Logan looks comfortable in simulated game

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Rockies left-hander Boone Logan looked comfortable in a two-inning simulated game of about 30 pitches on Monday at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.

Logan signed a three-year, $16.5 million deal with the Rockies as a free agent after pitching the previous four seasons with the Yankees. But he underwent surgery to shave a bone spur and remove bone chips from his throwing elbow last October, and the Rockies are taking a careful approach with him. Logan believes he will be make about five Cactus League appearances and be ready for the regular season.

The first inning was understandably rough. Right-handed-hitting Matt McBride lined a pitch to left-center field that would have gone for extra bases and left-handed-hitting Tim Wheeler homered. In the second frame, Logan threw sliders that the hitters chopped into the ground.

Rockies catcher Michael McKenry called out from behind the plate to compliment Logan on the downward angle of his pitches in the second inning, and later said Logan quickly moved toward form.

"As the simulated game progressed, he started to trust it a little more so his stuff got better," McKenry said. "He was able to do some things he was used to being able to do. At the beginning it was like a normal bullpen, and I'd say the last three hitters he faced he was probably pretty normal. He threw a lot of really good sliders, especially toward the end. He started to get a feel for it and they didn't sniff it after that."