Over at Sports on Earth, Jorge Arangure Jr. has a story about Brian Roberts:
I walked into the Yankees spring training clubhouse on Monday and saw Roberts in pinstripes and the image just didn’t fit. I told Roberts how bizarre it was to see him in that uniform.
“It’s weird for me too,” he admitted.
Roberts was surrounded by reporters prior to Tuesday’s game because he was about to face his old team. It seemed a perfect time to catch up on his spring. Roberts, who missed most of least season and has sparingly played in the last four seasons because of injuries, spoke of the massive differences this spring training has been from previous ones.
“It is just different to be the guy in the back that no one knows about or cares about,” said Roberts. “I think that does help guys at times when you are trying to get back on your feet.”
[Photo Credit: AP]
Watching way too many O's games on local tv, I always admired Roberts as a ball player - a kind of devotion to the game played the right way that is Jeter-esque (although obviously not the career that the Captain has had). I hope we get to watch him play 100 games this year, and that he has fun.
1) We should hope for more than 100 games in the field, no? I understand that may be unreasonable to expect given his injury history the past few years, but if we can't expect him to play at least 125-135, why did they give him the job, and who is his backup?
Girardi said he would not expect 150 games from him at second. So maybe around 125-135. My guess is Nunez will be playing there the rest of the time, or if (when?) Roberts gets hurt.
Good to see Soriano doing work at first, too. Not that he's a great defender, but it would be good to keep his bat in the lineup when Tex needs a break or gets hurt again/keeps being hurt.
I don't have much faith in Brian Roberts. Though, I'm sure he's a nice guy and I will be rooting for him to stay healthy.
I look at the infield and it's all one big question mark, it's ok to have one/two question mark(s) there, but we have a question mark at every infield position. Probability is not in our favor, unfortunately.