Yanks call up Dustin Moseley

The Yankees have called up pitcher Dustin Moseley to the majors for Friday's game. Who is Dustin Moseley?

Dustin Moseley was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds with the 34th pick of the 2000 MLB draft. His 1st pro season was 2001 with the Low-A Dayton Dragons. He went 10-8 with a 4.20 ERA and 108 K's in 25 starts and 148 IP. He had a 6.6 K/9 and a 2.6 BB/9. In '02, Mosley was promoted to the High-A Stockton Ports. He went 6-3 at Stockton with a 2.74 ERA and 80 K's in 14 starts (2 complete games) and 88.2 IP before being promoted to the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts. He didn't as well for Chattanooga, as he went 5-6 with a 4.13 ERA and 52 K's in 13 starts and 80.2 IP. Overall on the year, he went 11-9 with a 3.40 ERA and 132 K's in 27 starts and 169.1 IP. He posted a 7.0 K/9 and a 3.1 BB/9. Despite the letdown at Double-A, '02 was still an improvement for Moseley.

In '03, Moseley returned to Chattanooga. Once again, Moseley posted a 5-6 record, but this time with a 3.83 ERA and 73 K's in 18 starts and 112.2 IP. He was then promoted to the Triple-A Louisville Bats, and he showed a lot more improvement. He went 2-3 with a 2.70 ERA and 27 K's in 8 starts and 50 IP. Overall in '03, he posted just a 7-9 record, but a 3.49 ERA and 100 K's in 26 starts and 162.2 IP. He posted a 5.5 K/9 and a 2.3 BB/9. In '04, the Reds sent Moseley back to Chattanooga. It doesn't seem to make that much sense, but Moseley's K/9 went down from 5.8 to 4.9 between Double-A and Triple-A in '02, and his ERA went up from 2.2 to 2.5. That's the only explanation I can come up with. In '04 in Chattanooga, Moseley went 3-2 with a 2.66 ERA and 40 K's in 8 starts and 47.1 IP. His K/9 shot up to 7.6, and his BB/9 went down to 1.9. Then, he was promoted to Triple-A Louisville again. But this time, he didn't do nearly as well as he did there in '03. He had his worse stint in the minors to this point, going 2-4 with a 4.65 ERA and 48 K's in 12 starts and 71.2 IP. His K/9 was still a good 6.0, but his BB/9 went all the way up to 4.3. At that point, the Reds gave up on him. They traded him to the Angels for Russ Ortiz.

In '05, Moseley was assigned to the Angel's Triple-A franchise, the Salt Lake Stingers. He went 4-6 with a 5.03 ERA and 38 K's in 17 starts and 82.1 IP. His K/9 went down to 4.2 and his BB/9 was 3.3. It was obviously a disappointing season for him. In '06, Moseley returned to Salt Lake. He went 13-8 with a 4.69 ERA and 114 K's in 26 starts and 149.2 IP. His K/9 went back up to 6.9, in his BB/9 was 3.1. It wasn't a great season, but he definitely showed improvement. He actually made his major league debut on July 17th for the Angels, going 5 innings and giving up 4 runs on 10 hits while striking out 2 and walking none. It was a decent start, but it was an emergency start, and he was promptly sent right back down to the minors. He resurfaced in September, throwing 2 scoreless innings in relief on September 16th of that year. He didn't pitch again until October 1st, 2 weeks later, and he was very rusty when he started that day. He pitched 4 innings and gave up 7 runs on 10 hits that day, while striking out and walking 1.

In '07, Moseley finally spent his first full season in the majors. He went 4-3 with a 4.40 ERA and 50 K's in 8 starts, 38 relief appearances, and 92 IP. He posted a 4.9 K/9 and a 2.6 BB/9. It was a decent year. In '08, Moseley started the season in the Angels' rotation, but he went 1-3 with a 7.85 ERA in 6 starts and 1 relief appearance in April and early May, and was sent back down to the minors. He posted a 7-10 record and a 6.73 ERA in 21 minor league starts between High-A and Triple-A. He returned to the majors briefly in July, going 5.1 innings in a start and giving up 2 runs on 4 hits while striking out 4 and walking 1. Still, he was sent back down to the minors where he continued to struggle. He returned to the majors again in September, and after one bad start during which he gave up 4 runs in 1.1 IP, he went 1-0 with a 4.20 ERA and 12 K's in three 5-inning starts to end the year. Moseley started '09 in the Angels rotation, and went 1-0 with a 4.30 ERA and 8 K's in 3 starts and 14.2 IP before landing on the DL with tightness in his elbow. He then suffered a nerve injury while rehabbing in extended spring training. He missed the rest of the year.

