Brian Roberts: ‘I understand 100 percent that it is a business’

Infielder Brian Roberts went through a lot with the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles stuck with Roberts and supported him through some tough years of a career that has been characterized by a number of injury problems.

Drafted in the first round of the 1999 draft, Roberts made his debut in 2001. He enjoyed great success from 2003-2009 before back and head injuries prevented him from playing any more than 59 games in a season from 2010-2013. Though some of his time in Baltimore has been associated with disappointment and wondering what could have been, it is hard to imagine him in any other uniform.

That is why Roberts upset some fans in Baltimore when, after signing with the New York Yankees this off-season, he said it was “time to move on.”

Today Roberts spoke with Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun and tried to clarify those comments:

"I think some people may have taken that in a different way than I said it. The only thing I meant by that was that I was really moving on because the opportunity to be an Oriole wasn’t there anymore. And that’s perfectly OK. I understand 100 percent that it is a business. And my time there had been great.”"

Roberts will see plenty of his former team while playing in the same division; in the end, there shouldn’t be a need for things to get contentious. It truly was time to move on, for both sides.