In Philadelphia, it's worth fifty bucks.
— Bo Diddley as a pawn broker bargaining with Dan Akroyd over his expensive watch in "Trading Places"

With the lack of depth in the Phils starting rotation the loss of Randy Wolf for the year to potential Tommy John surgery can be devastating. 23-year-old Robinson Tejeda, making his second major-league start, spells Wolf this Friday against Oakland.

Wolf started 1-4 with a 6.00 ERA, but in the last month has gone 5-0 with a 3.07 ERA. It's just the latest in Wolf's up-and-down career. Two years ago, he was drawing favorable comparisons to fellow lefty Tom Glavine. Now, the only comparisons that are made to a famous lefty is because of a surgery that bears his name.

Meanwhile, Robinson Tejeda pitched well in his debut against Texas (5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 K), but remains an unknown. This is a pitcher who took four years to get above Single-A and who has 14 walks to go with his 13 strikeouts in 15 major-league innings. This is the story of Tejeda's career yet far: he strikes out a ton but is very wild (in addition to the walks, he had 11 wild pitches one year).

Another problem is that he has never gone that deep into games, averaging well under six innings per start. That's another load the beleaguered Phils' pen just doesn't need.

Here are his minor-league numbers:

I just don't see Tejeda being the solution for the rest of the season. He may hang in for a few starts, but he has too many negatives to overcome at least right now. But what other options do they have?

Ryan Madson has become indispensable in the pen, though I wish they would give him another chance in the rotation. Early season starter Gavin Floyd is floundering at Triple-A Scranton (2-5 with a 7.09 ERA). Former first-round pick, 21-year-old Cole Hamels won't be rushed to the rotation until probably September or next spring.

That leaves…[drum roll please]…Amaury Telelmaco as in "Sounds like debacle". I think I said at the start of the season if Telemaco was in the rotation by May, it was going to be a long season in Philly. Well, it's June and the Phils are just two games out of first, coming off a tremendous homestand, but the season is getting longer by the minute.

It was great that GM Ed Wade traded one of the few decent players the Phils can move (Polanco) for an overrated, would-be closer (Urbina) instead of a decent starting pitcher. The Phils have one more ace in the hole (Ryan Howard) and a better GM would be able to turn him into a decent option for the rotation.

In Philadelphia we'll get 15 starts from Amaury Telemaco.