From Bill Madden:
In the meantime, Girardi couldn’t have expected that David Robertson, one of the last players put on the roster, would be his most effective reliever outside of Rivera. Robertson has gotten Girardi a total of nine outs in the postseason, all of them in extra innings. Scouts, impressed by the 23-year-old’s performance under pressure, wondered if the Yankees might consider turning the second-year righthander into a starter, allowing him to use all of his pitches.
“I’m a reliever and I’m gonna stay a reliever,” said Robertson, who was a closer at the University of Alabama when the Yankees drafted him on the 17th round in 2006. “I haven’t started a game since college and we’ll be fine next year in the starting rotation.”
Supposedly because that’s where Hughes and Chamberlain are headed.
I’m going to assume, from this point forward, that any scout who would not put his name to such an innocuous thought is fictional, and is just a literary construct used by Madden to make his own ridiculous suggestions. Robertson does not have multiple pitches. Rather he has a fastball and a curveball, and therefore has no business moving to the rotation. Pitchers like Hughes and Chamberlain, on the other hand, have multiple pitches and plenty of experience as starters.
It is amazing that we have reached this point: Madden seems upset that the Yankees are moving two starters back into the rotation next season, and advocates moving a bullpen prospect into the rotation instead. Ridiculous.
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12 Responses to I Give Up: Bill Madden Wants Robertson To Move To Rotation
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I was reading this piece on the train this morning and I felt like screaming “AAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!” out loud. That is one of the most ridiculous suggestions in terms of personnel moves that I have ever seen.
This on a day that the Yanks are on their way to the WS.
Seriously, Bill?! U have nothing else to talk about?
Y is it that people – and supposed baseball “experts” – can’t comprehend a simple concept such as this:
Guys with multiple pitches should be given every chance to be starters (that means even though a kid isn’t dominant in a season as a starter right away as he was in the pen i.e. Joba this year and Phil prior to this year), no matter what the scouts say about how their “makeup” or “mentality” is that of a releiver (i.e. Joba needs to be a releiver cuz he pumps his fist), and guys with one or two pitches should be releivers.
My gosh, Joba throws a couple innings in relief in ’07 after dominating the minors as a starter and it’s “Keep him in tah pen!!!”
Robertson throws a couple good innings in the postseason and now Madden wants to make HIM a starter and keep Hughes and Joba in the pen.
Yeah, Bill. Let’s take the guys with lots of pitches and waste them in the pen and take the guys with one pitch and turn them into starters.
How smart. Thank god you’re not the GM of my team.
Buffoon.
Madden always writes nonsense. It’s fun to read for that reason.
Sort of related but much more pertinent question — What is the Yankee plan for the World Series? I get that CC will pitch game 4 on short rest (like he did in the ALCS) and probably pitch game 7 on short rest as well, but will AJ and Andy also be pitching on short rest in games 5&6? I know the 4th starter was not an issue until now but do we need another starter since there is no off day between games 4 and 5?
It looks like they will go with 3 starters, a move I support. Andy and AJ should be able to handle one start being on 3 days rest, especially their last start of the season.
Madden….making scouts look dumber with each passing day. If I were a real scout I would have a hit out on Madden.
I’m still waiting for the NY Press to call for CC and Burnett to move to the bullpen. And Aceves, Gaudin, Robertson, and Melancon to make up the starting rotation.
What has sports writing become that garbage like this gets printed. Do they read the articles before they get published, this is just ridiculous that this nonsense gets written. Dave Robertson has the potential to be a good set up man for the Yankees which is good since people weren’t sure if he would last in the majors, but he will never be a starter in the majors. He doesn’t have the pitches to last and I don’t think that he has the durability or stamina to be a full-fledged starter. The last time he started a game was back in college and he is not going to be able to pick the ball up and throw 7 innings in a game.
Dave Robertson has been great where he is and has shown that he can handle high leverage situations in the postseason this year. I hope he will be with the Yankees for a while but there is no way I can see this guy as a starter and have any success in the AL East.
It truly is a terrible article.
That may be the dumbest thing that I’ve ever seen a sports writer put on paper.
Well, I dunno about THAT…the competition for the prize of dumbest sports writer statement would be pretty stiff. Might be a fun post in the off-season.
My brain is hemorrhaging… and it can’t be stopped…
Robertson wouldn’t touch above 90 as a starter and seeing him 2-3-4 times would take away his very sneaky low but straight fastball that he tries to throw for strike 1 every time amd that he gets up to 93-4 occasionally as a reliever.Real, real, Stupid idea.