Myers is an emotional guy

In a big-time profile on Brett Myers, Philly.com's Paul Hagen takes a look at former Phillie Brett Myers, and maybe how the Phillies should have kept him around:

He's the kind of low-risk, high-reward pitcher the Phillies said they were looking for going into the winter.

Myers, on facing the Phillies:
"And I'd like to stick it up their rear end. Just because, you know? It's just the competitive nature. It's my old team. And I want to beat 'em. I think every guy has incentive to beat his former team. It doesn't have anything to do really with the way they treated me or anything like that. They didn't treat me bad at all. It doesn't have anything to do with that. It just has to do with being competitive and trying to kick their rear end just for the sport of it and try to have fun with it."

Of course that wasn't taken the way Myers meant it, but it'll be nice to have some fire on the mound - Roy goes about his business like he's writing parking tickets, and Wandy showed a little bit of emotion for the first time last year. Not that these are bad things.

Ed Wade:
"I think I know just about everything about Brett, plus and minus. I understand the moving parts. But I do think that when you break down his skill set, which is what our pro scouts did, that there's still a lot left in the tank. That's tough to walk past because I think the other issues or distractions or whatever you want to call them that existed in the past are in the past.

"No matter what way anybody wants to look at it, my personal knowledge of Brett and what he's all about certainly was a factor in our decision. I'm familiar with some of the things that people might view as negatives that went on in Philadelphia when Brett was over there. But I balance that against the fact that he's a couple years older at this time and hopefully we all learn from our mistakes and we all mature and I didn't see any compelling reason not to move forward.

"I look at this as an opportunity for Brett to come in here highly motivated to show people that he's capable of being a mid- to top-of-the-rotation starter. He still has top-of-the-rotation stuff as far as we're concerned. His fastball velocity is not what it was 2 or 3 years ago, but our guys still feel that the tool kit that he brings - his breaking ball and his changeup - are very solid. So we'll run him out there and give him a chance."

Low-risk/high-reward is a perfect way to sum up Brett Myers. He'll provide a bridge for another year of development out of Norris, Bazardo, and maybe Paulino. And if he works out like Wade expects, he'll come back for $8m in 2011. And by the time 2011 is over, we very well could be looking at the Lexington Four making a push for the rotation. If it doesn't work out, it "only" costs $5m.