‘Phillies Extra’ Q&A: David Robertson on his return, living through the trade deadline, and more
Robertson joined "Phillies Extra" to discuss his decision to come back to the Phillies, the state of the reliever market, and the toll this time of year can have on players and their families.
When David Robertson didn’t get the offers that he sought in free agency, he decided to stay home with his family, keep his arm in shape, and let the season unfold before reengaging with teams.
And in plotting the timing of it all, he circled mid-July.
Because contenders tend to get more and more desperate as the trade deadline gets closer. And as Robertson, who doesn’t have an agent, put it recently, “Instead of having to trade for me, you can just pick me up and not lose any prospects. I thought it gave me a little bit more leverage.”
» READ MORE: Signing David Robertson was easy. The Phillies’ next bullpen addition will be more painful.
Robertson, who turned 40 in April, signed with the Phillies on July 20 and is building arm strength at triple-A Lehigh Valley before joining the major-league bullpen next week. With the trade deadline looming Thursday, he joined Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball show, to discuss his decision to come back, the state of the reliever market, and more.
Here’s an excerpt for the conversation, which has been edited for brevity and clarity. Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Q: It’s been a super busy week for you, from the showcase in Rhode Island to negotiating the contract, coming to Philly, and then reporting to Allentown. Take me through the last few weeks.
A: Yeah, it actually came together a lot faster than I was expecting. I stayed in touch with a lot of teams throughout the season. Everybody would kind of circle back within a month or three weeks or so and just kind of check and see where I was at. And there was a point where I was really ready to go in spring and just didn’t quite get to where I wanted to be with some teams to sign in the fall. And then I kind of just shut down for a little while and just focused on family life for a little bit and said, ‘Well, if it didn’t happen in the fall, I’m going to go and just enjoy my life and then pick a time and look to get ready to go so that I could get my body and everything ready to go right around just after the All-Star break.’ And it all came together and has worked out so far. Obviously I’m not in between the big league lines yet, but I’m hoping to be able to come up there and help out.
» READ MORE: What’s it like for players dealt at baseball’s trade deadline? Three Phillies tell their stories.
Q: Was there a point this spring when you thought maybe you wouldn’t come back?
A: I get the thoughts all the time. I don’t feel like I’m ready to hang it up yet. I feel like I’ve got something left in the tank, and that run we had in [2022] — I think if maybe we’d have won it in ’22, I might have hung it up. But there’s just that chance to go get a ring again, and I want that opportunity. I want to get into that postseason again with a team that’s looking to go all the way, and that was the blessing of being able to throw this late in the year and kind of choose where I wanted to go, and my opportunities became apparent really quickly.
Q: As you negotiated this contract, were you able to get a sense from some of the teams you talked to about what the trade market for relievers might look like here in the next few days?
A: Every team’s always looking to add depth at any spot on the field. Bullpen pieces, there’s just not that many of them that are readily available to teams, and I know that organizations don’t want to give up their prospects, especially their top prospects, to go get an arm that they may only get for a couple of months and not have control over going into the offseason. So it does give me a lot of leverage, being that I’m just a free agent. You don’t have to give up anything to get me except figuring out a contract and putting me in between the lines, maybe making a roster spot if you have to.
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That gave me a lot of leverage in that. And I also was really hoping to avoid signing too early with the team and the potential of a fallout on the team of losing 12 out of 15 games and then getting traded again. Midseason trades are just tough. I’ve had it happen three times to me. You know, 2022 was a great year. I knew I was getting traded at the start of that year pretty much, but it’s still tough on me and on the family.
Q: I’m glad you brought that up. We never talk about what it’s like to actually get traded. And as you said, it’s happened to you three times. Were you ever caught off guard? And can you describe what it’s like to have to pick up your life and move your family?
A: Baseball is a long season. You get settled into a routine and you get that normalcy of going to the clubhouse and being with the same guys, and your family knows the route to the field and where to go and where the family room is and how to get to and from. And you start to make a life there, even though it’s a shorter version of it. It’s six months there. When you have to uproot after 3½ months of being there, just pack everything almost overnight and get on a plane and go join another team and immediately have to step in there and be as good as you were with the other team. That’s all they’re expecting you to do. But it’s just a lot. It can stress your family out. It can stress me out. You just have to keep going with it. You have to forget about everything you had a day ago and turn around and focus on what you’re going to do now. And it’s tough.
Q: You’re rejoining this team that’s been together for three, four years. My sense is this core hears the clock ticking a little bit. There are probably going to be some changes made after this year. What has this Phillies run looked like to you as someone who has seen it from the inside and from across the field over a span now of six years?
A: It’s definitely been a great group. They’ve done a really good job of putting this group together. There’s so much talent in that clubhouse. Being inside of it was a lot of fun. Being on the other side of it out there having to pitch against them was not fun. I’ve had my days where they’ve roughed me up. I love all those guys and I’m glad to be on their side now. But yeah, I know what you’re saying about the group being together for a while. They’ve been together and then battling through the playoffs. They just haven’t — we haven’t — been able to make it happen. Almost close in ’22, ’23 is close, ’24, it’s tough to win.
» READ MORE: Signing David Robertson makes Phillies’ quest for bullpen facelift tougher
I’ve been on groups like that with the Yankees a long time ago, and we just couldn’t quite put it together again after ’09. I think every year you feel the clock ticking, no matter which team you’re on going through the season. You know your games are counting down, and you know that that group that you’re playing with may never be a group again.
But everyone wants to win and everyone wants that group that you’re with to win with that group. So I know things will change over the years, but it is a good group. I don’t know how they managed to get everybody together like this, but it’s a hell of a squad.