Matt Moore, Los Angeles Angels
In the first go-around with the team back in 2021, Matt Moore certainly wasn’t at his best, making his Phillies’ tenure quite the forgettable experience for both himself and the team. Signed to a one-year contract during the 2020-21 offseason, Moore was expected to help fill the vacancy in the starting rotation left by Jake Arrieta. However, after a couple bad outings to start the 2021 season, along with enduring a couple of injuries along the way, Moore was moved interchangeably between starting and relieving for much of the season. Unfortunately he did not have much success in either role.
Moore would end up posting one of his worst career numbers with the Phillies, with a miserable record of 3-8, 6.79 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, giving up 77 earned runs including 19 home runs, 41 walks and 86 strikeouts over 102 innings pitched. Let’s just say, there was no reason for the Phillies to even think about resigning Moore at the end of the 2021 season.
However, since his departure, Moore has totally reinvented himself as a full-time reliever the past two seasons (including this year). Last year with the Texas Rangers, he sported a 5-2 record with a tidy 1.95 ERA, 205 ERA+, 1.18 WHIP with 83 strikeouts in 74 innings pitched. This year with the Los Angeles Angels, he has been practically unhittable, tallying a 3-1 record, 1.44 ERA, 310 ERA+, 0.80 WHIP, giving up only four earned runs all year, with seven walks and 21 strikeouts over 25 innings of work prior to this past Saturday. Unfortunately, an oblique injury in late May has interrupted his stellar season, but he has just been reinstated from the IL and is back now with the team following the All-Star break, just in time for the trade deadline.
With the way he has been performing so dominantly this past two years, the Phillies should definitely take a look at Moore, especially now that the Angels have fallen quite a bit behind in the playoff race, they are more likely to be sellers in the coming weeks.