Previously inert Phillies are now patching holes. They hope.

Have the Philadelphia Phillies begun grasping at straws with the signing of Matt Moore? As noted previously, the Philadelphia hometown nine need better starters than they trotted out in the limited season last summer. So, one of their solutions is the signing of Moore, a promising pitcher 10 years ago, for $3 million in 2021.

This could be entirely off the mark, but one of the things that should be hated about the signing of Moore by the Phillies is new GM Sam Fuld’s recent remark to the press about his original impression of Moore in 2011: “He just stepped right in and was arguably like the best pitcher on the planet.”

The Phillies are now rummaging around in the bargain bin of players.

I hate when that happens, as the aging cliché goes.

Sam, really? This is Philadelphia. Things were rosy here in 2011, and you have now actually said Matt Moore was one of the best pitchers on the planet (however briefly) the same year Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee were 19-6 and 17-8, respectively, for the Phillies, both with ERAs at 2.40 or lower, and with WHIPS under 1.041.

Yeah, yeah, we get it – merely an impression based on a few games.

This is the part of the Phillies story that involves Sam and Dave taking over. Dave is new team president Dave Dombrowski, who is now specializing in mushy statements about wanting “individuals who can compete for our spots” after his big signings of an All-Star catcher and very good shortstop.

And everybody in the Phillies fan base hopes, of course, that Moore, who has battled to post unimpressive figures for his 54-56 MLB career, has returned from competition in Japan rejuvenated. A few have. Last season he posted a 2.65 ERA in 85 innings for Fukuoka of the JPL. Is that significant?

This may sound nasty, but Sam and Dave are not fooling anybody about what’s going on. The Phillies continue to work on their second interpretation of the phrase “value at the margins.”

They can’t now spend for the likes of Trevor Bauer, so Phillies fans get Matt Moore, assuming he makes it out of Spring Training.

Moore may have the questionable distinction of being of the few left-handers to start for the Phillies since Cole Hamels left the team. Interestingly, Hamels is still available, and who can say that working value at the margins wouldn’t involve signing a fan favorite who pitched in exactly one game last year?