BREAKING: Pedro Martinez to the rotation; Jamie Moyer to bullpen

by WholeCamels on Aug 10, 2009 4:35 PM EDT

MLB.com's Todd Zolecki reports via Twitter that Pedro Martinez has been added to the Phillies starting rotation, with Jamie Moyer sent to the bullpen. Zolecki further reports that Martinez will start the Phillies' Wednesday night game against the Chicago Cubs, with J.A. Happ going on Tuesday night, and Cliff Lee pitching Thursday.

A difficult move, but necessary, although I'm not too wild about going against the Braves without Cliff Lee. I guess there was no way to do that and keep him on something resembling normal rest.

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I feel bad for Jamie, who has always been the consummate pro, but this was a necessary move. Pedro deserves his shot, and if it turns out he doesn’t produce, we can always turn back to Jamie, or to one of the other options (Lopez, Kendrick, Carpenter, etc.).

Let’s hope Jamie responds to the challenge of being in the bullpen. If I’m a hitter, I wouldn’t want to face Moyer coming in in the middle innings, with his mix of 5 pitches and his junkballing mentality. Let’s hope he sees it that way.

by PhillyFriar on Aug 10, 2009 5:10 PM EDT reply actions

Lopez doesn’t need to come back twice in this past series he made a bad game with little chance a bad game with no chance.

I wasn't even a year old but I stayed up to be outside the Vet with my Dad and Mom when the Phillies won the World Series 1980.

by Christopher A on Aug 10, 2009 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Perspective aside, I feel little sympathy for an old man playing a kids game rather poorly making a ton of money and hopefully riding their coattail to another wfc when he is sent to the pen.

For Who? My teammates.

For What? To Win.

How Much? Where do I sign?

by jonk on Aug 10, 2009 10:20 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Pedro?

I hope he does well. His ERA isn’t much better than moyers, and that is in the minors!

I wasn't even a year old but I stayed up to be outside the Vet with my Dad and Mom when the Phillies won the World Series 1980.

by Christopher A on Aug 10, 2009 5:28 PM EDT reply actions

Talk about poor sample sizes… jeez.

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by JasonB on Aug 10, 2009 6:41 PM EDT up reply actions

Larger Sample Size

Last year with the Mets…Pedro’s ERA = 5.61 (much larger sample size)
This year with the Phillies…Jaime’s ERA = 5.47
Not much difference…

by JWoody on Aug 12, 2009 7:32 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m slightly annoyed that it will be a possibly tiring Happ starting twice this week, rather than Lee. But it should be fun to watch Pedro do his thing.

by dajafi on Aug 10, 2009 6:35 PM EDT reply actions

I don’t really see how the team had any other option. This seems like the most obvious move that could have been made.

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by JasonB on Aug 10, 2009 6:42 PM EDT reply actions

So...

Im back again and see Moyer is going to the bullpen.

Des that mean this weekends series will be:

Hamels vs. Jurrjens
Blanton vs. Kawakami
Happ vs. Vazquez

Yeah?

7/24/2009 - "The Phillies are too far ahead in the NL East for the Braves to make a run." - Buster Olney

REMEMBER THAT BOYS.

by Scott Coleman on Aug 10, 2009 6:54 PM EDT reply actions

I think it’s Blanton first, then Hamels, then Happ. Not 100 percent, but since Blanton went last Friday and Cole Saturday, it would make sense.

by dajafi on Aug 10, 2009 9:54 PM EDT up reply actions

Ya, they update it on MLB.com now. Blanton/Jurrjens on friday – advantage Jurrjens
Hamels/Kawakami – Adv. Hamels, but KK was nasty against the Dodgers last weekend for the 1st time in four starts or so.
Happ/Vazquez – Happ may have better W/L numbers, but Vazquez is the superior pitcher who would be in the Cy Young conversation if we would score some damn runs for him.

Should be a good series.

