Because of the time he's missed, we wanted to accelerate him, and felt the best way to do that was to put him against more experienced Triple-A hitters. We've never had a question about ability or command; it's just been health.

Any kid who's competitive like Cole is, thinks he should be here yesterday. If there's a blessing out of him starting slow out of the chute this year, this may be it because in big-league camp, no matter what we told him, he was going to show up he should open in Philadelphia. He's beginning to understand that he can't worry about tomorrow. He's got to take it game-by-game, and the results will speak for themselves. If his ability is what we think it is, the opportunity will be here, sooner rather than later.

It has nothing to do with ability. Because of weather and bus rides, we thought it made sense to start him in warm weather and where there are very limited bus rides. We don't anticipate him being there a long time.

If his ability is what we think it is, the opportunity will be here, sooner rather than later. Realistically, you can't put a timetable, because he's missed nearly two years of productive development time. He's got to perform at Triple-A over a stretch of time, and his actions over that stretch will show us when he has to be in Philadelphia.