Colome, 33, signed with the Mariners, then the Dodgers, then the Rangers in 2010, a whirlwind season for the right-hander. He posted a 5.29 ERA in 17 innings for Seattle with 8.5 K/9 and 5.8 BB/9. Colome was an reliable contributor for the 2007-08 Nationals, when he posted a 4.07 ERA in 122 relief appearances (137 innings).

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• After speaking to Dodgers manager Joe Torre about his future, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports is starting to believe the skipper will retire after the season.
• The Royals spent slightly under $6.7MM on this year’s draft, according to Daniel Paulling of the Kansas City Star.
• The Rangers signed Jesus Colome, who has already been released by the Mariners and Dodgers this year. The transactions page for the Pacific Coast League says Texas assigned the righty to Triple A.
• Yankees GM Brian Cashman told Marc Carig of the Star Ledger that he doesn't expect to make any trades this month.
• Troy Renck of the Denver Post fully expects the Rockies to have parted ways with Brad Hawpe by the weekend (Twitter link).
• Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic likes what he sees from D'Backs interim GM Jerry Dipoto and interim manager Kirk Gibson.
• The Pirates spent a franchise-record $11.9MM on this year’s draft, according to data obtained by Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• Count Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos among those who wouldn't mind moving the deadline to sign draft picks earlier in the summer. He told the FAN 590 that he would also prefer to see the deadline in the evening, rather than late at night.

• The Astros released second baseman Drew Meyer, who was then signed by the Angels.  Meyer has already racked up 39 plate appearances for the Salt Lake Bees.
• The Dodgers released reliever Jesus Colome.  They'd signed him on June 24th, but he made only three appearances for the Isotopes before being let go.
• Other familiar names were cut, including Brian Buscher (Indians), Ruddy Lugo (Tigers), and Mike Koplove (Mariners).  The Red Sox signed Argenis Reyes, who had been playing independent league ball.  

Colome, 32, walked and struck out more batters than he normally does, posting 8.5 K/9 and 5.8 BB/9 in 17 innings of work this year. The ten-year veteran joins two other recent free agent pickups on the Albuquerque Isotopes' roster: Kiko Calero and Claudio Vargas. Dodgers GM Ned Colletti continues to look at free agent pitching, according to the LA Times.

Colome, 32, posted a 5.29 ERA, 8.5 K/9, and 5.8 BB/9 in 17 innings this year, allowing only one home run despite a low groundball rate.  The Mariners had signed the hard-throwing righty to a minor league deal in February.  Baseball America ranked Colome the 53rd best prospect in baseball in 2000, a few spots above Adam Dunn and C.C. Sabathia.  The next year he ranked 69th, just beating Francisco Rodriguez and Carl Crawford.

Texeira, 24, has a 5.30 ERA, 6.8 K/9, and 4.8 BB/9 in 18.6 innings, with no home runs allowed.  He was taken in December's Rule 5 draft from the Yankees, so any team acquiring him must keep him on the Major League roster all season.  Before outrighting him to the minors, he'd need to be offered back to the Yankees for $25K.  Baseball America ranked Texeira 26th among Mariners prospects heading into the season, describing him as a deceptive sinker/slider reliever who "could have value in a lower leverage role."  Jack Zduriencik had drafted Texeira out of a Hawaii high school in '04, but the righty did not sign with the Brewers.

"You don't need to have a lefty in the 'pen just because it's obvious that lefties do well against lefty hitters," Wetteland told MLB.com's Doug Miller last week.

Wetteland knows that as well as anyone. The righty allowed a .223/.292/.346 career line against lefty batters – not far from the line Wetteland allowed against righties. But not every reliever is as well-equipped to shut batters on both sides of the plate down.

To find out if Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik needs to add a left-handed reliever, let's see how the bullpen has done against lefties. Five weeks of data isn't much, so let's take a look at the numbers Mariners relievers have posted against lefties in their respective careers.

