=== FIZZLER Jesus Colome ===

As reasonably explained by Blengino, "you can't teach his kind of arm" and sometimes just a change of scenery, or the confidence accrued in front of a good defense, can "cause the light to come on"...

I used to roster Colome, back when he was a closer-hopeful for the D-Rays, and brought it at 94-97.

Tonight he threw a few hitters' worth at 88 mph (!), then a few at 89-91, and touched 92-93 a time or two before finishing at 89.

Might have been a slow gun, but the ball wasn't really exploding out of his hand.  And he was wild.

.................

Think of it this way:  suppose it is 2014, and Brandon Morrow has never done anything, and here comes his 9th chance because he used to have such a tantalizing arm.  He comes to spring training and throws 89.  What then?  Move on.

Colome's justification for being here, is the idea that he has a howitzer.  Wednesday, he didn't.

It's early, of course, and maybe next outing, Colome starts throwing 96.  But average-to-plus fastball, wild, isn't going to cut it for Brandon Morrow in year 10.

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=== FIZZLER David Aardsma ===

A picture's worth 1,000 words.  The Rangers provided it on Wednesday.  Six batters faced.  Single, Double, Walk, Homer.  Yanked in the middle of the inning.

Aardsma was throwing what he usually does -- hot fastballs shoveled into the strike zone by the gallon.  The difference between 2009 and a train wreck was, IMHO, hair-fine.  It says here that he could throw all the same pitches again, see them "mysteriously" disappear over the fence, and the clock just struck twelve...

Needless to say, we're not burying him after one outing.  We're sure he'd say he could have commanded better.

But his game is 90% fastballs and show-me offspeed, and the hitters have the luxury of timing him.  We can all-too-easily visualize a series of games like this one...

................

Which, if true, gives a LOT of traction to youse guys' hesitation on Shawn Kelley.  If Aardsma "mysteriously" gives up 4 homers in April, your best closer is not the volatile Brandon League, but the very predictable Shawn Kelley.  Then League can do the heavy lifting against ARod and Teixeira in the 7th and 8th.

Of course, David Aardsma is currently the Mariners' closer, and it's not like Wok has a hair-trigger button on the EJECT seat.  You can work the Kelley project, if you want, and if Aardsma's cap catches on 4th-of-July sparkler-fire, Kelley can of course move SP to RP in one day.

But then, at that time you may be able to use League to close, Lowe to set up and The Field to back up those two... let's say, maybe somebody from Havai'i...

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=== SIZZLER Brandon League ===

Will be who we thought he was. 

Chris Davis did catch up to a low-90's fastball and reverse it, but there were also two K's and much more to the point, there was also a pitch that looks like it should have a -5.00 run value or something.

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BABVA,

Dr D