Tribe Off Day Update – A Look at the Rotation

The 2-6 homestand was clearing nothing to write home about. Neither is the 11-18 overall record. But are we seeing any progress in the first year under Manny Acta?

I said this the other day, but I worry that I don’t see much difference between the Eric Wedge Indians of the past two seasons and this year’s team, except for the fact that guys play the positions they are supposed to be playing. Seriously, was there anything worse than watching Ryan Garko attempt to play the outfield?

I see some positives out there.

The rotation, which was clearly the number one worry of the front office, has performed better than expected. Opening Day starter Jake Westbrook (0-2. 5.74 ERA) is still not himself, but he is still good for to battle six innings and will improve the more he pitches. You cannot discount the fact that he hasn’t pitched in two years. Fausto Carmona (3-1, 3.86 ERA) has shown signs of improvement over the past two years. Take away his one bad outing against the Twins (six ER in six innings) two starts ago, and he has been as close to ace material as the Indians have.

Justin Masterson (0-3, 5.23 ERA) is a work in progress. While he has dominating stuff at times, he looks to me like more of a dominant late-inning reliever than a starter (39 K’s in 32.1 IP).   David Huff (1-4, 4.60 ERA) was as good as he has ever been in a complete game win over Texas a month ago, but hasn’t been able to find the form since. Huff is a soft-tossing lefty who has to paint the corners and keep the ball down. When he is up and in the middle of the plate, he is extremely hittable. His margin for error is little.

Perhaps the biggest surprise on the team has been the season put together thus far by Mitch Talbot (4-2, 3.43 ERA). The man we have dubbed “The Fury,” beat Aaron Laffey and Carrasco for the fifth spot in the rotation and has turned into somewhat of a stopper. Talbot has done it mostly with changing speeds and keeping hitters off balance with his mix of stuff. He doesn’t possess anything over-powering, but he has a Jake Westbrook kind of feel to him. Sometimes you don’t know how he is doing it, but you look up and its the seventh inning and Talbot is still going strong. Mitch actually looks like a keeper.

Its been said you cannot fully judge a team until a full 60 games are played, but in terms of the rotation, things are going to be in flux. Westbrook will pitch every fifth day and give you everything he has. He is all heart and guts. Jake will always hold a special place with me for his bulldog performance in game seven of the 2007 ALDS in Boston. While the numbers show six innings plus and three earned runs, he kept the Indians right there and battled after the two 19 game winners – C.C. Sabathia and Carmona – had wet the bed in front of him with a chance to win the pennant. That said, Jake is not the future for this club. He is a free agent this winter and if he can round himself into form, should be a nice trade deadline addition to a contender come July.

Carmona and Talbot will be fixtures all year and if healthy, will both be 12-14 game winners. I know, Talbot winning 14 seems like a serious reach, but he has won four of six starts and the Indians bats light up when he is on the mound, averaging 5.5 runs per.

In the quotes that I have seen, Acta seems pretty content to let Masterson work out the kinks as a starter and give him a full shot to be the top of the rotation guy that the Indians hoped he would become when they acquired him from Boston. In my eyes, The Red Sox gave up on him and sent him to Cleveland because they saw him as a reliever and not a starter. Why else would they refuse to trade fellow young starter Clay Buckholz but be willing to throw Masterson our way in the Victor Martinez deal? They used him mostly out of the pen, but bounced him back and forth, which may have affected his development.

Huff, I am far from sold on. He may have won double digit games last year, but that was with an ERA close to six. Unless he is completely on, he seems to be very beatable. Friday night’s rain out was another in a long line of below average performances (seven earned runs in four innings) which has the Tribe brass on high alert with him. One more bad outing and it could be Carlos Carrasco time in Cleveland.

DP will have more on what is going on in Columbus at 2 PM, but the options for a recall start with Carrasco (2-1, 3.41 ERA in six starts ) and Yohan Pino (2-1, 3.63 ERA in six starts). I expect both to be in the rotation at some point this season. The other option is to move Laffey back to a starters role, but he is one of the more dependable relievers at this point.

Westbrook takes his next shot at his first win tomorrow night in Kansas City against the Royals. He takes on Tribe-killer Brian Bannister (1-2, 5.03 ERA).

AP Photo Jeff Chiu