Welcome Back, Jason

Chad Cordero has gone on the Bereavement List so he can be with his dying Grandmother. The Bereavement List is one of the best things that MLB has done over the last 5 years or so, as before, teams were reluctant to let players leave because they would have to play a man short. It's a decent, human thing to do, which is why it's so surprising that MLB allows it.

In his place, the Nats have called up Winston Abreu. The wonderful thing about Abreu is that you can look at his stat line and tell exactly what kind of player he is: I'm guessing he throws a low-mid 90s fastball, with a sharp slider, which he doesn't really have command of.

He's been a dominant K pitcher, striking out over 10 batters per 9 almost everywhere he's stopped. It appears that he's made great strides in his control. While he's walked 8 batters in 18 innings at AAA, he's been right around the 2.5 per 9 IP mark over the last two years, which is decent.

Abreu's not young, and I get the impression that he's one of those who could have a hard time adjusting to the big leagues because of command problems. But that's all just speculation based on a cursory look at his numbers. The opposing bats will let us know pretty quickly.

The other big news is that Jason Simontacchi makes his triumphant return to the major leagues after stops in the Atlantic League and the Dominican.

I looked at Simontacchi a few months back, when he was just a cast of seemingly thousands trying to get a few breaks. He's been all over the place, and has an interesting story of travel, so if you're jonesing for more Simontacchi info, check it out.