[quote name='Feeding the Abscess']For every Mike Mussina (his 2008 season was a fluke, I should add. His swinging strike rate was better than only Livan Hernandez's that season. His K/9 should have been at least 1 per 9 lower), there's an Ubaldo Jimenez, Tommy Hanson, Tim Lincecum, and Josh Beckett. If declining velocity were easily overcome for power pitchers, more pitchers would avoid declining performance. So yes, it's nearly an impossible problem, especially when you're down nearly 6 MPH from 2010, as Halladay is.[/QUOTE]
You realize that strikeouts aren't the only way to get an out right? Go look at Mussina's GB/FB ratio for that year. It was the highest for ground balls he ever had (seeing conflicting numbers for this...but it was at least 1.38). And his location was phenomenal, as his BB/9 was way down (1.4...a career low). I don't know any other way to describe that other than actually learning how to pitch. Your list of pitchers is unimpressive because it's filled with guys who are far too prideful to ever actually recognize that their ability has diminished, and they need to make adjustments (though for Lincecum...we'll see).
If Halladay wants the end of his career to be defined as a former badass who can't blow a ball by a hitter anymore, then yeah...he's going to struggle. But if he can embrace getting inside a hitter's head and watching him freeze on a mid 70s changeup, there's no reason he can't have success. It's up to him. Citing other pitchers who have refused to make the change proves nothing. I'm not saying it's easy...but the reason you don't see it more isn't because it's impossible. It's because most power pitchers are arrogant as hell. You act like there's not a proven history of pitchers throwing with less stuff. Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine have already been brought up as well. It just takes a bit of humility and a willingness to reinvent yourself.