“Hitters might be telling Swift time is running out.” So read the headline in the Rocky Mountain News this past Sunday. Is former Maine pitching star Billy Swift’s career coming to an immediate close? He doesn’t think so.

Sunday, as he took batting practice in Denver, we discussed his future. “My shoulder feels fine now . I’m throwing without pain. The trouble is, I think I’ve got some mustard on the ball and I look and it’s only 84 miles per hour.”

Swift used to throw in the low 90s and had one of the game’s best sinkers.

“The ball’s not moving now,” Swift says with a grimace. “If I can get the velocity up, I think there’ll be movement. That’s another problem pitching here in Denver. This altitude and the light air cuts down the friction on pitches and you just don’t get the same movement.”

Since coming off the DL, Swift’s numbers have been inconsistent and he has split time between the starting rotation and the bullpen, where he’s getiing little use. In seven games, six of which are starts, Swift is 0-5 with an ERA of 8.28. He has allowed 45 hits in 29 1/3 innings, with 14 walks and 15 strikeouts. Not good.

The problem, however, is going in a circle. Swift needs to pitch to increase his arm strength. The Rockies, out of postseason hopes, want to use their young starters to see what they’ve got. Amazingly, the Rockies do not have Swift on a throwing program, nor have they even measured his arm strength to see if it is improving.

“This is the last year of my deal and I think the Rockies have made a decision on me. We aren’t talking about another contract,” says Swift. “With my home in Phoenix and the Diamondbacks starting play next year, it would be a great place for me to be.”

Dicky Scott from Ellsworth is in the Phoenix front office and Swift knows the former Yankee manager, Buck Showalter, now the Arizona skipper. The issue with any club looking at Swift is arm strength. “I’ve got to get on a program to strengthen my arm and stay on it in the off season,” says Swift. He will hire a personal trainer for the winter.

With doubleheaders to be played by the Rockies this month, Swift expects to start again. Will his arm and velocity improve enough to put up decent numbers? Swift doesn’t know, but he does know the hitters will answer that question. His future is riding on those answers and those bats.