The Rangers have signed Matt Moore to a minor league deal, tweets Jeff Wilson. Moore is already in camp today.
Before making his MLB debut, Moore was often ranked alongside Mike Trout and Bryce Harper as a trio of generational talents that were about to join the big leagues. Unfortunately, Moore hasn’t delivered on that hype to the same degree as Trout and Harper.
The lefty got a cup of coffee with the Rays in 2011 as a 22-year-old and then seemed to be making good on his prospect status in 2012. He threw 177 1/3 innings in 31 starts with a 3.81 ERA, 23.1% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been as good since, with the 2.4 fWAR he put up that season still his career best.
After just ten innings in 2014, Moore had to undergo Tommy John surgery, which wiped out the rest of that season and much of the next. His first full season after the surgery, 2016, was a nice enough bounceback, as he threw 198 1/3 innings with an ERA of 4.08, 21.2% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate. Things trended the wrong way over the next couple of seasons, though, as Moore’s ERA was 5.52 and then 6.79 in 2017 and 2018. Knee surgery wiped out his 2019 after just ten innings.
In 2020, however, he was able to turn the ship around in Japan after signing with the SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball. He made 13 starts and logged 78 innings with an ERA of 2.65. He parlayed that into a $3MM deal to join the Phillies last year, but was unable to bring his success across the ocean. In 73 innings with the Phils last year, he put up an ERA of 6.29, along with subpar strikeout and walk rates of 18.9% and 11.4%.
Moore will surely hope to get another crack at a comeback in Texas. Despite the club’s wild spending spree this offseason, they still have question marks when it comes to the pitching staff. Jon Gray, who signed before the lockout, will surely be at the front of the rotation. They also signed veteran Martin Perez a couple of days ago to take another spot. Beyond that, the other names on the chart are younger arms with limited experience. Dane Dunning and Taylor Hearn should be in the mix for spots, along with other candidates like A.J. Alexy, Kolby Allard, Spencer Howard and Glenn Otto. As the club continues moving out of their recent rebuild, they will want to give opportunities to some of that group, as performance warrants. But if they should struggle to make the transition to the big leagues, a veteran like Moore could potentially step in and give the club some innings.
Didn’t learn their lesson the first time I guess lol
How the mighty have fallen. At least he ain’t matt harvey
Good. Bye.
There is something there. He had some decent moments last year. Remember he was surrounded by a terrible defense in a hitter’s park. I like taking a chance on him.
Harper with the “generational” MVP in 2021 with 151 hits and 84 RBI lol
And he missed 20 games. I would have given it to Soto.
He only missed games because he was hit in the face with a fastball. Soto was equally deserving IMO, but you can’t really go wrong with either.
@baseball classic not a Harper fan but war of almost 6, ops over 1.000, over 30 home runs and 40 doubles and a .300 average speaks for itself. This isint 1997, no one measures the value of a player on his RBI’s.
I couldn’t care less about WAR, it’s a meaningless stat with no concrete set of quantifiers. I also don’t pray at the altar of walks/obp like many people these days.
Yes, it’s a positive to get on base via a walk, but Harper is paid big $ to hit and drive in runs. 151 hits and 84 RBI is pretty putrid for a guy making $36 million.
Not saying Harper isn’t a quality player, just that his 2021 season wasn’t overly impressive
Bad take, casual.
I feel like Correa, Bryant, Freeman, Castellanos, etc. don’t realize a deal was signed and the season starts in 3 weeks.
They do. They probably have a few offers to choose from. It’s not easy.
No surprise that Boros is the agent for the majority of these players.
Brutally horrendous for the phils, nothing to do with the defense. Throws hittable slop. Harper brings everything to the park game in game out. Earning every dollar.
Harper lol stop. He’s good but he’s a clown and a goon. A clowngoon
Friend calling him names doesn’t dispute the facts. Harper has been worth every dollar, produces,plays hard,leads .
And good luck with that.
Matt Moore? Oh, pleeeze.
Jon never learns his lesson
More of same ole same ole from my rangers. Rush the rebuild, spend a half billion dollars on the infield, and penny pinch and scrap the bottom of the barrel on reclaimation pitching that we’ve already had, and deemed not worthy to keep around.
think you meant “Moore of the same”… boom!
Touche
Great Home Run derby pitcher – When your team is blowing out the other team you bring in matt moore to even the odds
“Wish we had him two years ago”
“We did”
“Four years ago, then”