I don’t think that you can just compare pitchers stats without taking into account their ages, their situations, and their stuff. Franklin is a 30-something pitcher without any plus pitches. He has benefited from Safeco more than anyone. Meche is a power pitcher, and has the tools to be a great pitcher. His injury was serious, and I think that it effected him a lot last year, and perhaps in the first half this year. Since he missed so much time, and his stamina was effected, you can kind of understand his problems.

There are two very promising things that I have seen with him lately. First, his correction of his mechanical/approach problem has paid huge dividends. The walks and the BAA are way way improved. The fact that he made such a dramatic rebound from a horrible first half suggests that the problem is fixed. The fact that it was not due to fatigue, arm problems, or unknown factors is good. The second thing that is really impressive is his stamina. In that last game, he was still throwing hard after 120 pitches (no comment on the fact that he was still in at all). He has been getting deeper into games, and he doesn’t seem to be loosing velocity late. This might suggest that Meche has turned the corner regarding his return to health. In 2003, he had the well-know post-allstar problems. But he was also much less effective late in games than he seems to be now. I don’t have stats on this, because I don’t know where to find data on the pre/post-allstar numbers broken down by innings. But that start against Boston was really impressive because he was still throwing 96 late in the game. Last year, he wasn’t doing that. Maybe it was just because he has not thrown that many innings this year (160 total). But it looks good.

I think that Meche could be playing up to his potential from before his injuries. If that is the case, this guy is no Ryan Franklin.

Or am I wrong? Is there any objective reason to think Moyer could be his 2003 self next year? Or is he, like Meche, an exploration into the unknown we will be financially forced to choose? Is he a high-risk lottery ticket? Or a safe bet … at age 42?

(And I don’t understand why readers like Joe and Stan McMurry continue to read the blog if they don’t like DMZ’s comments.)

And Meche has far more than one full year of MLB experience. I don’t know if you meant that he’d only spent one year on the team from Opening Day to the end, which would be true, if a strange standard.