• Shawn Kelley – He has done much better against lefties in his career, limiting them to a .219/.268/.314 line.
• Sean White – His .219/.312/.322 line against lefties is quite good. However, left-handed batters are hitting just .225 on balls in play and homering on 4.5% of their fly balls against White. Both of those figures can be expected to rise and when they do, White's slash line will likely rise, too.
• David Aardsma – His .248/.363/.331 line is actually better than his line against righties.
• Kanekoa Texeira – Though Texeira has faced lefties just 26 times in the majors, his .208/.269/.292 line looks promising. Texeira struck out 106 batters in as many innings against lefties in his minor league career.
• Brandon League – His .284/.343/.453 line against lefties does not inspire much confidence, but League has allowed homers on 18.4% of fly balls against him and allowed a batting average of .321 on balls in play, which suggests he has been unlucky against lefties in his career.
• Mark Lowe – He has an ugly .298/.382/.514 line against lefties in his career. As Dave Cameron of U.S.S. Mariner noted earlier in the month, Lowe is "something of a glorified right-handed specialist." Lowe is now on the DL with an inflamed disc in his lower back.
• Jesus Colome – Lefties have hit .275/.382/.449 against Colome, so the Mariners should minimize his exposure to lefties.
• Ian Snell – Snell has allowed lefties to post a .294/.386/.484 line against him in his career. He should face righties whenever possible.

It turns out that Don Wakamatsu has more than enough weapons to retire opposing left-handers, especially now that Kelley's back on the team. But the Mariners have to use their 'pen carefully. Aardsma, Texeira and Kelley can succeed against lefty batters, but Colome, Snell and eventually Lowe should not face lefties in close games. The Mariners have their share of issues these days and their bullpen could be better, but Zduriencik can ignore conventional wisdom and proceed without acquiring a lefty.

• John Sickels of Minor League Ball looked at interesting high school hitters in the 2010 draft.  Sickels portioned out the goodness in two parts: part one and part two.
• Tom D'Angelo of the Palm Beach Post spoke to Larry Beinfest, Marlins' baseball operations president, who doesn't sound as though he's in a rush to call up Mike Stanton.
• Rather than place Jesus Colome on waivers, the Mariners optioned Shawn Kelley to Triple-A Tacoma to make room for Cliff Lee.  M's manager Don Wakamatsu told Ryan Divish of The News Tribune (via Twitter) that there was "not a chance" that Colome could have cleared waivers.
• The Indians have called up righty Hector Ambriz, whom they selected from Arizona in the Rule 5 draft, writes Dennis Manoloff of The Plain Dealer.  The Tribe had until May 8th, the end of his rehab assignment, to decide what to do with him.
• Brewers catching prospect Angel Salome will be given additional time off following the birth of his child, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel.

With a 94.7 mph average fastball, Colome is an intriguing risk-free pickup.  Poor control had been a major flaw until last year, when he posted an overall BB/9 of 2.33 in 38.6 innings.  The Mariners' other non-roster invitees can be viewed here.

Colome spent 17 days on the disabled list with a forearm strain, and was activated on Friday, though he has yet to pitch since his activation. Colome pitched just 6.1 innings for the Brewers, allowing four earned runs. For the season, he's struggled tremendously, posting a 7.59 ERA and a 1.88 WHIP through 21.1 innings. Opponents are hitting .362 against him. Assistant general manager Gord Ash said Colome "just wasn't consistent enough." Sounds like an understatement.

McCalvy speculates that the call-up will be either John Axford or Dave Johnson.

Axford, 26, has gone 9-1 and posted a 2.77 ERA through 45 appearances this year. Johnson, 27, was 3-1 with five saves and a 3.72 ERA. McCalvy says both pitchers would be added to the 40-man roster this winter anyway, in order to prevent them from being taken in the Rule 5 Draft.

McCalvy says Colome will initially report to rookie level Helena to build arm strength back up .

Yesteday Colome's former teammate Kip Wells also chose free agency after being designated for assignment by the Nats.

Colome, 31, had an 8.40 ERA, 1.93 WHIP and 12/6 K/BB ratio in 15 innings of relief for the Nats this season.  He allowed 29 total baserunners during his short time in Washington and will either be traded, released or outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse within the next 10 days.  We're thinking he probably won't draw much interest on the trading block.