He does not have the range anymore. Further, I'd much rather see Davis than Roberts in this situation. Despite his struggles he has much more potential to hit a three run homer than Roberts. Further, I don't think that this is the time to be sentimental. The Orioles are in a good position, and I don't think that Roberts adds much at this time.

[Frobby]

As someone in the organization told me yesterday, "There's a reason (the Orioles) didn't offer him a contract. Buck wants team first kinds of players. The Yankees got tired of his act real quick as well."

I'm just telling you what I heard. I never heard that Buck was too upset Roberts didn't return.

This is very consistent with things I've heard from others throughout the organization and in baseball circles.

I don't doubt you are hearing this, but without specifics of how Roberts didn't act in a "team first" way, it is very hard for me to accept that this was a significant factor in the Orioles' decision not to re-sign him or the Yankees' decision to release him. I think the Orioles just preferred to give an opportunity to younger players who have a long-term future with the organization. That's fine, but I'm disappointed with what Schoop and Flaherty have done so far with the opportunity they were given. The defense has been good, better than what Roberts could have provided (though he's been far from terrible), but the OBP we've been getting from these two (.251 from Schoop, .269 from Flaherty) is just atrocious. Frankly, I'd like BRob here as a part time player and PH down the stretch, but it's pretty clear that isn't going to happen.

[Aglets]

I look at it this way:

Would the 2014 Baltimore Orioles be a better team with Brian Roberts on the roster?

The evidence seems pretty conclusive at this point that it's yes.

So I'm (still) in favor of a homecoming here......although I fully recognize that it seems quite unlikely.

[auzzy98]

[/b]

Count me as one who would not like to see this scenario. I don;t think that Roberts can play defense well enough to merit a roster spot over Flaherty or Schoop. He does not have the range anymore. Further, I'd much rather see Davis than Roberts in this situation. Despite his struggles he has much more potential to hit a three run homer than Roberts. Further, I don't think that this is the time to be sentimental. The Orioles are in a good position, and I don't think that Roberts adds much at this time.

Like I just said. You wouldn't have to play him much at 2b. Only play him occasionally when matchups favor his bat. We can keep Schoop at 2b for his defense most days. But like Frobby said, how can we have guys with .250 and .269 OBP hitting in the 9 hole and expect them to be factors on offense down the stretch? Roberts at least gets on at a .300 clip.

IMHO I think your chances of taking Davis in that situation are ridiculous. With Roberts batting eye your chances go way up for him to poke a ball somewhere than with Davis swinging and missing a slider and striking out like he has done 138 times this year. Sure he could hit a home run and win the game, but it's unlikely. My money is on Roberts to poke a base hit up the middle after seeing 8 pitches and getting a pitch he likes to hit.

[russ snyder]

Like I just said. You wouldn't have to play him much at 2b. Only play him occasionally when matchups favor his bat. We can keep Schoop at 2b for his defense most days. But like Frobby said, how can we have guys with .250 and .269 OBP hitting in the 9 hole and expect them to be factors on offense down the stretch? Roberts at least gets on at a .300 clip.

IMHO I think your chances of taking Davis in that situation are ridiculous. With Roberts batting eye your chances go way up for him to poke a ball somewhere than with Davis swinging and missing a slider and striking out like he has done 138 times this year. Sure he could hit a home run and win the game, but it's unlikely. My money is on Roberts to poke a base hit up the middle after seeing 8 pitches and getting a pitch he likes to hit.

Ridiculous or not, Davis still has a better chance of poking one out of the park than Roberts in that situation.

My money is on the Orioles not signing Roberts, despite his profound ability to foul off pitches.

[CA-ORIOLE]

I'll grant you that Roberts might be a slight offensive upgrade at 2b, but IMO bringing him back would serve little or no purpose. The Orioles have obviously moved on from Roberts, and are in first place despite the lack of offense from Schoop and Flaherty. I disagree about Roberts defense. Both Schoop and Flaherty are superior defenders, and this is primary reason that the Orioles have stuck with this pair this season. IMO Roberts is done. There is obviously no one clamoring for his services right now. Further, I don't have any eveidence that Roberts is a "me first" player, however, I do not miss watching his sporatic lack of hustle on routine ground balls. My hope is that the Orioles do not bring him back in any capacity this season.

Roberts was openly called out by Buck for his lack of effort. I remember it well. That's a big deal and I'm betting there's more to it than just that one incident.

It's apparently a priority for the second baseman to cover second for Hardy so he doesn't have to make routine throws to first. Roberts does this when he's in the mood.

In the past, we've rationalized and dismissed his meandering down the first base line as some sort of ML privilige that "a lot of guys do". I'm not sure that we've had too many discussions about an Oriole doing this since he left. Maybe some do and have, but Roberts just seemed pretty blatant about it, and if i appears blatant to many of us, I'm guessing it was an issue with Buck.

I'm actually with you that I think Roberts would be a clear, if not marginal upgrade from what we have. I think he'd be a good addition in September and would be for it. That said, i think there's enough signs (even absent Tony's inside information) that Buck doesn't want this guys attitude around something he has taken great care to mold.

[auzzy98]

[/b]

Ridiculous or not, Davis still has a better chance of poking one out of the park than Roberts in that situation.

My money is on the Orioles not signing Roberts, despite his profound ability to foul off pitches.

His chances of hitting it out of the park might be better than Roberts, but the chances overall are poor. Roberts has a better chance of getting a base hit. I'm with you tho on them not to resigning him. It's very doubtful. But I'd be for it.