Archive for Jamie Moyer

The Rockies designated Jamie Moyer for assignment this week, likely spelling the end of his short run in Colorado. A year removed from undergoing Tommy John surgery, Moyer showed some positive signs over his 10 starts with the Rockies, but the team was discouraged with the overall results and opted to head in a different direction.

While the designation for assignment doesn’t preclude the team from hanging onto the player, it seems unlikely that the end result here involves the 49-year old Moyer pitching for a Rockies’ minor league affiliate.

Whether he is viewed as more of a novelty than an asset — and at this point in his career it’s hard to view him as a significant contributor — Moyer will probably receive some interest throughout the league. He might not get to start many more games, but some team will take a low-risk flier on him in some capacity if he decides to keep pitching.

While getting cut by a 21-29 team currently 10.5 games out of first place might signal it’s time to hang up the cleats, Moyer may still have something left to offer whichever team brings him aboard.

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Bruce Chen recently told Tyler Kepner that, health permitting, he could see himself having a very lengthy career similar to Jamie Moyer’s. The man still loves everything about baseball and is fully aware of what defines his success.

Chen reasoned that, like Moyer, his success hinges on knowing how to pitch rather than velocity and pure stuff. Part of that knowledge calls for a hefty utilization of his offspeed pitches. Another part involves throwing his pitches from different arm angles at any given time, a lesson learned from Royals pitching coach Bob McClure. At 34 years old, Chen embodies the term ‘crafty lefty’ and embraces the classification. While Chen isn’t exactly putting the league on notice, he understands his limitations and has become quite the cost-effective starting pitcher.

While he’ll never achieve the potential many saw in his days as a prospect, Chen could certainly be a serviceable major league arm for years to come. But is he the next Jamie Moyer? Can he really keep batters off balance for another decade and a half?

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Paul Konerko is sitting at 381 home runs. The 35-year-old has averaged 32 homers per season in his last six, and he looks to be on pace for 30 to 35 more this year. Erring on the conservative side, let’s say he finishes with 30 dingers — 14 more than his current total. He would finish the 2011 season with 395 career home runs. He has two years remaining on his contract, and as long as he continues to hit like this, he should have no problem DH’ing for another few seasons after that.

Is it far-fetched to think that Konerko couldn’t average at least 21 homers from 2012 to 2016? Because with that average, he’d reach the 500-home-run milestone.

Along with achieving 3,000 hits, or winning 300 games as a pitcher, getting to 500 home runs — insert generic PED disclaimer here — tends to trigger automatic election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. But as Chris Cwik covered earlier this week, Konerko is obviously not a Hall-of-Fame player. Even if he joins the 500-home-run club, he’s unlikely to garner much HoF support, which is interesting because it would mean the milestone isn’t what it used to be.

With that idea, let’s discuss other players who might buck the milestone trend. These players would have achieved grand milestones almost under the radar, and would be considered longshots for the hall of fame despite their accomplishments.

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