So both Jon Lieber has been tearing it up in his new role as a starter - era 1.45 in last three starts, as opposed to 11.57 in the pen - and Bretty Myers has gone from a 9.29 era as a starter to a 1.08 in relief. With the Phillies pulling the "lets see if Gordon is hurt" routine to allow Myers to get comfortable closing without any risk, I think we need to start to wonder if this move was actually a good one.
While I'm confident that Myers wouldn't have spent the entire season giving up over a run an inning, when it comes to Lieber in relief I'm not so sure. Big Jon is only effective starting, but is proving that he is effective there.
Further, our relievers are awful, and Myers, with with his high Ks and bulldog mentality (and look) can fit right in back there. Also, it looks clear now, with Gordon going to philly to be "checked out" after not pitching last night, that he was meant to the closer when this move was made. If you remember back, this was actually something Charlie never denied outright.
Even waiting two weeks makes some sense, because we were able to get Garcia back, and not force the pressure onto Hamels being our #1 starter too early.
Now, if he could just learn how to fill out a scorecard ...
1 comment:
not to rain on your parade, but i think it's important to look at the way the whole staff is performing. yes, the starting pitching has been much better since the Myers-Lieber swap (starters ERA has gone from 5.98 to 4.18) but the bullpen as a whole has actually been worse (3.07 ERA before to 3.70 after). granted, this is not as significant a change as for the starters, but i don't think it merits Cholly being called a "genius." In the long run, do you honestly think we're better off with either Eaton or Garcia pitching 200 innings as opposed to Myers pitching 200 innings? our staff right now should be Myers, Hamels, Lieber, Moyer and Garcia, with Eaton getting traded for whatever reliever someone is willing to give us. i just don't think that our starting pitching is good/deep enough to overcome Myers being moved to the bullpen, even if he does light it up as a closer (which I actually think he will).
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