Re: Washington Nationals should trade for Chicago’s David Robertson

Brian Foley — Tue, 27 Dec 2016 11:57:19 -0000

I'm not a big Robertson fan, but I feel like the Nats need more than what they currentlyhave in the bullpen. All the elite options are gone, and so is that second level guy, like Ziegler, Koji, or even trading for an arm like Tyler Thornburg (traded to Boston). You're right that Robertson is basically what they have now, just at a higher price. But trading for Robertson just gives them more chances that something will stick -- Robertson, Kelley, Solis are all "B" level relievers. We've seen that those types can have a large variance in performance year to year.

And we saw Solis miss a month-and-a-half last year, while it looked like Kelley had ripped his elbow up on his last pitch in Game 5 of the NLDS (turned out to be something in his fingers). They are solid pitchers, but I don't exactly trust them, health-wise or performance-wise. I certainly don't trust the guys at the back end of the pen like Blake Treinen, Matt Grace, or Trevor Gott. (Koda Glover I need to wait and see. He came in with decently high expectations for a reliever, but didn;t strike out enough guys and was a little wild).

The Nationals have a decent seven-man bullpen for opening day right now. But they are going to need more bodies than that (injuries or underperformance). Robertson at the very least gives them another "good-enough" option for Dusty to play with. And while his salary isn't amazing, it isn't exactly prohibitive, and it might drive down the cost in a trade with the White Sox.

Just my thoughts. Thanks for reading.

(By the way, I really wish they had signed Ziegler. Not sure why the didn't -- would've been a great fit).

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Re: Washington Nationals should trade for Chicago’s David Robertson