Nice article on former Red Brandon Roberts
Brandon Roberts was shagging fly balls in the outfield on June 15, just a few hours before his Sarasota Reds' Florida State League game against the Fort Myers Miracle (Twins), when his manager came out and called him off the field.
"He told me I had to go talk to our field coordinator, so I was like 'Uh-oh,'" Roberts recalled. "I walked in there and he said, 'We just traded you to the Minnesota Twins, so you have to take that jersey off.'"
Roberts, 21, was dealt to the Twins straight up for veteran Major League infielder Juan Castro, who became expendable for the Twins when they brought up shortstop prospect Jason Bartlett from Triple-A Rochester.
A 2005 seventh-round pick out of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, Roberts was hitting .267 with 23 steals at the time of the trade, and already had been named to the Florida State League All-Star Game as one of two Sarasota representatives.
So he had more than a few questions in those moments after learning about the trade. Would he be assigned to the Fort Myers club, conveniently located in the opposite dugout? Would he still be playing in the All-Star Game two nights later? And if so, would he go as a Reds or Miracle player?
"The first thing I asked was whether I should go play with the Miracle that night," Roberts said, "but he told me to just put on my street clothes and watch the game from the stands for now. It was kind of shocking because it happened just like that."
Roberts packed his bags and dropped off his Reds uniform while his suddenly ex-teammates were eating their pre-game meal.
"When I was clearing out my stuff they were all saying goodbye to me, and that was rough. At first, I was sad because all of my friends I'd been playing with I would no longer be with," he said. "But then I thought about the positives, that another team was really interested in me and really likes me and thinks I have potential. So I was happy about that."
Roberts watched from the stands that night as his old team beat his new team, 9-4. He sat with his Sarasota roommate, pitcher Sam Lecure, who was charting the game from the stands.
The next day he headed to Lakeland for the All-Star festivities and was greeted by some Fort Myers players, who welcomed him warmly. He'd already found out by that time that he would indeed be shifting over to the Miracle and representing them in the game.
"I realized quickly that I'm a Twin now, so obviously, I won't be there in a Reds uniform," he said.
So Roberts' first official public appearance in that palm tree-decorated jersey (No. 4) was in the Florida State League All-Star Game. He went 1-for-2 with a run scored in the West Division's 7-4 victory over the East.
He got to cheer for teammates new and old. Miracle ace Kevin Slowey was the game's Most Outstanding Pitcher, striking out the side in the first inning on nine pitches. The lone remaining Sarasota representative, pitcher Homer Bailey, followed Slowey with a 12-pitch, three-strikeout inning and was promoted to Double-A Chattanooga shortly after the game.
When everything began to settle in Roberts' reeling mind, he realized that he had just gone from a team in last place fighting to play spoiler to a team embroiled in the final days of a battle for a playoff spot. Not a bad tradeoff.
"We had been in last place and just kind of going out and playing for nothing, so this is exciting," said Roberts. "It's going to be fun."
Coming out of the All-Star break, Fort Myers embarked on a crucial three-game, half-ending series against Lakeland, while first-place Dunedin fought to keep its two-game lead. It went down to the wire, with Fort Myers' 2-1 loss to Lakeland on the final day of the half leaving the Miracle a game shy of the first-half title.
posted by Doug Gray @ 11:03 AM
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