What's with Jamie Moyer?

With the arrival of Pedro Martinez tonight, Jamie Moyer is the odd man out in the Phillies rotation and is being sent to the bullpen.

He is not happy about it.

Per David Murphy at the Philadelphia Daily News, this is what Moyer had to say about it:

"I'm just going to tell you that, you know what, I'm not really happy with the decision that the Phillies have made. I really felt that Ruben (Phillies GM) kind of parlayed to me that this type of situation would not happen. I actually even had some conversation with David Montgomery and them reassuring me this type of situation won't happen."

"I feel a little bit like I've been misled. I feel like I've played this game long enough that the respect factor should be there."

Ok. Let's break this down, shall we? Moyer has a 5.47 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP which are frankly terrible numbers and probably unacceptable for any major league team not named the Pirates.

Here are the ERA's of the Phillies starting five:

Hamels - 4.77 (High but he's not going anywhere)
Lee - 2.95 (2008 A.L. Cy Young winner)
Blanton - 4.02
Happ - 2.75
Pedro Martinez - Hall-of-famer arrives today and will not be blocked by a 5.47 ERA.

Ok, so who among the above five pitchers is Moyer better than right now? Yep, nobody and it ain't even close and you don't expand to a 6 man rotation to accommodate a 5.47 ERA.

I am going to assume that Ruben Amaro is a competent GM and did not promise a spot in the Phillies rotation, let alone a roster spot, to a 46 year old pitcher. Frankly if he did, the Phillies need a new GM so I am going to have to give Amaro the benefit of the doubt on this one.

So why, other than this alleged promise of a fixed rotation spot, does Moyer think he belongs there?

I am all ears.

Waiting.