doodle by Samara Pearlstein
Nate Robertson has been traded to the Marlins. Pretty sure this means Bondo and Dontrelle are in the rotation. PAWS PRESERVE US.
Nate has given us plenty to remember him by: Gum Time, the Pitching Goggles of Great Majesty, a certain tendency to overfeed gophers, the many varieties of facial hair, etc. He’s been with the Tigers since 2003 and I am sure there will be some Tigers fan, somewhere, who will deeply miss him.
But his ability to start and remain in the rotation was going to be in doubt all season long in Detroit. He will probably get more chances to stick in Florida, so it should be a good move for him, and I think he’s the only lefty on the Marlins’ staff right now, so it’s a move that makes some sense for them too (I guess I’ll just assume they couldn’t get any other lefties easily).
In return for Nate, the Tigers get Jay Voss, an almost-23-year-old lefty reliever who spent time last season in high-A and double-A ball. The Marlins tried him as a starter in ’07 and ’08; it looks like they converted him to a reliever just last year, and that was easily his best year of pro ball so far. He went to something called ‘Kaskaskia College’, about which I know nothing beyond the fact that they offer, among other things, “men’s & women’s soccor” (spelled as I found it). Unless there’s some sort of Spazzosauropocalypse, he will be a total nonfactor at the big league level this year.
Since Nate is due $10 million this season and he is going to the Marlins, I am assuming the Tigers are paying part of his salary, but I haven’t seen anything saying how much yet. I’ll update if I see it before the seder tonight.
ETA: Apparently the Tigers are paying $9.6 million of the $10 million Nate is owed. This means that the Marlins get Nate for around $400,000, which is a whisker above the league minimum. Now, LOOK. I understand that the Tigers were always going to have to take on some of Nate’s salary to move him. I understand that they were probably going to need to take on the majority of his salary. But this is ridiculous.
Poor DesigNate Robertson! In one fell swoop his dreams are realized and his raison d’ĂȘtre is removed. I wish him blog-well in this time of exhilaration/struggle.