HE GONE! David Robertson Leaves Yankees For White Sox

Well, I hate to say I knew this was coming, but, I knew this was coming. The first time I read the quote from now former New York Yankees’ closer David Robertson about how the team had their chance to keep him, and didn’t, I knew he was as good as gone. I’m sorry if that upsets all of you Yankees’ faithful out there, but there were clues to D-Rob’s impending departure. Late last night, out in San Diego, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that Robertson had agreed to terms with the Chicago White Sox on a four-year, $40 million dollar deal. Am I surprised? Not one bit. However, there was something I heard from senior writer Ricky Keeler that did surprise me: the Yankees never made Robertson a formal offer to stay. 

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I was on the bandwagon of saying “Good riddance” and I know there are many that feel Robertson should’ve been a career Yankee. After all, he did replace the legendary Mariano Rivera right? That doesn’t mean a whole lot to me. In my eyes, while Robertson was a good closer, he wasn’t great. He wasn’t dominant. You know who was dominant? The guy who I believe could become the next great Yankees closer, Dellin Betances. You’ll read how perhaps Robertson was greedy by not taking the qualifying offer of $15.3 million and becoming the highest paid closer in the game. Back to something Ricky said last night: “The man wanted job security.” I can understand that too. However, my opinion was this: “Dude, you’ve been a closer for one season. Take the QO, prove it again in 2015, and then sit down and talk long-term deal.” I guarantee if he could turn in another solid year, the Yankees more than likely would’ve rewarded him justly. Instead, he gets to pull up his high socks, now known as the pale hose.

I was summarily crucified by readers and Yankee fans when I dared to suggest that Robertson be dealt if the Yankees were A. unsure they could resign him, and B. weren’t going to make the playoffs. The team might have been able to snag a couple of prospects from say, the Tigers, the Dodgers, or the Angels prior to their trading for Huston Street. I said the same thing two years ago, that if the Yankees didn’t want to spend the big cash on Robinson Cano, as painful as it may seem, the right thing would’ve been to trade him away too. The Yankees struck out twice on homegrown players–guys they didn’t respect or want enough to extend and show the love to before they ever hit the open market. I’ve always argued that any player the Yankees truly want, never leaves New York. For whatever reason, David Robertson and Robinson Cano before him, didn’t set well with Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenners. Now they are both wearing different uniforms, and the Yankees got nothing in return for their departure.