Phillies reacquire David Robertson from Cubs

The Philadelphia Phillies are banking on David Robertson’s second stint with the team going better than his first one did.

Jeff Passan of ESPN is reporting that the Phillies have reacquired the veteran reliever in a trade deadline day deal with the Chicago Cubs. Earlier this week, we wondered whether such a trade might make sense for the Phillies.

Pitching prospect Ben Brown is headed back to the Cubs to complete the deal, Robert Murray of FanSided reports. Jayson Stark of The Athletic listed Brown as one of five prospects that the Phillies were telling teams they didn’t plan to trade earlier this week. Evidently, as the deadline got closer, the Phillies realized they needed to adjust that list, as both Brown and catcher Logan O’Hoppe — heading to the Los Angeles Angels in the Brandon Marsh trade — have now been traded.

For as well as some of the major acquisitions that the Phillies made before the 2019 season — Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Jean Segura — have panned out, the signing of Robertson to a two-year/$23 million deal proved disastrous.

Over the lifetime of that contract, Robertson made a grand total of seven appearances for the Phillies. Ultimately, the long-time New York Yankee had Tommy John surgery in August of 2019

. There was some hope he would return late in the 2020 season and help bail out what ended up being a historically-bad bullpen, but a setback in late August of that year squashed any idea of him taking part in the pandemic-shortened season.

The 37-year-old has revived his career over the past two seasons, including posting a 2.23 ERA and 3.51 FIP in 36 games this season for the Cubs. Robertson, who can become a free agent at the end of the season, will give Rob Thomson another back-end reliever to go with Seranthony Domínguez, Brad Hand and José Alvarado.