Logging in after twenty-seven trips outside after 36 games of "fetch" with Tugger, I found my email inbox blowing up with messages from friends and family about the Phillies decision to move Brett Myers to the bullpen and Jon Lieber back into the rotation. A voicemail check produced a similar yield. Wow.
Photo credit: About.com
Will Lieber be more successful as a starter than as a reliever? Undoubtedly, and I know that's not saying much, but I expect he will at least be serviceable. Will Myers be successful as a reliever? I'm willing to bet that he will, you have to wonder how it will affect the rotation.
Myers is an interesting case. Mentally and emotionally, he is better suited to the bullpen than he is to the rotation as he experiences highs that are too high and lows that are too low. Plus, looking at the records of opposing batters, Myers has much greater success in his first 45 pitches than afterwards.
On the other hand, "stuff"-wise, there is no doubt Myers is better suited to the rotation since he has numerous pitches that he can throw for strikes with high velocity and movement. He's a horse too, capable of stringing together seasons of 200+ innings with regularity.
And there's the rub. When you have an above average pitcher, do you want 75 or so high-leverage innings out of him or 200 innings of more moderate leverage? At first, I came down in the camp of the latter, but after watching Myers pitch a good scoreless eighth inning tonight that allowed the Phillies to score a run in the top of the ninth to tie the game in Washington, I might be falling into the former camp.
In other words, I don't care at this point, I just want some wins.
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Update - 10:32 - Further proof that Cole Hamels really can do anything he wants: he drew a pinch-hit walk in the eleventh inning to turn the lineup over.
