However, things are starting to look up for the 5-11, 245 pounder. Injuries to Curt Schilling and Clay Buchholz have opened up an opportunity for Colon, and the early returns for the Red Sox are promising: in 14 innings pitched at AAA Pawtucket, Colon posted a 0.64 ERA, walking just one and whiffing 11 batters while showing solid velocity.

Facing the Kansas City Royals in his first major league start of the season, Colon went five innings, allowing 6 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out four and walking 2 men. Colon picked up the win for the Sox, throwing 74 pitches as he continues to build arm strength.

Although the Royals are not exactly an offensive juggernaut (KC ranks last in the AL with 169 runs scored), Colon’s first start has to be considered a success. So, what sort of stuff did Bartolo display against the Royals? To find out, let’s take a look at his pitch F/X data from yesterday’s start.

The chart on the right shows the vertical and horizontal movement (in inches) that Colon got on his pitches against the Royals, relative to a pitch thrown without spin. The X axis shows the amount of horizontal movement on Colon’s pitches, while the Y axis shows the amount of vertical movement on the pitches. The chart is from the view of the catcher, so pitches with a negative horizontal (X axis) value are tailing in on a righthanded hitter. Pitches with a low vertical (Y axis) value are moving down in the strike zone; the lower the Y value, the more downward movement the pitch has (click on the picture to see a full-size image of the chart).

To no one’s surprise, Colon relied heavily upon his fastball. Of his 74 pitches, Bartolo tossed 60 heaters, continuing a trend of heavy fastball usage by the portly righthander:

YEAR    FB%

05         81.7

06         80.1

07         79.6

You can see two distinct clusters among Colon’s fastballs. The cluster higher in the zone with less horizontal (tailing) action are his 4-seam fastballs. Colon had some hop on his 4-seamer, throwing 7 fastballs that hit 95 or above on the radar gun. The fastball cluster below with more horizontal movement are his 2-seamers. Bartolo utilized this pitch well against the Royals, inducing 8 groundball outs against just 3 flyball outs. Colon had good sinking action on the 2-seamer, with plenty of tailing action in on righthanded batters. Overall, Colon’s average fastball velocity was 92.06 MPH. However, keep in mind that this is simply an average of his 4-seamers and 2-seamers; 2-seamers tend to be thrown a few MPH slower than 4-seamers, so Colon had plenty of life on his heater when he challenged batters high in the zone.

As mentioned earlier, Colon relies heavily upon his fastball, and there’s a reason for this: his secondary offerings aren’t anything special. Bartolo threw his hard slider (average velocity of 84.73 MPH) 12 times in the ballgame against the Royals. While there are a couple good sliders mixed in there (with a low vertical value and movement away from a righthanded batter), most seemed to catch too much of the plate and were relatively high in the zone. Bartolo’s slider looked pretty flat last night. Bartolo also threw 2 changeups, of the “show me” variety.

Overall, there were some promising signs for the soon-to-be 35 year-old Colon. Bartolo’s bread and butter has always been his 4-seam fastball, and the pitch showcased solid velocity against the Royals. As well, his 2-seamer was pretty sharp, helping the flyball pitcher induce more grounders than one would generally expect. On the negative side, Colon’s secondary pitches remain kind of scattershot, with a couple quality sliders mixed in with a bunch of hittable offerings.

If he can remain healthy and in shape (two major “ifs”), Colon still possesses his trademark fastball and looks to have enough left to contribute for the Sox.

David Golebiewski is a journalism student at Duquesne University. David can be reached via email at judidave87@msn.com or golebie1029@duq.edu

To replace Clement on the 25-man roster, the M’s recalled outfielder Jeremy Reed. Originally acquired from the Chicago White Sox in June of 2004 in a deal that sent Freddy Garcia to the South Side, Reed is a career .253/.314/.366 major league hitter. Reed, 26, was off to a .349/.411/.557 start in 168 PA for Tacoma.

TG Analysis

Seattle’s handling of Clement has always been rather odd, so why break tradition now? In 2006, Clement suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee and a bone chip in his left elbow. Off to a solid start at AA San Antonio (.288/.386/.535), Clement was forced to miss nearly two months while recovering. So, naturally, the M’s shoved Clement up to AAA Tacoma upon his return, with predictable results (.257/.321/.347).

