The defending World Series champion Texas Rangers have agreed to terms with right-handed reliever David Robertson, according to ESPN. The deal is for one year and reportedly expected to be in the $11-12 million range.
Robertson heads to his age-39 year after a tale of two seasons. In 40 appearances with the Mets, he had a 2.05 ERA and 1.00 WHIP with 48 strikeouts in 44 innings. He was then traded at the deadline to the Marlins, where he posted a 5.06 ERA and 1.59 WHIP in 21 1/3 innings. He blew just three of his 17 save chances with the Mets but then blew three of seven chances for the Marlins.
In Robertson's 15 seasons -- with the Yankees, White Sox, Phillies, Rays, Cubs, Mets and Marlins -- he has lots of closing experience but also has a lot of experience setting up. He's mostly had success, too, with a career 2.90 ERA and 1,055 strikeouts in 804 2/3 innings.
The Rangers likely use Robertson as the primary setup man, at this point, for closer José Leclerc. They lost Aroldis Chapman to free agency but still have Josh Sborz and also signed Kirby Yates. Obviously, this is performance-dependent, but Yates and/or Sborz in the seventh inning before Robertson gets the eighth and then Leclerc takes the ninth is the likeliest scenario in close games when every reliever is available.
