MIAMI — The on-field frustrations amid the growing losses, which led the team to becoming trade-deadline sellers, did not affect David Robertson’s appreciation for his time in Queens.
The Mets’ closer for the first four months of this season “loved” his teammates and the club, he said, and he would be open to a reunion this offseason.
“Absolutely,” the new Marlins reliever said before the Yankees beat Miami, 9-4, in the series opener on Friday at loanDepot Park. “I have no complaints and nothing bad to say about the Mets. I had a great time there.
“Just sucks we didn’t get it done.”
Robertson — who did not pitch Friday — became the first piece the Mets sold, heading to the NL East-rival Marlins on July 28 in exchange for a couple well-regarded but teenaged prospects (infielder Marco Vargas and catcher Ronald Hernandez).
Robertson said general manager Billy Eppler kept him “in the loop a little bit” regarding the club’s deadline plans, and he did not fault the front office for the push toward the future.
Eppler “saw an opportunity to trade and add to their organization with some young players that they probably really need, and the cost was me,” said the 38-year-old Robertson, who now has been traded three times in the middle of a season.
The Mets followed by offloading walk-year pieces (Tommy Pham, Mark Canha and Dominic Leone) as well as their co-aces (Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer), a white flag from the most expensive team in baseball history.
“We’d pitch great, and then we wouldn’t hit. And then we’d hit great, and then we wouldn’t pitch. We just couldn’t put it together,” said Robertson, who largely was excellent (2.05 ERA, 14 saves) in filling in as closer for the injured Edwin Diaz. “It was very frustrating, especially with all the high expectations we had coming into the spring and the feel we had leaving the spring.”
Robertson said he was surprised at the Mets’ downturn and surprised at his own eventual landing spot, with a low-budget club that is in the Mets’ division.
But the Marlins are fighting for a wild-card spot, so he was happy for a chance to compete for the playoffs.
The 15-year veteran and former Yankee will again be a free agent at season’s end and could join an eighth team in a long career.
Setting up for Diaz in Queens is a possibility, but there figures to be plenty of competition.
“If I’m able to finish the season doing the same thing I’ve done through the majority of the season, I think I’ll definitely have a lot of teams that are interested,” Robertson said.
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