Tuesday, December 9, 2014

David Robertson signs with White Sox

So in the Upgrade The Bullpen game, the Astros are 0x2 with 2K, which seems about right. Andrew Miller signed with the Yankees, despite the Astros offering more years and more money. Now, next-target-up reliever David Robertson signed with the White Sox for 4yrs/$46m.

Robertson's agent declined to comment on just how involved the Astros were - (total unfounded theory based on No Sources: the Astros will get the details of what they offered out to someone, if only to show how serious they are about adding significant pieces through free agency) - but after losing out on Miller, it's my complete and utter guess that the Astros offered as much, perhaps more, than the White Sox. 

So what's happening? Maybe the years of tearing the franchise down to the studs and rebuilding impacted more than just the fan base. Maybe the constant shots about the Astros' "integrity" from TEH MEDIA have caught up to the club. Every time the Astros are linked to a major-league player, we get tweets from fans along the lines of "Why? They're only going to trade him in July when they're 20 games out."

Is that fair? Probably not, but perception rarely is fair. I just wonder who the free agent is going to be that walks across the line to sign with Houston and marks the change where Houston isn't just the destination for guys trying to rebuild value and hometown guys in their mid-30s.