The words haven’t changed.
“No matter what happens this winter, he’s going to come in and compete for that position,” Brian Cashman, the Yankees’ general manager, said of David Robertson and the team’s closer spot.
The actions, however? Or to be more precise, the inaction?
Those speak quite loudly, and this is what they’re screaming: Robertson, the outstanding setup man for the final three years of Mariano Rivera’s career, will get every opportunity to succeed the best closer ever.
Look at your free-agent board. We’re at the point now where no one still unemployed would represent a better closing option than Robertson.
“We’re not going to hand something over,” Cashman said. “He’ll get a shot at it. Nothing has changed. I’m still making a lot of phone calls. But given the allocations of our resources, we still have a lot of other areas to get to.”
Former Tigers closer Joaquin Benoit agreed to terms on a two-year, $15.5 million contract with the Padres on Wednesday, and on Tuesday, former Athletics closer Grant Balfour hooked up with the Orioles for two years and $15 million. MLB Trade Rumors’ list of available closers now includes Andrew Bailey, Rafael Betancourt, Kevin Gregg, Joel Hanrahan, Ryan Madson, Chris Perez and Fernando Rodney.
Anyone there you’d prefer to Robertson? Bailey, Betancourt, Hanrahan and Madson all are returning from serious arm injuries. The Indians non-tendered Perez, who lost his job in September and is known for making controversial comments.
Gregg and Rodney both put up presentable 2013 campaigns as closers with the Cubs and Rays, respectively. Neither pitcher is so good he should block Robertson, whose ceiling is considerably higher.
The trade market represents an unlikely avenue for the reason the Yankees have struggled to make other deals: They don’t have many viable chips. The somewhat-expendable Brett Gardner is too good to be leveraged into a closer. If he goes, it’ll be for a starting pitcher.
Robertson, who will turn 29 on April 9, is exactly the commodity of which the Yankees wish they had more: A drafted and developed pitcher who has blossomed into an All-Star. From 2011 through 2013, he tallied a 1.91 ERA while striking out 258 and walking 72 in 193 ²/₃ innings.
He set off alarms with a handful of shaky outings while filling in for Rivera and, in 2012, Rafael Soriano. We must realize it takes some guys some time to work through this role. We also must realize most do eventually work through this role, at least for the short-term.
Bobby Parnell looked like a lost cause when he received his first few opportunities for the Mets, and now the other New York club’s closing gig is Parnell’s to lose as long as he’s healthy. Shoot, Rivera blew three of his first six save opportunities when he took over for John Wetteland in 1997. In those calmer, pre-Twitter times, there didn’t exist the same outcry to pull the plug on that endeavor. Or at least if there were such an outcry, we didn’t know of it.
The Yankees need another starting pitcher, which they’re hoping will be Masahiro Tanaka. They’d like a righty-hitting complement to Kelly Johnson at third base, and they’d like to add some back-end bullpen depth, with only Robertson, Shawn Kelley, Preston Claiborne and new lefty Matt Thornton regarded as locks. The internal candidates include lefty Cesar Cabral, David Herndon, David Huff, Jim Miller, David Phelps, Adam Warren and Chase Whitley.
Like Gardner, Robertson can become a free agent after the 2014 season. While the Yankees are always a “Win now” club, it would behoove them to learn precisely what they have in Robertson. If he proves anywhere as good a closer as he has been a setup man, the Yankees should try to sign him out of free agency. Perhaps he’d even accept a hometown discount.
The Yankees never engaged with the top of the closer market. Perhaps someone like Hanrahan, whose availability for the start of the 2014 season is in question, would work as a fallback guy who could work the eighth inning and then put himself back on the market next winter.
Barring an unexpected acquisition, injury or some sort of surprising spring-training white flag, Robertson will be the Yankees’ new ninth-inning guy. As he should be. The Yankees have far bigger concerns on their roster.