The Yankees' David Robertson was left off the American League's All-Star roster despite a 1.05 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 34.1 innings.NEW YORK — Mariano Rivera can empathize with David Robertson. In 1996, Rivera was a 26-year-old relief pitcher with gaudy stats, a warehouse full of strikeout victims and hopes of making the All-Star Game.
He can relate to his eighth-inning setup man because those hopes were all for naught, teaching him that with capricious honors like these, expectations should be limited.
Now Robertson knows just what it feels like. Major League Baseball announced its selection for next week’s event and Robertson wasn’t one of the chosen few, regardless of his 1.05 ERA, 55 strikeouts in 34.1 innings and a .187 batting average against.
“I wasn’t sure, I was just really hopeful,” Robertson said after the Yankees’ 3-2 loss at Citi Field. “It didn’t work out, but I won’t complain. There’s always next year.”
Through a multi-tiered system that is dependent on the fan vote, a player vote and then manager selections, the right-handed pitcher was left out and so were a few of his teammates who could be considered All-Star snubs.
Mark Teixeira, with an American League runner-up 25 home runs and his usual Gold Glove-caliber defense, did not make the team. Neither did CC Sabathia, who is tied for the AL lead with 11 wins.
Although there are conspicuous players absent from the All-Star roster, the Yankees were not forgotten in the process. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano were voted in as starters, while Mariano Rivera and Russell Martin will be reserves.
Sabathia and Teixeira were casualties of a numbers game with the league heavy in standout first basemen and aces.
Sabathia ranked 15th in the AL among starting pitchers in ERA. But he has thrown the third-most amount of innings in the AL and according to Fangraphs.com, he ranks second in the league in FIP, behind only All-Star Jared Weaver. FIP is a metric representing fielding-independent pitching, measuring ERA by removing fielding from the equation and evaluating pitchers for what they can specifically control: strikeouts, walks and homers.
Sabathia isn’t too broken up about it, appreciating the time off he will have available. And with him lined up to start the Sunday before the game, he would not have been eligible to pitch. As he said, he booked his trip to the Bahamas a long time ago.
Teixeira did not even expect to make the team. This season the American League is top-heavy in first baseman. Adrian Gonzalez, the fan’s choice, is an MVP candidate. And Paul Konerko — with 21 home runs, 62 RBI and the league’s fourth-best OPS — will have to rely on an internet voting stampede to make the team as the last pick because only two first basemen were part of the original 31 choices.
“Oh no, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t make the team,” Teixeira said. “This year, probably, the three best players in baseball all play first base in the American League. Actually, Konerko didn’t even make it.”
Sabathia and Teixeira share a cumulative six All-Star appearances. It would have been Robertson’s first. He had as good a case as any to make it.
The only noncloser reliever to make the team was Aaron Crow of the Kansas City Royals, due to MLB’s mollifying rule that all teams must be represented.
Robertson refused to speculate whether he was hurt by a lack of saves and not being a closer.
“It could have, but this is baseball and this is the way the votes go,” he said. “I’m not going to complain about it, it’s not like I could have done anything differently.”
Mike Vorkunov: mvorkunov@starledger.com