Now, it seems as though the Mariners are going to the opposite extreme, failing to give Clement more than a two week trial despite his having little left to prove in the PCL (.275/.369/.497 in ‘07, .390/.524/.683 in ‘08) and the wretched play of Jose Vidro (.207/.256/.302 in 127 PA). By trading for Erik Bedard and consequently surrendering its tastiest farm products (Adam Jones and Chris Tillman), the M’s clearly conveyed a “win now” attitude. While this strategy is often thought to go hand-in-hand with playing veterans, it also entails giving a kid a fair shot when he is clearly your best option going forward. In Clement’s case, there’s every reason to believe that he can outhit a formerly famous, singles hitting second baseman who happens to be playing an offensively-charged position.

Speaking of formerly famous guys, Reed used to be one of the darlings of Chicago’s farm system. The Long Beach State product exhibited a high-contact approach while covering the gaps with aplomb. However, Reed has found major league pitching to be a rather daunting challenge, as his average plate discipline and modest power have conspired to inflict him with the dreaded “fourth outfielder” label. The best use of Reed’s talent would call for the M’s to stick the iron-gloved, molasses-covered Raul Ibanez (-6 Fielding Runs Above Average in ‘08) at the DH spot and install Reed in left field. Reed is likely a comparable hitter to Vidro (perhaps even a bit better), and would absolutely cover more territory than Ibanez.

Jones, 33, was recently released by the Detroit Tigers after hitting just .165/.244/.253 in 90 PA for the club. A career .278/327/.451 hitter, Jones will report to extended spring training to get into game shape. The 5-10, 200 pound lefty will likely platoon with Cody Ross in center field, with  Alfredo Amezaga spending more time in the infield.

TG Analysis

Bringing Jones into the center field mix for a song certainly can’t hurt - Marlins center fielders have combined to “hit” .216/.297/.333 in 2008. The lefty-hitting Jones is a career .291/.340/.479 hitter against righthanders, and he played above average defense in center for the Cubs in ‘07 (12 Fielding Runs Above Average). Platooning Jones with the right-hitting Cody Ross (.277/.345/.582 career against lefties) could make for a nice platoon. Ross is stretched in center, but as Jones’ lefty-mashing caddy he shouldn’t do too much damage.

Jones’ arrival also frees up Amezaga to see more time in the infield. Ultimately, Jones’ signing may spell trouble for shortstop Robert Andino’s roster spot. Though Andino’s bat is rather feeble, he is a viable major league shortstop and he’s coming off of a satisfactory .273/.318/.423 campaign at AAA Albequerque in 2007. Amezaga is lauded for his versatility, but he’s no great shakes in the outfield. The Fish may be better off with Andino.

Recently demoted from the closer’s role, Istringhausen was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a lacerated right hand. Isringhausen reportedly struck a TV monitor last week, but he has pitched three times since that incident.

Taking Isringhausen’s roster spot is righthander Chris Perez. The 6-4, 225 pounder was selected 42nd overall in the 2006 amateur draft out of the University of Miami. Perez, 22, struck out 22 batters and walked nine in 17.2 IP for AAA Memphis, posting a 2.04 ERA.

TG Analysis

Isringhausen’s DL stint/paid vacation to stop the arson allows the Cardinals to take a look at their closer of the future in Perez. The beefy righthander has plenty of stuff - a mid-90’s heater and a wicked high-80’s slider- and the Hurricane product has racked up K’s in his professional career (130 K in 100.1 IP).  However, his control (68 walks) leaves something to be desired. The Cardinals bullpen could use a boost - St. Louis’ reliever ERA stands at 4.30 (22nd overall) and the team ranks 27th in team WXRL.

To make room for Edmonds on the 25-man roster, the Cubs demoted outfielder Felix Pie to AAA Iowa. Long ranked as one of the top prospects in the Chicago system, Pie batted .222/.286/.286 in 70 PA for the Cubs in 2008.

TG Analysis

Nostalgia aside, it’s unclear how Edmonds’ acquisition makes the Cubs a better ballclub, currently or in the long run. A Johnson/Edmonds platoon in center just doesn’t seem like the best use of Chicago’s possible outfield options.

Johnson has his uses as a a guy who can can play acceptable D and hit lefties (.305/.372/.453 career), but righties neutralize him (.266/.327/.380) and it’s not as though he’s lighting the world on fire at the plate (.254/.336/.322 in 138 PA) or in the field (-3 Fielding Runs Above Average in ‘08, according to Baseball Prospectus). So, unless the Cubs plan on using Johnson more often than they really should, that leaves Edmonds getting the lions share of the playing time against righthanders. Perhaps Jim has something left to give at the major league level, but that’s not at all clear and it really isn’t the sort of gamble that a championship-caliber team should take, given the alternatives within the organization.

