The Triangle

Issue date: 8/28/09 Section: Ed-Op

Media Credit: David Pokress News Day/MCT Campus

Amen, brother. First, the dissing of Jamie Moyer, whose elder statesman image the Phillies were happy to exploit while it served their turn; then the hiring of Michael Vick, who'd better not stray onto Animal Farm anytime soon, by the Eagles.

First, Moyer. The Phillies needed pitching help, and still do (can you spell c-l-o-s-e-r?). But their starting rotation was set with the addition of Cliff Lee, which rendered the mid-July signing of Pedro Martinez superfluous. It meant an odd man out, and that man, as the front office decided with the media cheerleading for it, was Moyer. First, he was relegated to the unofficial position of fifth starter, making him the man nearest the chopping block. It's true that Moyer's ERA was the highest of anyone in the rotation. But it had been steadily improving since early in the year, and Moyer's overall stats were not appreciably different from those of Cole Hamels.

Moyer would be, at the time of his banishment to the bullpen, the staff's winningest pitcher. He won the most regular season games on last year's championship team. In the three years between his arrival in August 2006 and the moment of his demotion, he won more games than anyone else on the club, 45 against 30 defeats, an average mark of 15-10 per season. Fifth starter? Maybe on the 1927 Yankees.

Meanwhile, Pedro Martinez had won all of eight games over his last two seasons with the New York Mets, who no longer wanted him - nor did 28 other major league clubs. During the same period, Moyer was going 40-28. So, in replacing Moyer in the rotation with Martinez, Phil Sheridan wrote in The Inquirer, "The Phillies are giving themselves the best chance to win." Come again?

Moyer's last start for the Phillies (5+ innings, 2 earned runs) was actually more effective than Martinez's first one (5 innings, 3 earned runs). Moyer was held to have pitched himself out of the rotation. Martinez's mediocre performance was hailed as the second coming of Christy Mathewson.

If Moyer's story were not so extraordinary - given up for dead nearly two decades ago, he is the tenth winningest left-handed pitcher in baseball history - and if the Phillies had not made so much of his good works in the community, his mentoring of young pitchers, and the professionalism with which he carried himself both on the field and off, their shabby treatment of him would not be such a disgrace. Of course, no one has a constitutional entitlement to a rotation spot, and all good things must come to an end. But it's more than a little suspicious that Moyer was dropped just at the point (his 23rd start) where the first of his performance bonuses would have kicked in. Just another front office way of saying thank you.

The Moyer story was quickly run off the sports pages - and front pages throughout the country - by the hiring of Michael Vick. As with Pedro Martinez, this was a high-profile, low-cost signing with no apparent club value. Vick cannot play until October until the earliest, and he is pegged as a third-string quarterback behind Kevin Kolb. The best part of his game is, or has been, running ability. But he is not a running back, which is what the Eagles need. What he will be is an unwelcome diversion as the team begins its annual fruitless quest for a Superbowl title. It has long been apparent that Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb are only the champion also-rans of their generation. But the equation has changed now. It is not only that the current Eagles will never win a Super Bowl; it is that they do not deserve to.



Robert Zaller is a professor of history. He can be reached at op-ed@thetriangle.org.

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