Starting Pitcher Kevin Millwood #25
37 years old; Experience: 15 years
Kevin Millwood has been around a block quite a bit. Usually most baseball players who are 37 have been around the block quite a bit. And although the true story of old people pitching maybe Jamie Moyer making the Colorado Rockies rotation - let us not look past Kevin Millwood. He is as old as they come in baseball. That is one of the true beauties of the sport. In basketball if you are 37 years old you would be relegated to bench duty or playing for the Miami Heat for a Cuban sandwich a day. If you are 37 years old and playing football you'd have three straight neck surgeries and then sign a deal for $90 million with one dollar guaranteed. If you are 37 years old and playing soccer you'd be playing in the MLS. In baseball though, you still get to pitch, or hit, or just sit on the bench and chew tobacco.
Millwood was brought in with very low expectations on a cheap contract made especially for veterans that don't have a lot of options left. In that sense, Millwood is the perfect fit as the Mariners can obviously use all the help they can get in the rotation. I've already gone into detail the dreadful drop off between Felix Hernandez and Jason Vargas, but with Millwood at the tail end of the rotation usually it will be the exact opposite. We get to go from Millwood TO King Felix.
He has had some very good seasons, although most of those seasons are now behind him. Until then, Millwood will be holding the final spot in the rotation until one of the big three are promoted from the Jacksonville Generals or until someone else proves they are worth it to stand on the rubber. Or until he gets injured. The likelihood of getting injured doesn't seem to be that good as Millwood has been a workhorse if anything throughout his career. Then again, he is also 37 years old. Kevin Millwood is the heart of this team though, in the sense that only teams in rebuilding modes ever have a need for a pitcher like Millwood. He'll be in the clubhouse to provide some good attitudes, maybe play some good jams at warm ups and be around to throw shaving cream pies in the faces of players when they do things like Chone Figgins hitting for the cycle. In other words, a 37 year old playing the sport of baseball.