PHILADELPHIA — Scouts from eight contending teams descended upon tiny Bryant University in Rhode Island on July 11 to see a 40-year-old man throw about 30 pitches at less than maximum effort. It’s not just the Phillies who are desperate — the Dodgers, Mets, Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Tigers sent someone to watch David Robertson. That signifies the respect for Robertson, who has a 2.91 ERA in 16 big-league seasons.
It’s also indicative of a concern spreading throughout the sport: Contending teams are worried about a scarcity of available upgrades at the July 31 trade deadline.
“We are in a position where there are a lot of clubs that are still in the battle, but a lot of things change daily at this time,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Monday afternoon. “I mean, we’re talking about 10 days. In trading deadline (season), that’s a long time.”
The Phillies, according to major-league sources, have signaled they want to discuss trade ideas bigger than rental players. They would trade some top prospects. They reassigned their pro scouts to priority targets for the deadline a week earlier this year than last. But there’s been little movement across the league.
In the interim, Robertson became a thing. The Phillies had Todd Donovan, one of their scouts, at Bryant for Robertson’s first workout. Robertson was honest; he needed time. But Donovan submitted a favorable report.
Another Phillies scout, Charley Kerfeld, attended Saturday’s second workout, again at Bryant, but this time with more intense throwing. Robertson’s fastball sat 88-90 mph. He needed about two more weeks of a “spring training.” But Kerfeld saw enough.
“He called me right away,” Dombrowski said, “and said, ‘I’d sign him.’”
Other teams agreed. Robertson said he had enough offers; the Phillies came in highest but requested a quick answer. So, for now, Robertson’s contract, which will pay him roughly $5.5 million and cost the Phillies almost $12 million once luxury taxes are imposed, is the cost of papering over offseason bullpen mistakes. It is, essentially, what the Phillies paid for Jordan Romano and Joe Ross.
The Phillies have enjoyed remarkable health in their bullpen this season. They lost José Alvarado, who ended last season far down on the bullpen trust tree, to an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs. There are no other built-in excuses for the bullpen’s issues.
Are there regrets about how it was built?
“No, not really,” Dombrowski said. “We were confident with the guys. The major acquisition we had was Romano. He hasn’t pitched as well as we had hoped, at times. We got close to signing the guys that were out there. We tried to sign a couple of our guys. … But no, not really.”
That said, does Dombrowski expect the Phillies to make another bullpen acquisition in the next 10 days?
“I don’t know if I expect it,” Dombrowski said, “but I guess it’s in the mix of things that we’ll talk about to make us better.”
The Robertson addition makes sense — if it’s part of a larger bullpen makeover. He didn’t cost any prospects. It’s why other big-market contenders were interested in Robertson.
Ideally, he could help the Phillies in the later innings in August and September, then slot in the middle of the bullpen come October. If the Phillies need a strikeout with runners on base in the fifth or sixth inning of a postseason game, Robertson is a fine option.
The veteran consented to an optional assignment to Triple A and must spend 15 days in the minors. The Phillies expect him to be ready Aug. 5.
“I’m good at doing it, and I want to keep doing it,” Robertson said. “I just can’t stop. I want to keep going until I can’t throw a baseball anymore. But the league hasn’t told me yet that I’m not good enough to play anymore, and I haven’t been told to go home. So if I’ve got the opportunity to step in between the lines and give it everything I’ve got again, I’m going to fulfill that itch and try to win some ball games.”
Entering Monday, Phillies outfielders had a .519 OPS in July. That was, by far, the worst mark in baseball. For the season, the outfield ranks 25th in MLB in OPS. It’s a problem; it was a problem in 2024 too. The Phillies continue to seek an outfield upgrade, although the bullpen remains their highest priority.
Dombrowski appeared to outline the club’s strategy: If the Phillies do not acquire an outfield bat in the next 10 days, Justin Crawford is a legitimate internal solution. He would not fix the power outage in the outfield, but he is an exciting prospect who makes contact and runs fast.
The Phillies have been considering a Crawford promotion for weeks, team sources said. Dombrowski confirmed as much Monday.
“We just haven’t had the right time to do it yet,” Dombrowski said. “But he is a person who’s always in our minds.”
