After watching Moyer last night, I started wondering how long he can pitch. At the speed he's throwing, it's doubtful he'll run into arm trouble, and how much more velocity can he actually lose? I'd be happy throwing him $4-5 million a year indefinitely to be your #5. I suppose the only thing that may stop him is a desire to move back to Seattle as the kids get older.

"What's that shit on your chest?"

"Crisco? Bardol? Vagisil. Any one of them will give you another two to three inches drop on your curve ball. Of course if the umps are watching me real close I'll rub a little jalapeno up my nose, get it runnin', and if I need to load the ball up I just... wipe my nose."

"You put snot on the ball?"

"I haven't got an arm like you, kid. I have to put anything on it I can find. Someday you will too."

That's awesome...except for the fact that Moyer morphed into Placido Polanco during his old age

I expect Rube to offer him 4/45 this offseason.

Franco retired

As good as he's looked in recent starts, I think this is his last year. I think he'll end up with numbers pretty comparable to last year, maybe a lower ERA, but in the 4's, not the 3's, and he'll decide he wants to be the kind of guy who quits maybe a year early rather than a year late.

Hopefully, he'll still have a role with the organization, because I really think he can teach. Maybe he can succeed the late Johnny Podres as the Phillies guru of the change-up.

BuddyGroom wrote:As good as he's looked in recent starts, I think this is his last year. I think he'll end up with numbers pretty comparable to last year, maybe a lower ERA, but in the 4's, not the 3's, and he'll decide he wants to be the kind of guy who quits maybe a year early rather than a year late.

Hopefully, he'll still have a role with the organization, because I really think he can teach. Maybe he can succeed the late Johnny Podres as the Phillies guru of the change-up.

Well put. I'd also expect, and hope, things play out this way.

Are you forgetting the three wins he posted for the Moon Colony club during his famous comeback in 2036? The gravity control in the Lunar Dome is well documneted to within 3% of the standard terra-grav spec, although I admit some fuctuations may have occurred at opportune times, such as when "Grandpa" Howard came up in the 9th with the bases loaded. He whacked that ball but Greg "Papa Smooth" Golson had no trouble getting under it 10 feet in front of the CF fence. Now those were road trips!

swishnicholson wrote:

BuddyGroom wrote:As good as he's looked in recent starts, I think this is his last year. I think he'll end up with numbers pretty comparable to last year, maybe a lower ERA, but in the 4's, not the 3's, and he'll decide he wants to be the kind of guy who quits maybe a year early rather than a year late.

Hopefully, he'll still have a role with the organization, because I really think he can teach. Maybe he can succeed the late Johnny Podres as the Phillies guru of the change-up.

Well put. I'd also expect, and hope, things play out this way.

Moyer's WHIP is 1.5 something or other, and has gone up every year for the last several years. Any minute now, sadly, he'll turn into a pumpkin. I think he can get away with what he's doing the first time teams see him, but when the second, third, and fourht come around --- look out especially for all those division games --- I can't believe teams will do much swinging out of the strike zone against him, which he desperately needs to have happen.

And much as I'd like to see Moyer stay on with the Phillies, he still hasn't moved from the Seattle area. He's got kids in school. The family he's created with his wife has all its roots, friends, etc. in Seattle. I'm just sayin'.

Still, it's a joy to watch him for as long as this lasts.

I think his family is staying in the Seattle area - I think he made that clear when the Phillies traded for him. But that wouldn't preclude him from continuing to work for the Phillies. (Could make it less likely, though, especially if the Mariners wanted to hire him for a similar job.)

As for your other point, I think all pitchers run the risk of being "figured out" but I think what has helped Moyer is that he is so different from about 90% of the other pitchers out there. I think if a team were somehow to face him and Tom Glavine on back-to-back nights, the guy going second would be in some trouble.

Personally, I worry all the time about Cole Hamels over-exposing his change-up, but he keeps getting good hitters to swing and miss on it, sometimes for strike two and three. I guess in sports, some things that work will always work as long as they are done exceptionally well.

The man has 7 kids, he needs to keep working... and baseball takes him out of a home with 7 kids for 1/2 the year! (parents understand the tung and cheek humor here)

I wonder where Moyer and Glavine's career paths diverted? When the Phillies acquired Moyer I think there were few who would guess he would end up being the more effective pitcher in comparison to the great Tom Glavine! (and his newly found talent of pitching inside) I mean we are talkin about Tom Glavine here.

phuturephillies wrote:I expect Rube to offer him 4/45 this offseason.

The last option