The Jamie Moyer Experiment has all but officially come to an end as he was DFA’d today. Moyer told the Denver Post:
It’s a tough pill to swallow, but it’s part of the business…It’s all about putting up results.
Moyer was very impressive in Spring Training, winning his spot based on his performance more than the novelty of potentially having the oldest pitcher in MLB history. He also didn’t pitch too bad to begin the season, his best game also being the one that broke the MLB record on April 17th against the San Diego Padres. In that performance he put in seven strong innings, giving up 0 earned runs over six hits.
His ERA after his next outing was a respectable 2.28, but quickly climbed to 5.70 after his next six starts. He never made it past six innings after his historic win and was more known for being very hittable the 2nd and 3rd time through a lineup.
A tweet by the MLB reporter Thomas Harding quoted Jim Tracy as saying:
Jamie Moyer could no longer get enough change of speed to fool hitters and he was “compromised”
The call to DFA him was a difficult one according to Jim Tracy:
I just felt like that by sending him out there, we were compromising him and the team…It’s difficult, because he’s as professional as any player I’ve ever been around…But we felt like this is something we had to do.
Sadly, the last time Moyer was prominent in the news was for the grand slam he gave up to Giancarlo Stanton that broke the Marlins brand new scoreboard.
But he should, and will, be remembered more for his amazing body of work. He earned a spot on the team and it seemed like he would be a valuable member of the rotation, but sadly couldn’t keep the level of pitching up to what was needed.
The team will recall Carlos Torres, a reliever currently in Colorado Springs. There is no decision yet on who will start in place of Moyer against the Dodgers on Friday.
Trying not to degrade him, but I’m glad Jamie Moyer has been DFA’ed today. At least the Rox finally woke up and smelled the coffee realizing that it’s all about winning, not feel-good story.
I recall a RWO poster who quoted a scout at spring training that Moyer would only be able to get guys out twice through the order, then he’d be lit up.
That was 100% on target, as we all saw in JM’s recent starts (another example of why this site is so valuable to serious fans).
JM has class; I’m glad he set records for the oldest win and RBI. But the time has come.
Good luck Jamie.
Nothing but class, on and off the field.
We, and our children, should be so lucky to live a baseball life to the fullest as he has.
Hopefully a whole lot of his personality and experience on the bump will rub off on our young pitchers.
Good luck to Jamie and his family as this tough transition begins.
Amen!
VERY well said Ed…i wish him all the luck in the world and am very happy that his oldest pitcher MLB record in the books will have the Rockies next to team he pitched for…any time we can get our team name in the record books is a good day and to have it linked to such a historic figure as Jamie makes it even better…
ditto….
Bring him back next year to win one when he’s 50! (But this time wait till we’re 12 games back before signing him)
Update: Josh Outman will start Friday in place of Moyer…
I think Outman is far better suited for the bullpen given the struggles he’s had against righties. But with Kemp out there’s not a whole lot of righties to fear in that Dodgers lineup. Still, I would’ve gone with Moscoso again. Let’s hope I’m wrong.
Wasn’t Octavino a starter for the Cards? He has been very solid out of the pen but has been pitching everyday so arm strenght is there.Obviously he can’t go Friday but I’d like to see him in a spot start sometime this summer.
I agree – i really like Ottavino a lot and think he would do really well as a starter…Whoever it is they need to come in and settle down the rotation and go 7+ innings consistently…
I think they see Belisle in Ottavino. Belisle was also a top draft pick as a starter, wasn’t he? I do like Ottavino and wouldnt mind seeing him start.
I was able to meet Jamie at spring training this year and he was a total class act. Sad to see him go but it’s necessary. Glad I was able to see him break the record in person. I’ll always remember that…”D”
That’s good to hear he is so cool in person. It seems to me that every time he was on TV being interviewed he seemed just a little bit annoyed with the person. I assume it was because everybody kept asking about his age, or maybe he just hates reporters, but I’m glad that he isn’t like that with the fans.
His wife seems very cool, and he does a lot of good work in the community, so he seemed to me to be very cool. Thanks for the confirmation.
Jamie Moyer might make a fine pitching coach.
That is a great thought, and one that I think the team probably had in mind when bringing him on originally (or at least with the current pitchers while he pitched), but I think that he isn’t done pitching quite yet. Or at least he wants to try and pitch longer. The rumor is he is looking at possibly San Diego, but that might just be twitter rumors made up by people that don’t know
It had to happen, stinks! Still a horrible rotation, did not fix anything.