The Curse of the Andino is hitting the road for a different coast. Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Dan Duquette has never been one for sentimental attachments to marginal players in his tenure in Baltimore, and he's struck again today with the news that Robert Andino has been traded to the Mariners in exchange for Trayvon Robinson.
With all the marginal second basemen on the roster, Andino may well have found himself squeezed out at the non-tender deadline regardless. Much as we love him for nearly single-handedly destroying the 2011 Red Sox season, we can also be real about him: out of the 2B on the roster, he's the one who neither has past pedigree nor future potential. He'll be turning 29 next year and his best year was 2011 when he batted .263/.327/.344. For now, Ryan Flaherty's probably acquitted himself well enough to hold down the job, and there's Alexi Casilla to consider too. That's business for you.
People who are kidding themselves may also mention the name of Brian Roberts in this sort of discussion.
Who is Robinson, the newest Oriole? Well, let's not get too excited, because he's a 25 year old outfielder who, in 319 MLB plate appearances over the last two seasons, has batted a whopping .215/.272/.330. He is a switch-hitter who in his limited big-league action has batted better as a righty - still only to the tune of a .660 OPS, not exactly earth-shattering stuff. He played 46 games for the Mariners last year and was used as a left fielder. Say, weren't the Orioles in need of a left fielder? Imagine that.
Now, there is some more competition in the form of Robinson, who is probably not ticketed to ever be a starter anyway, but could be valuable as a fourth outfielder. Then again, so could Xavier Avery or L.J. Hoes, two guys already in the system. There are no jobs given away just because someone was here already. We saw over and over through the past season that guys on the margins will have to earn their spots. That should be the case once again, and here is yet another "forty degree day" kind of move to this end.
Robinson is apparently out of options, so if he doesn't perform, he won't stick around and will be unlamented if he departs. Writing that sentence just made me a little sad, actually, because crushed dreams make me sad, so maybe he'll be just a tiny bit lamented, if only in a "therefore send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee" kind of way.
Robinson was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 10th round of the 2005 amateur draft and ended up in Seattle as part of a three-team trade that sent Erik Bedard (BUH. DARD.) to the Red Sox. It's a small world out there.
No word yet from the Orioles on what will replace Andino at the Movies segments on the Jumbotron.