Brewers designate utility man Daniel Robertson for assignment

The Brewers announced that utility man Daniel Robertson has been designated for assignment. Teams have seven days to claim Robertson or work out a trade with Milwaukee for the 27-year-old’s services, which is what happened last August when the Giants acquired Robertson in a deal with the Rays during Robertson’s first trip to DFA limbo.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Robertson on the move again, given how his versatility can help a team’s bench. Robertson has played all four infield positions for the Brew Crew this season, and also has a few games as an outfielder on his career résumé. While Robertson has shown flashes of productivity at the plate during his five MLB seasons, his multi-positional usage has become his calling card, as he has only a .227/.338/.345 slash line over 945 plate appearances in the Show.

Once a top-100 prospect during his time in Tampa’s farm system, Robertson’s quest to fulfill that potential was stalled by injuries, as he really hasn’t hit much since a thumb injury that prematurely ended his 2018 season. The Brewers signed Robertson to a one-year MLB deal worth $900K in the offseason, and he ended up appearing in 50 games while filling the holes left open by several injuries within Milwaukee’s infield.

These injury problems are ongoing, and it makes the timing of Robertson’s DFA a tad curious considering that Kolten Wong, Daniel Vogelbach and Travis Shaw are all still on the injured list. However, the Brewers did recently call up another utility type in Pablo Reyes, while Kevin Kramer was acquired as minor-league depth in a trade with the Pirates.  he Brewers seemingly feel that Jace Peterson (currently the fill-in second baseman) and Reyes can handle utility infield duty once Wong is back in action.