It’s one of those moments. Back when this site actually had a banner Mike Maroth was on it. Granted he was sitting in the dugout frustrated after getting shelled and taking a loss in what would be a season of 20 for the wrong reason but alas we once thought highly of the guy, well about as high as putting a guy on your banner cause he’s frustrated can be.

Mike Maroth said Tuesday that he’s planning to pitch in 2009. Maroth became famous in 2003 when at the age of 26 he became the first pitcher to lose 20 games since Brian Kingman in 1980.

While it could be said that Kingman suffered from bad luck finishing with an ERA a tenth of a point above the league average and A’s finishing 86-76 the same cannot be said for Maroth.

Maroth posted his 9-21 record for a Tigers team that lost an American League record 119 games. In addition Maroth’s ERA of 5.73 was nearly a run and a half worse then the league average of 4.30 during the 2003 season.

There were even some who claimed losing 20 games would make Maroth a good pitcher going forward.

That seemed to be true at first as Maroth rebounded to a decent 2004 campaign, going 11-13 with a 4.31 ERA and 108 strikeouts. 2004 also saw Maroth pitch a one-hit complete game shutout against the New York Yankees team in.

However in 2005 Maroth finished 14-14 with a 4.74 ERA, nearly half a run higher then the league average. In 2006 maroth started out strong but missed most of the season after surgery to remove bone chips in his left elbow. After being used as a reliever at the end of the year the team left him off the post season roster.

In 2007 Maroth went 5-2 for the Tigers despite a 5.06 ERA prior to a trade to St. Louis. While with the Cardinals Maroth did his usal job going 0-5 with a 10.66 ERA.

The Cardinals released Maroth that October but he later resurfaced in Kansas City where almost all former big league pitchers go to die. After all this is the same organization that has given chances to Hideo Nomo, Brett Tomko, Brandon Duckworth, Scott Elarton, Mark Redman, Joe Mays, Jose Lima, Darrell May, Paul Abbot, Jay Witasick and Brian Meadows. That list just dates back to the 2000 season and doesn’t even include guys who were mainly used in relief.

Maroth underwent shoulder surgery in May after being released from Triple-A.

“My arm feels really strong,” Maroth said. “I’ve already seen signs of a difference in how free my arm feels when I throw a ball.”

There is little doubt that Maroth will have to accept a minor league deal but should a team come along Maroth will surely find a way to help them and himself post a losing record.

For those intersted in having Mike host at a corporate function you can contact him via his website here.

And should Mike ever read this, it’s not that we don’t like you or think we could do better then a career record of 50-67 and a 5.05 ERA. Nope, it’s just that we don’t have much else to do on a cold November night except talk about former big leaguers who have made over $6.3 million dollars in their career inspite of their stats.