7/24/2009 - "The Phillies are too far ahead in the NL East for the Braves to make a run." - Buster Olney

REMEMBER THAT BOYS.

by Scott Coleman on Aug 10, 2009 10:10 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Not necessarily how it will be

With the two off days this week, the pitching rotation can be flipped to keep KK out of the series entirely. For example:

JJ vs. Blanton
Vazquez vs. Hamels
Hanson vs. Happ

Doing it this way gives JJ and Vasquez 6 days of rest, Hanson 5, and punts KK to start the makeup game against Arizona (and rest his supposedly ailing shoulder). Not saying it will happen this way, but this is how I’d like to see it.

by fphjr01 on Aug 11, 2009 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions

The High Cheese has it like this.

Tues – at CHC – J.A. Happ
Wed – at CHC – Pedro Martinez
Thur – at CHC – Cliff Lee
Fri – at ATL – Joe Blanton
Sat – at ATL – Cole Hamels
Sun – at ATL – J.A. Happ
Mon – OFF – None
Tue – ARI – Pedro Martinez

by Phreak on Aug 10, 2009 10:11 PM EDT reply actions

This is the right move at the moment for this team. It just seems to me that whenever Moyer goes out there and pitch, that you knew something wasn’t going to go well that night. Though he was a huge help for us last year, this year he was just not doing it in the starting rotation. I think that Pedro will be a improvement over Moyer because he will be able to put a batter away with 2 strikes. This is something that Moyer couldn’t do at all this year. It was tough, but at the same time, I hope this propels the Phils back to what they were in July.

by phillyphan9208 on Aug 11, 2009 12:44 AM EDT reply actions

bad move

So what they did was trade a 5 or 6 inning pitcher for a three inning pitcher. Pedro never established a good game in the minors, even. “Ooh – 11 strikeouts!” Well, that was against Double-A hitters who are IN double-A precisely because they can’t hit a breaking ball.

Pedro should have been our second long-relief guy, for when Cole blows up every other start. We just sat down our only double-figure wins starter, for a guy who can’t go 7 in the minor leagues… Brilliant! This is about as smart as that dumbass move to let Chan Ho be a starter, and keep Happ in the pen. Can you imagine what our lead would be if JA had started from April on?

Jamie will be back in the rotation by September.

by SJDinAudubon on Aug 11, 2009 2:20 AM EDT reply actions

our only double-figure wins starter

Has Kyle Kendrick taught us nothing?

by FredEx on Aug 11, 2009 2:49 AM EDT up reply actions

Yea, I am with you. This is a bad move. The whole Pedro thing makes me very uneasy. I see his start against the Cubbies on Wednesday (which is nationally televised on ESPN for Wednesday Night Baseball) going really badly.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if Pedro sucks, gets tattooed and Jaimie Moyer comes in to relieve him?

Either way, the Phils need some effing wins. This skid is badly timed.

by Mitchell Green on Aug 11, 2009 9:34 AM EDT up reply actions

only double-figure wins starter

ERA is more demonstrative of a pitchers effectiveness, and old man moyer’s is well above 5… meaning, all of his wins were when the bats were alive and well, and scoring 6 or more to help jaime obtain double digit wins… w/l should never be the mark of a great pitcher, ERA and WHIP are the two stats i look at to determine how well a pitcher is throwing…

by PHIGHTINPHILS on Aug 11, 2009 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions

The earned run average hides the distribution

The average hides the distribution. Look at his earned runs for his last 10 starts:
2 6 0 4 0 6 1 4 1 6
even numbered starts: 2 0 0 1 1 (pretty impressive)
odd numbered starts: 6 4 6 4 6 (pretty bad)
Not all of his wins were when the bats were scoring 6 or more, but going back quite a ways, he has been following a quality start with a bad one. But then coming back with a quality start. Frustrating…

Kendrick is not a good analogy. He only had one pitch. So long as no one knows your stuff, it works, but as soon as they get to know you, it doesn’t work anymore.

by JWoody on Aug 11, 2009 3:25 PM EDT up reply actions