Phillies too stupid for words
FOX Sports - MLB - Myers goes to bullpen, Lieber to start
Manager Charlie Manuel said Wednesday the Phillies will move Brett Myers into the bullpen, while inserting Jon Lieber into the starting rotation.
I agree pretty much with what Rotoworld wrote:
Incredible. This is perhaps the biggest overreaction to a lousy start that we've ever witnessed. Myers earned the Opening Day start for the Phillies after back-to-back fine seasons and had a great spring. He was coming off back-to-back poor starts, but he had struck out 19 in 15 1/3 innings. Short of turning Ryan Howard into a shortstop and benching Jimmy Rollins, we can't think of anything else the Phillies could have done to better sabotage their chances for this year.
The only disagreement I really have with this analysis is that I would probably use words that are more insulting. Not that I ever thought they would win, but if this is what passes for decision making among the Phillies brass right now then they don't deserve to win.
One of the biggest mistakes teams make early in the season is panicking because numbers are so easily distorted with this few games played. For example, just as Jimmy Rollins is not going to be leading the National League in home runs at the end of the season, Brett Myers is not going to give up more than a run an inning over the whole season. If this were June and his recent number were this bad but were minimized in season stats, the Phillies Brain Rust would pass this off as a bad stretch and leave him along or have him spend more time with the pitching coach. Instead, they panic and move their best pitcher to the bullpen where he'll pitch maybe two innings at time.
I don't bust this quote out much, since I like to keep it for special occasions, but I think this qualifies: "I've grown smarter stuff between my toes."