Pedro Martinez's Latest Rehab Start Successful; Could Be in Philly Soon

The Phils' new ace Pedro Martinez threw a nice bullpen session on Sunday, throwing 53 pitches at the Phillies single A affiliate, the Lakewood BlueClaws game.

Martinez said he was happy with Sunday's results compared to a horrific start on Friday, in which he allowed four earned runs in five innings of work. He said that the stretch hurt him a lot, and he and the pitching staff worked on those ugly pitches he missed in that stretch.

There is no clear picture of when Pedro will make his move on up to the big leagues.

The Phils' starting rotation is pretty much stacked with four left-handers including my Rookie of the Year pick J.A. Happ, Jamie Moyer—who has been one of the Phil's most reliable players, ace Cole Hamels—who hasn't been throwing his best stuff around lately but always makes his way through the muck, and Cliff Lee, the newest Phillie, who I think was a great pickup from the Indians personally.

Then we have our right handed man, Big Joe Blanton.

Martinez is 214-99 in 17 seasons in the bigs. He signed a one-year deal with the Phils on July 15, but was immediately placed on the DL because of a shoulder strain.

GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said that they don't really have a game plan set up for Pedro's return to the bigs.

My personal opinion? I think he needs a couple more outings and he'll be ready to go. His next planned game will be Wednesday at Double A Reading.

So, that was my first article. Hope you liked it. Please feel free to comment and I hope to write more in the future. Thanks for reading!