Crawford, 21, is a polarizing prospect because of his unconventional swing that generates a high rate of groundballs. The Phillies are high on him. So are some rival clubs. Others are less enthused. This debate will persist.
“The one thing, if you’re bringing Justin Crawford up at this point, he needs to play,” Dombrowski said. “So that’s the main thing. So we need to kind of just sort out our own situation here and see when he comes up that he’s going to be a guy that’s playing all the time. He is a player who is very good and very talented. Will more development time hurt him? No. So I think that’s really more what it comes down to. It’s not only offensively, but defensively. Playing center field. Stealing bases. Just little nuances. But if we had to bring him up, or we decide to bring him up, it’s not like he can’t contribute by any means. But it really comes down to if he’s going to come here, we need him to be able to play the majority of the time.”
It would not make sense for the Phillies to promote Crawford right now, then acquire an outfield bat that nudges him back to Triple A. So, they’ll let the next 10 days unfold. And, come August, Crawford could be at Citizens Bank Park.
At his best, Robertson features swing-and-miss stuff that is effective against both righty and lefty hitters. He threw a career-high 72 innings last season for the Texas Rangers. Robertson, in recent seasons, has experienced a dip in the later months of seasons. That is understandable; he has a lot of mileage.
Maybe gripping it and ripping it for two or three months better suits his style at this point in his life.
“I’ve kept myself in shape,” Robertson said. “I usually don’t do a ton in the offseason anyway. I just shut down and then I work out in January and February. Then my first day of playing catch is usually the first day of spring training. So for me, it was just a little bit of an extended break.”
The Phillies had data on Robertson’s bullpen sessions at Bryant and, outside of the velocity that Robertson expects to return in two weeks, the underlying measurements aligned with previous seasons.
There might be something to a reduced volume at age 40.
First HalfSecond Half
Robertson does not have an agent. He represents himself. He held firm to his offseason demands and, when he didn’t have a decent offer, he took a few months off. He played some tennis. “I got my butt kicked a lot,” Robertson said. “I’m not very good. The 20-year layoff didn’t help.” He made more dinners for his kids.
He kept working out with July in mind.
“I was getting calls throughout the season,” Robertson said. “Everybody was kind of circling back, just seeing where I was at. Seeing if I was maybe ready to come back sooner. I was planning to line it up around this time because I feel like this is a good opportunity. Instead of having to trade for me, you can just pick me up and don’t lose any prospects. So I thought it gave me a little bit more leverage.”
The Phillies have been in contact with José Alvarado, who can return Aug. 18. He will go on a 15-day assignment to the minor leagues before that. He’s been working out and throwing in Venezuela.
He will pitch important innings in August and September, but won’t be eligible for the postseason. That will factor into the club’s deadline calculus.
How Alvarado fits into the whole thing remains unclear (The Phillies hold a $9 million team option for 2026). The club said Alvarado had told them he was taking an unapproved supplement for weight loss. Dombrowski dismissed the idea that Alvarado’s performance would be diminished after a suspension for PEDs.
“I don’t think that will happen with this case at all,” Dombrowski said. “I know what the situation was. I don’t think that was assisting him at all.”
It’s a small thing, but for the first time, Dombrowski left the door ajar on Andrew Painter pitching as a reliever for the Phillies if they’re in the postseason. The Phillies could use their top prospect, who has struggled at Triple A, in a different role if he cannot crack the strong rotation.
Same goes for Mick Abel, who is drawing trade interest this month.
“We haven’t discussed Andrew pitching out of the bullpen really at all,” Dombrowski said. “Our first goal with him is to make sure he is healthy and to get him ready. And just get him to be the normal Andrew Painter. When I say that, he’s throwing the ball hard. He doesn’t have the same command as he had in the past. So we haven’t discussed it. Never say 100 percent on anything, but we’ve never discussed that.
“In Mick Abel’s case, we think he is ready to pitch at the big-league level. I know he scuffled a little bit here. Pitched great again for us, at Triple A. You can only have so many starting pitchers in the postseason. So we’re open-minded to help our bullpen however we can.”
(Top photo of David Robertson in 2022: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)
