Drew Storen made quick work of the minor leagues and will now try and make quick work of major league hitters, starting with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Washington Nationals have called-up the 2009 first round pick and sent Brian Bruney packing.
Storen signed quickly and got to work in the South Atlantic League in 2009. [...]

So, who had Tyler Clippard leading the majors in wins?
Anyone?
Thought not.
Once a Yankee, and once a starter, Clippard has settled nicely into a set-up role in the Nationals bullpen. Whether by poach or by merit, he’s picked up 6 wins and leads the NL as of May 10. Well, he’s tied with two guys named [...]

Brad Lidge’s second appearance of 2010 was a lot better than the first, in terms of stuff. Lacking a few notches on his fastball the first time around, Lidge finally showed some mid-90s velocity on Monday.
He might not be throwing as hard as he did 3 years ago, but that’s not what anyone should expect. [...]

I’ll leave the “how does it feel for a Phillies fan” to our own Bill Baer, but, as a pitching fan I get some funny feelings about the Phillies pitching. The sources of the discomfort are numerous, from Brad Lidge’s arm and Ryan Madson’s toe to Nelson Figueroa’s and Kyle Kendrick’s roles.
Toe, or temper. Madson’s [...]

A couple weeks ago, while writing about the Giants bullpen, I mentioned a second team that made me take notice by virtue of their last-three-inning guys. Since then, the White Sox relievers have been striking out hitters at record setting levels and looking like the best bullpen in the majors.
I’m going to skip the supporting cast [...]

There are two teams who have caught my eye already with their relief pitching. This isn’t to say there aren’t other clubs with the potential to shorten games a few innings, but the Chicago White Sox and the San Francisco Giants could be playing 6 or 7 inning baseball quite often in 2010.
We’ll look at [...]

The Padres seem to have the makings of a deep rotation. While the front-end isn’t going to scare many teams, a lot of clubs would be happy to have some of the options available to San Diego for 2010. Instead of covering the whole back-end of the Padres rotation (spots 5-8), I want to share [...]

The Rockies don’t seem to have much of a question mark around their fifth starter as the Dodgers or the Diamondbacks. Jason Hammel is generally being conceded the job, but a discussion at Inside Pulse reminds us of the presence of Jhoulys Chacin and southpaw Franklin Morales. Morales pitched in relief quite a bit in 2009, [...]

Much like their divisional foes in Arizona, the Los Angeles Dodgers opened Spring Training with questions at the back-end of their rotation. Hopefully a lot of teams have this problem, and usually do. Otherwise this series will run its course quickly.
Both the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers have a favorite for the fifth slot, with some [...]

Rafael Martin finally has a good season in Mexico. Now he is a member of the Washington Nationals and looking to make the big leagues in 2010.