Worst Myers decision since "Cat in the Hat"

SPORTING GOODS

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel is getting a lot of attention for challenging a reporter to a fight the other night, but the thing that should lose him his job is this action and statement:

"Now that the season has started and we started seeing what we had and kind of how our bullpen looks, we figure that Myers gives us a bigger arm at the back end of our bullpen,'' Manuel said. "We think Myers will, over the course of the year, get in 65-70 games, probably. As a starter, it would be 35."

For those not following the Phillies or fantasy baseball, Brett Myers was Phillies opening day starter, and was given a contract extension during the offseason after a very good year last year. The idea that 210 innings as a solid starter is somehow as or less valuable than 105 innings as a reliever is ludicrous.

Hardball Times agrees:

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.