MIAMI — David Robertson was the Mets’ best reliever in his four months with the club, but life in South Florida hasn’t been so peachy for him.
“I have just been struggling since I got traded over here,” Robertson said Monday before the Mets beat the Marlins 2-1 at loanDepot Park. “I am trying to make adjustments and get guys out.”
Demoted from the closer’s role, the veteran right-hander owns a 6.48 ERA in 17 appearances for the Marlins.
On this night he pitched a scoreless eighth inning against his former team.
In his previous appearance, Friday against the Braves, he entered in the sixth inning and recorded only two outs before he was removed with two runs allowed.
It’s hardly been what the Marlins expected when they acquired the 38-year-old at the trade deadline for teenage prospects Marco Vargas and Ronald Hernandez.
Robertson slid into the closer’s role for the Mets with Edwin Diaz’s knee surgery in March and pitched to a 2.05 ERA with 14 saves in 40 appearances after arriving on a one-year contract worth $10 million.
Would Robertson entertain a reunion with the Mets in the offseason?
“I would have to check and see,” he said. “Definitely everything is a possibility at this point. Just wait and see how the rest of the season goes and what it’s like for me in the offseason.”
First and foremost Robertson has to decide if he wants to continue pitching.
“If the opportunity is right, if everything works in my favor I would probably take the opportunity, but if not I am not going to,” he said.
Robertson has previously expressed his desire to pitch in the Northeast, close to his Rhode Island home.
But it’s also possible his underwhelming second half with the Marlins could discourage the Mets (under new president of baseball operations David Stearns’ leadership) from pursuing him.
Last offseason, Robertson didn’t need much prodding from the Mets to sign.
“I am 38 years old, so I am just trying to pick the team that I thought was going to be the best,” Robertson said. “It seemed like the Mets were a good fit for me last year, but it didn’t work out — injuries right out of the gate and we didn’t put it together between the lines, the rest of the team didn’t and I got moved.”
With the Marlins he’s at least got a shot at the postseason — the team began play tied for the NL’s third wild-card spot, after sweeping the Braves three games over the weekend.
Last season Robertson was traded to the Phillies in August and was part of the team’s NL pennant run.
“I think if we can get in [the playoffs] we have got a good chance,” Robertson said. “Look at Philly last year, we weren’t the best team all the way down, but until the end we caught on fire when we got into the playoffs and were able to make a run all the way until the end. We just fell a little bit short.”
But Robertson admitted the storyline of pitching for a team that falls from contention and getting traded during the season has gotten old for him.
“It’s not the first time I have been on a team and had that happen, so I am not surprised,” he said. “It just sucks to be a part of it again. Nobody likes to get traded midseason. It has just gotten out of control — this is my [fifth] team in three years, it’s not exactly a fun thing to do when you are 38 years old and have three kids.”