Giants part ways with Roberts

UPDATED: Giants release Dave Roberts, eat $6.5 million
POSTED BY ANDREW BAGGARLY ON MARCH 5TH, 2009 AT 11:21 AM | CATEGORIZED AS UNCATEGORIZED

The Giants released Dave Roberts, who is owed a guaranteed $6.5 million this season. They also optioned right-hander Keiichi Yabu and right-hander Kelvin Pichardo.

Roberts was supposed to be a fifth outfielder, but it was hard to envision him playing a meaningful role with the team — especially because the fourth outfielder, Nate Schierholtz, is also a left-handed hitter.

Roberts was typically classy in his comments, saying he was surprised by the timing and disappointed he won’t be part of the team this season. He thanked the Giants for the opportunity (and the millions) and said he wished he could have been healthier.

The Giants made the move now in order to give Roberts a chance to hook on with another club. Any team that signs him will only have to pay him the major league minimum salary of $400,000. The Giants are on the hook for the rest.

GM Brian Sabean said he shopped Roberts all winter and ths spring, hoping to move at least some of his contract. But it became clear that wasn’t happening, and the team needed “to start zeroing in on guys like (Eugenio) Velez and (John) Bowker,” Sabean said.

“It just didn’t seem there was a light at the end of the tunnel,” Sabean said. “I was honest with him and told him we were on a path to getting younger and healthier. Right now, those things are not on his resume. The longer we waited (without) doing something would have been an injustice to all parties, really.”

Don’t have time to research it now, but I have to think the $6.5 million is the biggest one-year salary the Giants have ever eaten with the release of a player. Sabea couldn’t think of another instance, and neither could other front-office staff. The Giants did eat more money, though, when they traded Armando Benitez to the Florida Marlins two years ago. (They’re still paying deferred signing bonus to Benitez, incidentally.)

Roberts was viewed as one of the leftovers from the Bonds era, but he actually played pretty well when healthy over the past two seasons. But he’s been limited by some knee soreness this spring, Manager Bruce Bochy said. It was the same knee he had surgically repaired last season.

“For whatever reason, he wasn’t right coming into spring training,” Sabean said. “We had to nurse him along to the point he could get in game condition. It was as frustrating for him as it was for us.”

Personally, the timing is a little strange … I was going to write a feature for tomorrow’s paper on the injuries in the outfield opening up more playing time for Eugenio Velez out there — and how his performance could be hastening Roberts’ exit.

I have to believe it’s pretty much a guarantee Velez makes the team now; Sabean agreed when asked if Velez’s chances were enhanced.

Regarding Yabu, Sabean sad he would look to trade the 40-year-old long man.

“Again, in his case, age is a factor,” said Sabean, who wants to give an honest shot to Rule 5 draftee Luis Perdomo.


SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Giants made their first major roster move of Spring Training on Thursday by releasing outfielder Dave Roberts, who was destined for a reserve role at best.

Roberts, 36, ranked no higher than fifth on the Giants' outfield depth chart. General manager Brian Sabean said that he tried to trade Roberts this spring and during the offseason but found no takers. Roberts' $6.5 million salary for 2009 -- which the Giants still must pay -- was almost certainly a deterrent to a deal.

Cutting ties with him this early theoretically enhances his opportunities to seek employment with another team, since he can be signed for the Major League minimum of $400,000.

Roberts weathered two injury-plagued seasons with the Giants after signing a three-year, $18 million contract before the 2007 season. He had bone spurs in his left elbow in '07 and needed left knee surgery last year. Those ailments limited Roberts to 166 games with the Giants, in which he batted .252. Roberts' health, combined with the Giants' desire to play Eugenio Velez and John Bowker more frequently in the outfield during Cactus League games, made him expendable.

"There just wasn't light at the end of the tunnel for him," Sabean said of Roberts, who was 1-for-6 this spring and had endured a recurrence of discomfort in his knee.

The Giants also optioned right-handed relievers Keiichi Yabu and Kelvin Pichardo to Triple-A Fresno. Yabu finished 3-6 with a 3.57 ERA in 60 appearances for the Giants last year but owned a 23.63 ERA in two spring appearances (seven runs in 2 2/3 innings).