One of the aforementioned alternatives to bringing in a former famous guy like Edmonds, Felix Pie, never seemed to stand a chance. The Cubs have evidently decided that Pie is unfit to contribute in any capacity this year. This would be the second year of aimless wandering for Pie, who has little left to prove at Iowa after a .367/.413/.571 campaign there in 2007. Pie is an admittedly raw talent, but patrolling the corn fields in the Pacific Coast League or getting one start a week and an occasional pinch-hit appearance in the bigs will not help his development. At some point, the team needs to commit to him for more than a week and stop pulling him from the lineup after one 0-for-4 performance. Even if the Cubs did not want to commit to Pie full-time this year, he still could have been an asset as a guy who hits righties and covers a good deal of ground in center. In short, Edmonds’ addition inhibits the Cubs from breaking Pie into the big leagues in a reasonable manner: starting most of the time against righties while taking a seat against the league’s tougher southpaws. Instead, Lou Pinella’s handling of Pie is devolving into a self-fulfilling prophecy: Pinella feels that Pie is too rough around the edges to play, so he buries him on the bench or in Iowa, where the youngster won’t get the major league reps necessary to refine his game.  Should the Edmonds/Johnson duo hold, Pie will arrive at spring training in 2009 one year older yet no more prepared to take hold of the center field job.

For the sake of argument, let’s play devil’s advocate and go along with Chicago’s apparent belief that Pie just plain isn’t ready for prime time. Well, the Edmonds signing still doesn’t quite make sense. There’s a certain redheaded outfielder in Des Moines who deserves to be on the 25-man roster: Matt Murton, a career .295/.363/.451 hitter, could shift to right field with Kosuke Fukudome patrolling center field. A Soriano/Fukudome/Murton outfield would very likely outhit the current Soriano/Edmonds or Johnson/Fukudome alignment, and such an arrangement would be unlikely to cost many runs on the defensive side. Fukudome (7 FRAA in RF) appears to have the necessary range to play center, and while Murton is certainly not an asset with the glove, he isn’t Jack Cust, either.

Edmonds has the name recognition, but the Cubs appear the be going with their third-best possible outfield alignment, and may well have two of their four best outfielders on the Pacific Coast League bus circuit.

TG Analysis

Another quality deal for the Rays, as they lock up the third young player of the season. They now have Kazmir, James Shields, and corner-stone stud Evan Longoria with their club for quite some time. Kazmir doesn’t seem to have any problems with producing the way he has the last three years, so don’t expect this deal to come back and bite Tampa.

As for Figueroa, the 34-year old journeyman made a couple strong starts for a pitching-plagued Mets club, but seemed to have ran out of luck lately. He has 10 earned-runs through his last two starts, and his ERA sits at an ugly 5.12.

To fill the two open spots, the Mets activated Matt Wise from the DL, as well as calling up Claudio Vargas and Fernando Tatis. Tatis is replacing Angel Pagan, who was placed onthe DL. Vargas is slated to start tomorrow night.

With Wilson Betemit also on the DL, Morgan Ensberg should get most starts at third base.

That is if the organization wants to bring Pat Burrell and Brad Lidge back to Philly, with both being free agents after this season. Both seem to want to come back and the Phillies also appear to want both back, therefore making me think that they will negotiate in season with them to save some money.

Burrell, despite not having that good of a May, is having a great season, hitting nine homers and having an impressive OPS. Unfortunately for them, though, with how well he’s been hitting in the middle of that order, he could demand a huge multi-year contract, which the Phillies might not be willing to give him. He wants to come back, but I think he’ll decide to cash in elsewhere if the Phillies won’t pay him.

Bard Lidge has been absolutely outstanding for the Phillies so far after coming off the DL. So far this year, he hasn’t given up one single run, converting on all his saves. He has regained his confidence and looks to be healthy, making the Phillies very interested in bringing him back. He’ll want a lot, but with the questionable bullpen depth that the Phillies have, I think they’ll do whatever they can to retain him past this year.

So, I really do think that Gillick will finally negotiate with these two before the season is over. It’s a smart thing to do, as both, especially Lidge, are big parts to their success.