After the year in December, the Angels didn't offer him a contract, and he became a free agent. The Yankees signed him to a minor league contract in February. Part of the contract was that Moseley could opt out of his contract if he wasn't called up by July 1st. In '10 with the Yankees' Triple-A franchise, the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees, Moseley went 4-4 with a 4.21 ERA and 55 K's in 12 starts and 72.2 IP. He posted a 6.8 K/9 and just a 2.2 BB/9. The Yankees thought that was good enough and have called him up to the majors for Friday's game with the Blue Jays. A corresponding roster move will designate either Chad Gaudin or Chan Ho Park for assignment. Moseley seems to be at least a decent player. I hope he succeeds as part of the Yankee bullpen.

What's the difference with Kazmir?

We all remember Scott Kazmir as that great Devil Rays pitcher on terrible teams. But now he's struggling with a 5.27 ERA. What's going on?

From 2005, his first full season, to 2008, Kazmir averaged 29 starts, a 11-8 record, 186 K's, and a 3.51 ERA per season. He was an all-star in '06 with the D-rays and '08 with the Rays. But, in '09, everything was different. In his first 20 starts, Kazmir went 8-7 with 91 K's, but with a bad 5.92 ERA. The Rays, seeing that something was off with him, traded him to the Angels for 2 prospects and a player to be named later. (That player to be named later turned out to be Sean Rodriguez, Tampa's current starting 2nd baseman.)

Kazmir responded in a big way after being traded to the Angels, going 2-2 with a 1.73 ERA in 6 starts. He appeared to have fixed whatever was wrong with him. But then, he exploded in the playoffs, going 0-0 with a 7.50 ERA in 1 start in the ALDS against Boston, and then going 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA in 1 start and 1 relief appearance against the Yankees in the ALCS. Kazmir has carried that bad stretch in the '09 playoffs into '10, as he has 6-5 with a 5.27 ERA and 42 K's. What has been the difference between the '05-'08 Kazmir and the '09-'10 Kazmir?

From '05-'08, Kazmir averaged 9.7 strikeouts, 4.1 walks, 8.1 hits, and 0.9 homers per 9 inning. From '08-'09, he has struck out just 6.9 batters, walked 4.0, allowed 9.1 hits, and allowed 1.1 homers per 9 innings. The strikeouts have gone way down, and the increases in hits and homers allowed per 9 innings just make matters worse. Kazmir has always been a strikeout pitcher, but he has gotten away from that now. That's clearly why he's doing worse.

To put it in perspective, let's compare his terrible '10 to his career stats. During his career, righty batters have hit .250 against Kazmir, while lefties have hit .233 against him. (If you don't already know, he's a lefty pitcher.) But in '10, things have been crazy. Righties have hit just .225 against Kazmir, but lefties have hit .420. Every lefty hitter has been Ted Williams against Kazmir! Kazmir is having a lot of trouble pitching to lefty hitters right now. He obviously needs to fix that somehow.

My final example: how Kazmir has fared against the Yankees and Red Sox. I remember Kazmir dominating both the Yanks and the Red Sox. While that's not completely accurate, he has posted a 3.34 ERA against the Yankees and a 3.94 ERA against the Red Sox. In '10, he has posted a 9.64 ERA against the Yankees, and a 14.54 ERA against the Red Sox. Kazmir is not the same pitcher that every Yankee and Red Sox fan used to hate.

Kazmir just isn't the same pitcher. He doesn't strike out that many batters anymore. Lefties dominate him. Even teams that he did well against in the past can hit him now. Something is wrong with Kazmir. He better fix this problem, or we'll always remember him as that great Devil Rays starter on those terrible teams who never did well once his teams became good.