Red Sox Memories: The Jamie Moyer redux for the rotation

The Red Sox may have a Jamie Moyer duplicate in the rotation

The Red Sox expressed no burning desire to re-sign lefty Martín Pérez. They paid Pérez his $500K buy out and Pérez was available to the baseball world. There he languished until the Red Sox came around and Pérez was in the fold once again for $6 MM.

Pérez’s recent start against Houston was mesmerizing. Pitching and not throwing performance against a lineup that one would expect would paste Pérez’s offerings all over Minute Maid Park. The result may well be the most masterful performance by a starter all season.

I have never been one who relished a start by Pérez. His style is best defined as an “inning eater” or a “gamer.” Two terms attempting to put makeup on a pig and passing the swine off as a fashion model. There is nothing in Pérez’s ten seasons to say he is nothing more than a low rotation starter. You can do better or can you?

One of the worst of all Red Sox trades was made in 1996 when the Red Sox shipped another “inning eater” to the Seattle Mariners for Darren Bragg. Jamie Moyer was 7-1 for Boston but expendable. Moyer is best noted for his speed or the lack of it. He would toss his fastball in the low 80s MPH range. How do you survive with that?

Moyer was a pitching mixologist blending a curve, cutter, slider, and changeup. That mixture produced a 147-87 record for the M’s spread over 11 seasons. Twice Moyer topped 20 wins and at 43-years-old was shipped to the Phillies. Moyer collected 58 more wins pitching for Philadelphia and Colorado before retiring at 49.

Moyer was painful to watch and at times frustrating to hit against. But tossing slow pitches does have its liabilities as Moyer has been torched for 522 home runs – the all-time leader. The veteran didn’t really get on a roll until he went to Seattle and was well into his 30s. Can this be Pérez?

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Pérez is speed-wise Nolan Ryan compared to Moyer, but he also has the same assortment of pitches as Moyer. Both have respectable control and neither have swing and miss stuff although in today’s game there is an abundance of swing and miss.

With Pérez, I have the same reaction as I did with Moyer in why is this guy not hammered? The fact is they are but it lacks the start-to-start consistency that makes management look for a more viable alternative. Both can have that in-game meltdown that they magically survive and eventually your team wins. Much like knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

The trajectory of Pérez could possibly mirror that of Moyer. If that happens the Red Sox could have a pitcher starting where you do not expect a win but get one. They are both somewhat old school and confound the metrics – especially Moyer. Meanwhile, I can bathe in the glow of my initial ire over Pérez being resigned.

Pérez’s next start could be a pitching furball. A blend of line drives and needless walks. If that happens in the next game or during the season I will have to do a personal dope slape and remind myself of Moyer. I was thankful that the Red Sox dumped Moyer. Just how did that work out?