The Philadelphia Phillies have signed free agent rescuer David Robertson to announce Monday.
Sources told ESPN's Jeff Passan that Robertson was selected as Triple-A Lehigh Valley and would earn more than $5 million in revenue the rest of the season.
“I made enough offer and I had to quickly decide to return to Philadelphia,” Robertson said Monday. “It settled. This place felt like my home.”
Editing selection
The Phillies' lowest 10th place in the bullpen era in the NL East's divisional game against the Mets, at 4.30.
Robertson also believes the Phillies have added another $6.6 million in luxury tax, raising its total price to $12.6 million. Philadelphia begins the season with a luxury tax salary of $306 million, trailing the fourth highest for the Dodgers, Mets and Yankees.
The 40-year-old Robertson has been a free agent since he turned down a $7 million co-option with the Texas Rangers last November. Last season, he scored 3-4 at 3.00 ERA and made 2 saves in 72 innings and made 68 games, hitting 99 times and walking 27.
The Phillies watched Robertson work twice (the last Saturday) in the past two weeks. The team plans to have four to five minor league appearances before he joins the Phillies.
“He came in today, like he didn't miss any time,” said manager Rob Thomson. “That's who he is. He's a very good guy, a very good teammate.”
Robertson was a key pitcher for the Yankees when he won the 2009 World Series and became an All-Star Game with the team two years later. He helped the Phillies reach the 2022 World Series, 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA in eight playoff games and played for them in 2019.
“We've been great in 22 years of games,” Robertson said. “It's a great roster and a great opportunity for me to mix up, great entrepreneurs. Hopefully I can bridge the gap there late in the game, we can win some ball games and get back into the playoffs.”
He is a 16-year major league veteran who is 66-46 years old and has an ERA of 2.91, saving 177 for the Yankees (2008-14 and 2017-18), Chicago Whitesox (2015-17), Philadelphia (2019 and 2022), Tampa Bay Rays (2021), Chicago Rays (2021), Chicago Cubs (2022), New York City (2023) (2023) (2023) (2023) and March 303 and 2023, MIGIAIN (2023).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.