Phillies rotation decision

Remember this kid?

The Philadelphia Phillies are facing a dilemma that is the envy of every team in their division, too much starting pitching. The Phils pulled a trade deadline swap to grab last year's American league Cy Young award winner, Cliff Lee, without parting with any of their major league level young pitching.

In addition to Lee, last year's World Series hero, Cole Hammels, is firmly entrenched in the rotation along with former Oakland A, Joe Blanton. The other two spots in the rotation are somehow supposed to be divided amongst three men, unless the Phillies decide they are ready to go with a six man rotation, which is most unlikely.

The candidates are 46-year-old lefty Jamie Moyer. He leads the team in wins, but has a 5+ era. He was a vital cog in last year's run, but he couldn't hit 80 mph on the radar gun if his life depended on it. However, it is not like the other two candidates are exactly fireballers. At this stage in his career, the recently signed future Hall of Famer, Pedro Martinez, reminds one more of Rip Sewell than Nolan Ryan. It says here that Martinez will be able to bring his baffling bag of tricks to the major league level and be a very useful contributor for the Phils down the stretch. The final candidate is young rookie J.A. Happ. Unfortunately for Happ, Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. didn't bring in Pedro to be a middle reliever. Notably, Moyer makes approximately fifteen times the salary of Happ. The gritty Moyer is unlikely to be pleased with the idea of being shuffled off to the pen.

On the field Happ makes the least sense of the guys to be shuffled out of the rotation. Sure Pedro just struck out 11 AA guys in a rehab start, but they are in the minors for a reason. Moyer just got shelled to the tune of six runs in five innings his last time out, ratcheting up his era another notch. Happ, on the other hand, threw a complete-game, 127-pitch shutout, ten strikeout performance at the playoff contending Colorado Rockies. What is Phils manager Charlie Manuel going to do?

The good news for the Phils is no matter what happens with the rotation decision the National League East is almost un-losable. They can coast home. Stick a fork in'em, the Mets are done. The Braves were never for real. The Marlins may have an outside prayer at the Wild Card, but they are not going to sniff the division. Lucky for the Phils, 85 wins will probably be enough in the NL East, that means the Phils could stagger down the stretch go twenty-five up and thirty-two down in August and September and still win the title. The question then, will become about a four man rotation for the playoffs, one more starter will have to be squeezed out. Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel has some tough decision his counterparts around the league would love to have to face.