Tribe Transactions: Masterson to Rotation, Jess Todd to the Big Leagues
Written By: Scott | Category: Cleveland Indians | Comments: 15
While a good number of the players that have been recently acquired by the Indians will not make an impact for at least a couple of years, we are already starting to see a select few make their marks as we speak.
Justin Masterson was slated to be the long relief guy for the immediate future, but after his three scoreless innings against the Tigers, it appears that Eric Wedge would like to see if he can keep the ball rolling in the rotation. Of course, David Huff’s outing last night may have just fast tracked that even more.
If you recall, Masterson struck out four while only allowing two hits and one base on balls in his first relief appearance. Thinking was that the Tribe would give the 24-year old some time to “stretch out his arm.” Thinking also was that the players that were currently in the rotation could at least produce something relatively respectable. Huff’s 11 hits and seven earned runs in four and two-thirds would not be falling under that category. Even less respectable is the fact that Huff and his 6.81 ERA is third on the team in innings pitched with 80.2.
Joining Masterson as the new kid on the block will be relief pitcher Jess Todd, whom the Tribe acquired as the PTBNL for Mark DeRosa. Todd will be taking the spot of Jose Veras - a player that will join Winston Abreu as a “what exactly were they thinking?” acquisition for the 2009 season.
In his 12 appearances with the Indians, Veras managed to record an ERA of 7.62. His lasting impression will be that of the balk this weekend that drove in the eventual game-winning run against the Tigers. Solid.
Indians fans should be relatively excited about this move as the kid is pretty special. The 23-year old righty is coming out of Triple-A with an ERA of 2.04 and 66 strikeouts in 53 innings. Hopefully, he will have a better start than Chris Perez, whom was his teammate with the Cardinals and was also touted for his strong relief abilities.
As it stands, your Tribe bullpen consists of Kerry Wood, Tony Sipp, Joe Smith, Chris Perez, Tomo Okha, Jensen Lewis and Jess Todd. Todd will be the 28th pitcher to throw for Eric Wedge this season. As mentioned a while back, the club record for pitchers used is 32. Breaking this record is becoming more attainable by the day.
Author: Scott
Scott is a co-founder/editor of Waiting For Next Year who resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or email him at scott@waitingfornextyear.com.Scott has written 1701 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
interesting…I do like Masterson, but I feel like this might be a tad rushed….unless hes on a pitch count, a la spring training….
seriously
this “Best Free Web Game” ad that shows up constantly on this site has got to go
I cant concentrate on sports with those…er..that in my face
begin your quest my lord. lol.
you can start my journey anytime
Veras had to go. Dude has zero control….
Veras = Aquino = Vizcaino = Herges = Abreu
Im with DK – why rush putting Masterson in the rotation. Wait another week or so and build his arm up. Then again, anything that is going to get Sowers out of the rotation is a good thing. Actually, i think Pavano will be dealt soon and that is why they are rushing Masterson.
Regarding the ads: a progression to their current state is detailed at
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001286.html
Apparently the game is run by Chinese WoW gold farmers with no appreciation for copyright laws? Can’t say it surprises me…
I am always of a mind that 1 data point is clearly enough evidence for a trend. Masterson pitched well once? Winner! Go ahead and put him as our #1 starter.
In other news, I hit 4 3-pointers in a row at a gym game last week and have recently signed with the Cavs to take on the role as that stregth PF we were looking for.
@TD – Herges had control, but just had nothing on his pitches…now if we could have combined the arm of the others with the control of herges….we’d have…well…we’d have HergVerAquiVizeu…now THAT’s a number 1 prospect…
we have others that can take sowers spot in the rotation…i heard Jennie Finch does a better job getting guys out than JeSow.
Stregth is indeed an issue with this Cavs teem.
I bet this game is only funny to us Denny.
I just really hope that Master Son doesn’t have a few bad outings as a starter that completely destroy his confidence. The Indians have already done this to too many young pitchers.
Jess Todd is not that bad, you guys should enjoy him
Something else to point out…while Chris Perez’s awful start here has been mentioned several times, his recent performance is deserving of some kudos. In his last 8 games, he’s run up the following line:
9 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 11 K
Granted he’s done alot of this in low to very-low leverage situations, but only two hits allowed with 11 Ks in ANY stretch of 9 innings in this bullpen is worth noticing. Here’s to hoping that both him and Todd are the foundation of something better in the back-end of the pen for years to come.
Oh, and something I forgot to mention…he hasn’t allowed a run in those 9 inning either.
@JD – agreed – after his initial excited debut, he’s been pretty solid…I like his slider and his fastball is live…i think he projects as a good back-end type power arm…
I think this deck chair should go over there, Captain Smith.