JAN. 13: After nearly a month, Roberts' deal with the Yankees is now official, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (on Twitter). Roberts will receive Alex Rodriguez's 40-man roster spot.
Sherman also has the breakdown of Roberts' incentives. He will receive $175K for reaching 250 and 300 plate appearances, $250K for 350 and 400 plate appearances, $300K for 450 and 500 plate appearances, $350K for 550 plate appearances and $400K for 600 and 650 plate appearances (Twitter link). All told, Roberts can earn $2.6MM worth of incentives (as the Baltimore Sun's Dan Connolly reported last month), meaning he can earn a total of $4.6MM on his one-year deal.
DEC. 17: The Yankees and second baseman Brian Roberts have agreed to a one-year deal worth $2MM plus incentives, reports Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (on Twitter). Morosi's colleague, Ken Rosenthal, reported last night that the two sides were likely to reach an agreement. Roberts is represented by Relativity Baseball (formerly known as SFX).
The 36-year-old Roberts played in 77 games last season — his highest total since 2009. He's spent his entire career with the Orioles to date, finishing a four-year, $40MM extension this past season that saw him play just 192 games and slash just .246/.310/.359 due to injuries. Over the life of that contract, Roberts was sidelined for significant amounts of time due to an abdominal strain, two concussions (one of which caused him to miss more than an entire season's worth of games), hip surgery and hamstring surgery.
Prior to that onslaught of injuries, the switch-hitting Roberts was a consistent threat at the plate and on the basepaths. From 2004-09, he batted .290/.365/.438 and averaged 46 doubles, four triples, 12 homers and 35 stolen bases per season. He's spent his entire career with to this point with the Orioles, who selected him with the 50th overall pick in the 1999 draft as compensation for the loss of free agent Rafael Palmeiro.
As Rosenthal notes (on Twitter), Roberts' low base salary will allow the Yankees to pursue other infield options. Mark Reynolds remains a possibility, and the team has also expressed interest in trading for Dustin Ackley. New York was also linked to Brandon Phillips in a rumor that gained quite a bit of attention, but that doesn't appear to be a likely outcome at this point.
Good sign. But I think they screwed up with not signing Omar Infante. He would have fit them nicely. Anyone know why they they did not sign him other than money, which c’mon they were few million apart and could have met him in the middle, IMHO.
He seemed to prefer the Royals regardless of money.
If they had known the A-rod result sooner, they probably would have outbid KC for Infante
But there isn’t a point in meeting in the middle if you have gone as far as you want. Infante will fill the position, but by no means is he someone that you should break the bank for.
Agreed and I think the big issue was committing 4 years to a guy who, up until last year, was pretty “good glove/no bat”.
yay, another injury prone infielder. Who’s the backup for roberts since Kelly Johnson will be the 3B? All the David Adams and Reid Brianiacs of the world can’t help them this year!
NYY has, Kelly Johnson, Brendan Ryan, Brian Roberts, Scott Sizemore, David Adams, Reid Bregnac and Jeter on the roster to play 3 IF positions next year. That means 4 of them can be on the DL at any given time. That’s good depth the only problem is that Jeter is the only truly good hitter out of the bunch.
Edit: No Adams or Brignac so they can have 2 IF on the DL at anyone time, still good depth.
i was kidding, adams and bregnac aren’t on the team anymore. just pointing out that strategy didn’t work last year, and probably won’t work this year either. they literally have to choose between nunez (who’s always hurt and can’t play d) or sizemore (who’s on a minor league contract)….b/c if roberts plays more than 50 games this year EVERYONE will be surprised
Fact checks man! David Adams is on the Indians and Brignac was signed by the Phillies.
Did they get traded/ placed on waivers because I check the FA tracker first to see if they came up and they were not there
Shortage of 40 man spots.
You’re forgetting Dean Anna, 26, who hit .331/.410/.482 last season at AAA and can play 2B/SS/3B. So it’s Johnson/Roberts/Jeter/Ryan/Sizemore/Nunez/Anna for 2B, SS and 3B. 7 players for 3 spots.
Good low risk move. I would have been happy to keep Cano or sign Infante but it is what it is.
I would be happy to get 300 AB from this guy. He and Nunez can split time at 2B.
Dustin Ackley to the Yankees, B level prospect from the Yankees to the Rangers, and Mitch Moreland from the Rangers to the Mariners is not a bad idea on a multi team trade if more players may be involved. Moreland can replace Smoak (trade bait for pitching help) at first base as Mighty Morphin Power Mariners can compete within the division and American League to save GM Jack Z’s job security.