Pedro Martinez is going to be activated before Wednesday’s game against the Cubs, and Jamie Moyer is going to the bullpen. It’s a move that makes sense in that if anyone was going to lose their job in the rotation it had to be Moyer, who’s getting abused lately and currently has a 5.47 ERA.
I know everyone is going to be watching Pedro, but I’m actually more curious as to how Manuel is going to deploy Moyer. The impulse -- because he’s a veteran with a year left on his contract and no one wants to put him out to pasture yet -- would be to use him as a lefty specialist or some other semi-prominent role. If so, Manuel should avoid this impulse given that, over his career, lefties have actually hit Moyer better than righties (.765 OPS vs. .742 OPS), even though that’s not the case in 2009.
What I’d really like to see is Moyer used as an old-timey swingman, they type of which we just don’t see much anymore in this age of bullpen specialists. Lots of mopup. Lots of use as a longman. A spot start here or there if a particular matchup makes sense or if the Phillies build a bit more of a division lead. If they do that right -- and if Moyer doesn’t simply implode in his new role -- Philadelphia could maybe reduce the number of guys in the pen and do some things with its bench that other teams can’t do such as have a pure speed guy hanging around or something.
We’ll see if that happens. And we’ll see Wednesday if Pedro has anything left in the tank.