ARLINGTON, Texas _ Bartolo Colon was technically available out of the bullpen Friday night.
Rangers manager Jeff Banister said before the series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays that the 44-year-old veteran would, for the time being, remain an option out of the pen.
After Matt Moore's second start, you have to wonder how much longer.
Moore was tagged for six runs (five earned) on five hits and four walks and was yanked after 31/3 innings in an 8-5 loss to the Blue Jays at Globe Life Park.
The question now is, how long do you wait before you flip the script and put Colon in the rotation and let Moore try to work things out in the bullpen? Colon was impressive in his Monday start in Oakland. He held the A's to one run on seven hits over six innings. He struck out four and walked one. His only mistake was a third-inning home run. The other six hits were singles.
"He can give us outs, he can give us innings," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "There's no doubt he knows how to go out and get three outs, six outs, nine outs. The luxury is that he can go long for us."
But the Rangers may not have that luxury.
Moore has allowed nine earned runs on 12 hits and four walks over 71/3 innings in two starts. Perhaps it's too quick to pull the ripcord on Moore, who the Rangers acquired in a December trade with the Giants for minor league pitchers Sam Wolff and Israel Cruz.
"He just couldn't seem to get his delivery consistent for himself, spinning off and out," Banister said. "Early on, he seemed to be sharp, the first two hitters. Then things kind of got away from him a little bit. He was challenged getting the ball back in the strike zone consistently against an aggressive group of hitters."
Moore was an up and coming left-hander who was an All-Star in 2013 for the Rays but missed most of 2014 after having Tommy John surgery. He never returned to his pre-surgery form and was traded to the Giants in 2016. He had the worst season of his career in 2017, going 6-15 with a National League-high 5.52 ERA.
Before you point your foam finger at Colon for comparison, beware, his recent track record isn't pretty either. Colon had a combined 6.18 ERA in 2017 over 28 starts with the Braves and Twins.
Moore, who turns 29 on June 18, is still young, and the Rangers are hoping they can help him rekindle similar success from earlier in his career. He'll make $9 million in 2018. Colon is making $1.75 million.
The Rangers were forced to go to their already ravaged bullpen for more than five innings Friday night. But Colon wasn't used. The Rangers' bullpen has already thrown 361/3 innings this season. The starters have thrown 422/3.
Their 32 relief appearances are second only to the Angels. Colon may be their only choice out of the bullpen if this pace continues.
"He's a pretty resilient guy," Banister reasoned. "He's been in these type of situations before. I think he's pretty educated on what he can do and how he needs to do it. You don't get this far without that. And he's done this. This is not new to him."
At the plate for the Rangers, Shin-Soo Choo was 2-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored, while Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre each collected three hits.
Russell Martin was 3-for-4 with three RBIs for the Blue Jays.
