Robinson Adjusts to Change of Scenery : It Took Some Time, but Former Fullerton Pitcher Is Happy to Be With Pirates

At first, Jeff Robinson, relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, thought he was being disciplined for missing curfew when he was called to General Manager Al Rosen’s hotel room at 9:30 a.m. last Friday in Montreal.

“My second thought was perhaps I was being sent down to the minors,” said Robinson, a four-year major league veteran who played baseball at Troy High School and Cal State Fullerton and lives in Mission Viejo. “When a GM asks you to come to his hotel room that early in the morning, something’s up, and it usually isn’t good.”

The news exceeded Robinson’s fears. He had been traded along with minor leaguer Scott Medwin to the Pittsburgh Pirates for 15-year veteran pitcher Rick Reuschel. Reuschel, 38, was acquired by the first-place Giants to bolster their pitching staff in their drive for the National League’s Western Division title.

Robinson, 26, was sent packing to Pittsburgh, home of the last-place Pirates of the NL’s Eastern Division. Goodby Candlestick Park and hello Three Rivers Stadium, where the Pirates are the worst-drawing team in baseball again this season.

“It was really a shock,” said Robinson, who had a 6-8 record and 2.79 earned-run average at the time of the trade. “It was kind of deflating. I kept telling myself this is only a dream. I wasn’t happy at all.”

A quick look at the current NL standings is enough to support Robinson’s displeasure. The Giants (68-60) are in first in the West with a 2 1/2-game lead over the Astros, while the Pirates (56-71) are last in the East, 19 1/2 games behind the front-running Cardinals.

But after almost a week in Pittsburgh (and two rocky outings--five earned runs in two innings), Robinson’s attitude has changed considerably. He’s now calling the deal “a blessing in disguise.”

“I think the trade will turn out well for me,” said Robinson. “After I came to Pittsburgh and spent a couple of days with the players and saw how management opened up to me, I changed my thinking.

“Obviously, the big drawback was going from a first-place team to a last-place team. But I have an opportunity to show what I can do in Pittsburgh. We have a fine young team, a team to look out for in the future.”

Although Robinson had a solid three-year career in San Francisco, his status had slipped in recent months since the Giants acquired three veteran pitchers--Don Robinson from the Pirates and Dave Dravecky and Craig Lefferts from the Padres.

Robinson was surprised only that he was involved in the deal for Reuschel, not that the Giants acquired Reuschel.

“Al Rosen was constantly asking Don (Robinson) about Reuschel, and then Don would come down to the bullpen and tell everybody, ‘It won’t be long before Rick Reuschel is a Giant,’ ” Robinson said. “We figured the Pirates needed a shortstop, so I didn’t think much about it.”

When Rosen called him in Montreal, Robinson figured he was going to be disciplined.

“I went out with a couple of players after the game to get something to eat and have a couple of beers,” he said. “But we got back before curfew. I thought maybe Al saw somebody that looked like me out late that night.

“When I got to his room, (Manager) Roger Craig did most of the talking. He told me that a trade had been made, and the Pirates really wanted me. Roger explained that the trade was a good opportunity for me.

“He said I could develop into the closer (top reliever) for the Pirates. But there wasn’t anything he said that made me happy about the deal.”

Robinson got off to a rocky start with the Pirates. He allowed three hits and two earned runs in one inning in a 10-3 loss to Atlanta on Saturday, and three hits and three earned runs in a 6-2 loss on Sunday. But on Wednesday, he pitched a scoreless inning and got the victory in the Pirates’ 6-5 win over the Reds. Robinson is now 7-8 with a 3.16 ERA and 10 saves.

Robinson, who pitched for Fullerton from 1980-82, said he put too much pressure on himself last weekend in an effort to impress his new employers.

“All the pressure was on me,” he said. “I was so excited, and I wanted to impress my teammates so much, that everything backfired. I couldn’t control my emotions.

“There will also be a period of adjustment with my new catchers here. They don’t know what to expect from me yet.”

Robinson does have high expectations for the Pirates’ future. He compares the club to the Giants of 1984, the season he made the jump from Class-A ball to the major leagues.

“I can relate to the situation here after my last three years in San Francisco,” he said. “When I first came up to the Giants, we weren’t very good and weren’t drawing. Now the Giants are winning, drawing well and everybody is having fun. That will come in Pittsburgh.”