Major League Baseball

Moyer hurt but demotion does make sense

Published Aug. 13, 2009 1:33 a.m. ET

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For so long, the numbers that mattered were on Jamie Moyer's side.

Age be damned. Velocity be damned. The forty-something, stirrup-wearing left-hander knew how to make pitches, get outs and win ballgames better than pretty much anyone else in baseball.

He didn't look like a normal pitcher. He didn't act like a normal pitcher. He didn't perform like one, either, with 138 wins since 2000. That's more than Roy Oswalt, more than Mike Mussina, more than Greg Maddux, more than Roy Halladay.




But this decade is ending. And so, too, is Moyer's time as a starting pitcher in the big leagues.

The Phillies demoted him from their rotation Monday. Moyer, 46, was still upset about it on Tuesday. None of that should surprise you.

The team made the right baseball decision by sending Moyer to the bullpen in favor of Pedro Martinez. Moyer may lead the team with 10 wins, but he also had the highest ERA of any starter in the National League.

Phillies officials and scouts have turned in encouraging reports on Martinez. They need to see what the former Red Sox ace has left.

"People who have seen both of them," pitching coach Rich Dubee said, "feel that Pedro's ready to help us."

It's hard for a dispassionate observer to find fault with that reasoning.

This just in: When it comes to his own career, Jamie Moyer is not dispassionate.

On Tuesday afternoon, he said he felt like the Philadelphia front office "misled" him during contract negotiations last winter.

He said he signed a two-year, $13-million contract with assurances from club president David Montgomery and general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. that a move from the rotation to the bullpen "would not happen." Now that it has, Moyer feels "a little disheartened."

Moyer said this while sprawled out in Row 5, Seat 1 of a section immediately beside the visiting dugout at Wrigley Field. He made a three-minute statement to a ring of reporters but didn't take any questions.

Atypical player. Atypical press conference.

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