Phillies: Matt Moore to the 'pen shouldn't necessarily be viewed as a failure

The Philadelphia Phillies decision to invest $3 million dollars into Matt Moore this past offseason was a gamble, I don’t think anyone is really going to argue against that notion. Moore had been away from Major League Baseball for quite some time, and the last time he even looked serviceable on the mound was way back in 2016.

With that said, Dave Dombrowski had earned himself the benefit of the doubt, and there were definitely a few things to like about Moore on the surface.

He’s a lefty, he’s pitched at a high level before, he signed for rather cheap, and he has a relationship with both Dombrowski and Joe Girardi from their time in the American League together.

Most importantly, Moore also logged a healthy number of innings pitched in 2020 overseas in Japan. One of the big concerns around forking money over to starting pitchers this past offseason was in regards to health/stamina. Most of the starters around baseball didn’t throw enough pitches this past season due to COVID-19, leaving them somewhat exposed to injury here in 2021.

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There’s already been a few veteran starters who have fallen victim to injuries in the month of April alone. I expect more to follow later in the season as well.

With all of that said, Moore’s return to the MLB was obviously not a triumphant one. He got absolutely rocked in his first two starts, and then ended up on the COVID-related injured list for a few weeks. His most recent start came on April 17th, a game where he lasted just 2.2 innings and allowed six total runs to cross the plate.

There’s still hope for Phillies LHP Matt Moore as a bullpen arm.

During Moore’s absence, Vince Velasquez saw himself shuttled back into the Phillies starting rotation, and thus far, he’s wildly outperformed the likes of Moore. Even with Moore now back and fully healthy, it looks like Joe Girardi is in no rush to rename him one of the team’s five starting pitchers.

So, Moore was used out of the bullpen during last night’s win over the Milwaukee Brewers, and quite frankly put in a rather productive one inning of work. He threw 13 pitches (8 for strikes), striking out one batter and walking one, ultimately escaping the inning with a rather stress-free scoreless “hold.”

While the idea of Moore – who was supposed to be the team’s fourth starter this season – being reserved to a bullpen role might look like a failure on face value, I don’t believe that should necessarily be the case. Not only does this team desperately need left-handed pitching out of their ‘pen at the moment, but they also desperately need a “long-man” who they can rely on to pitch 2-3 innings once in awhile, the type of role that we always hoped Velasquez could assume.

In Moore, there’s a chance that he could thrive in such a role. He obviously has experience pitching multiple innings at a time, and there’s a definitive value in having someone on the roster who can come in and “mop up” ballgames should a starter be forced to leave early due to injury, performance, etc.

Next. Philadelphia Phillies: JoJo Romero might need some extra AAA work. dark

Are the Phillies regretting their decision to sign Moore this past offseason? Yes, probably. However, there’s no reason to completely bail on the move quite yet. If Moore commits to being an above average length option out of the bullpen moving forward, that’s still a valuable type of player to have on the roster.

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Phillies: Matt Moore to the ‘pen shouldn’t necessarily be viewed as a failure

By David Esser | May 7, 2021

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There’s still hope for Phillies LHP Matt Moore as a bullpen arm.