Great Scott! Really? But Robertson had 15 WINS!!!!!

Mark Shapiro did not make too many poor trades during his tenure as GM of the Indians.  But, in 2004, Shapiro made a trade that is hard to comprehend and you don't have to be a stat geek sabermetrician to understand why.  On March 31, 2004, Shapiro sent Luke Scott, then a 26 year old AA player to the Houston Astros for 26 year old left-handed starter Jeriome Robertson.

Luke Scott was drafted out of Oklahoma State in the 9th round of the 2001 draft.  Scott put together 3 solid season in the Tribe's farms system compiling a slash line of .287/.388/.555 with 27 home runs and 97 RBI in his final season with the Tribe (2003).  A look deeper into Scott's minor league numbers suggest that he wasn't held back at any level by the Tribe, so the fact that he was 26 years old shouldn't of been held against him, right?

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	G	PA	AB	R	H	HR	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2002	24	2 Teams	2 Lgs	A-A+	CLE	97	384	334	50	83	15	37	105	.249	.336	.479	.815
2002	24	Columbus	SALL	A	CLE	49	198	171	28	44	7	21	58	.257	.345	.515	.860
2002	24	Kinston	CARL	A+	CLE	48	186	163	22	39	8	16	47	.239	.326	.442	.768
2003	25	2 Teams	2 Lgs	A+-AA	CLE	117	474	424	58	117	20	38	99	.276	.342	.486	.828
2003	25	Kinston	CARL	A+	CLE	67	272	241	37	67	13	27	62	.278	.360	.498	.858
2003	25	Akron	EL	AA	CLE	50	202	183	21	50	7	11	37	.273	.317	.470	.787
2004	26	2 Teams	2 Lgs	A+-AA	HOU	129	540	449	90	129	27	74	101	.287	.388	.555	.942
2004	26	Salem	CARL	A+	HOU	66	287	241	45	67	8	41	58	.278	.376	.469	.845
2004	26	Round Rock	TL	AA	HOU	63	253	208	45	62	19	33	43	.298	.401	.654	1.055
2005	27	Round Rock	PCL	AAA	HOU	103	449	398	69	114	31	43	96	.286	.363	.603	.966
2006	28	Round Rock	PCL	AAA	HOU	87	381	318	63	95	20	52	66	.299	.400	.541	.941
2009	31	Delmarva	SALL	A	BAL	2	6	4	1	3	1	2	0	.750	.833	1.500	2.333
2010	32	Orioles	GULF	Rk	BAL	3	11	9	1	2	0	2	1	.222	.364	.222	.586
7 Seasons						538	2245	1936	332	543	114	248	468	.280	.367	.535	.902
A+ (3 seasons)						181	745	645	104	173	29	84	167	.268	.358	.473	.831
A (2 seasons)						51	204	175	29	47	8	23	58	.269	.360	.537	.897
AA (2 seasons)						113	455	391	66	112	26	44	80	.286	.364	.568	.931
AAA (2 seasons)						190	830	716	132	209	51	95	162	.292	.380	.575	.955
Rk (1 season)						3	11	9	1	2	0	2	1	.222	.364	.222	.586

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/23/2010.

Robertson was coming off a season where he was credited with 15 wins against 9 losses.  The rest of his stat line screamed "DO NOT TOUCH".  He had an ERA of 5.10,  5.5 K/9, 3.6 BB/9, a WHIP of 1.519, and an ERA+ of 86.  Robertson would barely average slightly over 5 innings (160 IP/31 starts) during the 2003 season.  Is there really any other reason to dig deeper into Robertson numbers to suggest that trading for Robertson would be a big mistake? 

Year	Age 5	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2002	25	HOU	NL	0	2	.000	6.52	11	1	9.2	13	7	4	5	6	1.862	12.1	3.7	4.7	5.6	1.20
2003	26	HOU	NL	15	9	.625	5.10	32	31	160.2	180	91	23	64	99	1.519	10.1	1.3	3.6	5.5	1.55
2004	27	CLE	AL	1	1	.500	12.21	8	0	14.0	22	19	5	9	6	2.214	14.1	3.2	5.8	3.9	0.67
3 Seasons				16	12	.571	5.71	51	32	184.1	215	117	32	78	111	1.590	10.5	1.6	3.8	5.4	1.42
162 Game Avg.				13	10	.571	5.71	42	26	151	176	96	26	64	91	1.590	10.5	1.6	3.8	5.4	1.42
HOU (2 yrs)				15	11	.577	5.18	43	32	170.1	193	98	27	69	105	1.538	10.2	1.4	3.6	5.5	1.52
CLE (1 yr)				1	1	.500	12.21	8	0	14.0	22	19	5	9	6	2.214	14.1	3.2	5.8	3.9	0.67
NL (2 yrs)				15	11	.577	5.18	43	32	170.1	193	98	27	69	105	1.538	10.2	1.4	3.6	5.5	1.52
AL (1 yr)				1	1	.500	12.21	8	0	14.0	22	19	5	9	6	2.214	14.1	3.2	5.8	3.9	0.67

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/23/2010.

Robertson would make start the 2004 season in the Tribe's bullpen but would return to Buffalo (Tribe's AAA) team after one appearance in April.  Robertson would struggle in 12 starts in Buffalo going 4-5 with a 7.27 ERA, 3.9 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, and a 1.756 WHIP.  Robertson would return to the Tribe and work out of the bullpen going 1-1 with a 12.21 ERA, 3.9 K/9, 5.8 BB/9, and a WHIP of 2.214.

The Luke Scott for Jeriome Robertson deal may go down as Mark Shapiro's worst deal.  It is a trade that makes me give pause to the notion that a guy who is old for his level of the minor leagues, may in fact, not be all the fault of the player.  It may be the fault of the organization for not pushing a college draft pick up through the system a little more rapidly.

Sadly, Jeriome Robertson was killed in a motorcylce accident on May 29, 2010.