Oliver is in, Vogelsong is up

Both Robert Dvorchak of the Post-Gazette and Joe Rutter of the Tribune-Review now report that Oliver Perez gets a free pass with the spring stats because he's making adjustments requested by his coaches. Could these articles be more timely? Don't let anyone bad-mouth the work of the Pittsburgh media.

There's no plan to develop him further in the minors:

In his recent sessions on the side, Perez has been working on staying under more control, and he used his start yesterday to back off on the speed of his fastball and concentrate on new wrinkles that are designed to make him better down the road. Manager Lloyd McClendon, for one, is willing to live with the struggles.

"His development is going to happen here in the big leagues. It's important we encourage and do everything we can to make him better," McClendon said.

Works for me. This is a comfort. Like most people, I was assuming that Perez was being his usual self and sucking. Now we learn his numbers are bad because he's working on new habits which are, of course, uncomfortable at first, as all new habits are. Joe Rutter writes that the changes are recent, and were provoked by the suckiness of the old habits:

After watching Perez last only 1.2 innings in his previous start - he gave up five runs to the Boston Red Sox in that game - pitching coach Spin Williams decided to make changes with Perez's mechanics that he had been mulling all spring.

"It's nothing with him arm. It's just a more controlled delivery," Williams said. "He's wild and has been wild, all over the place. He did an outstanding job today. I was really happy with it. The results weren't good, but we knew they wouldn't be."

By concentrating on the adjustments yesterday, Perez had to sacrifice some of his velocity. That helped explain why the Reds pounded him for three runs on four hits in the first inning.

"When he gets comfortable, you'll see the velocity come back up," McClendon said.

McClendon has no plans of opening Perez's fourth spot in the rotation to competition.

Rutter also notes that Spin did a similar thing to Kip Wells in 2002. Dvorchak also reports that Ryan Vogelsong's bionic arm has made him a new player:

The biggest difference in Ryan Vogelsong this spring has been an increase in his velocity, which is higher than it was before he had elbow surgery in 2001. Vogelsong has been hitting 96 to 97 mph. Previously, he had been throwing 93 to 94 mph. . . .

"He's the biggest surprise of camp for me, and the most pleasant one," pitching coach Spin Williams said of Vogelsong. "His stuff is quite a bit different. "

This is great news.

Get Nolan Ryan Vogelsong into the rotation. Assuming we keep Benson through July, now the smart play is returning Josh Fogg to the bullpen, bumping everyone up a spot, and using Rick Reed or Estaban Meadows in the fifth spot. Josh Fogg has been a killer closer in the past, and he could do it again I'm sure. We can bring up Sean Burnett when Benson is traded.