Cleveland Indians First Half Recap Part Four - The Starting Rotation

The Cleveland Indians broke camp this spring with a starting rotation full of question marks. Could Jake Westbrook return to his pre-Tommy John surgery form of three seasons ago? Would Fausto Carmona pitch more like 2007 or like 2008/09? Could Justin Masterson adjust to his role as a starting pitcher for the entire season? Would David Huff capitalize on his great 2009 rookie year and continue to make improvements? Would newcomer Mitch Talbot adjust to his role in the big leagues and a new ball club? Well, for the most part these questions have been answered with a resounding yes. Aside from Huff, the rotation has been solid with a few hiccups now and again. The second half seems to be shaping up to be more of the same with a few young arms poised to make their debuts at some point.

Jake Westbrook has returned from Tommy John surgery and has regained most of his control and power that he had when he last pitched in 2008. After two long years of rehabbing and setbacks, Westbrook took just a few games early this season to settle back into a groove. Because of his return to dominance, it is widely speculated around Cleveland fans that Westbrook will not be with the club by the end of the month. Any club looking to make a run would love to have a veteran pitcher with the stuff that Jake can bring and would also love his playoff experience as well. Speaking as a die-hard Indians fan, I for one would like to make it through a whole season without trading away our ace starter, but it looks like that probably won’t be the case.

Fausto Carmona’s turn around from the past two season has been nothing short of spectacular. In 2007 he finished fourth in the Cy-Young voting and seemed to be on the brink of an amazing career, but injuries and control issues sent him on a two year long downward spiral that saw him demoted all the way to rookie-ball last year. This season, Carmona has been lights out from the get-go and was selected to his first all-star game this week. Like Westbrook, most folks think that Carmona is also being slung around as trade bait at this point. When the Tribe designated his personal catcher Mike Redmond for assignment last week, it raised quite a few eyebrows around town. Should Fausto make it past July 31 in an Indians uniform, he will likely take over the top spot in the rotation if Westbrook is dealt away.

Justin Masterson struggled early this year spending almost two full months trying to get his first win. In late May, there were rumblings that he could be headed to the bullpen or even the minors because of his control issues. Once Masterson heated up in the month of June, he hasn’t looked back, and is quickly becoming one of the best arms in the league. Masterson could be a key figure in the Tribe’s rotation next season when they try to contend again.

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David Huff started the season where he left off last year, giving the Tribe some solid innings and managing to work his way out of jams to keep the team in the game. However as the first half wore on, Huff just couldn’t find his groove and was sent down to Columbus for some work on his control. His replacement, Aaron Laffey has been up and down and in and out of the bullpen for the past two seasons. Laffey is a guy that the Tribe have been hoping would come around and be a starting pitcher, but he just doesn’t seem to be able to figure things out and could become the next Jeremy Sowers for the club. If Huff is ready to come back to the Tribe later this month, it is likely that Laffey will move back to the bullpen again rather than be sent back down to Columbus.

Mitch Talbot has been the biggest surprise in the rotation in the first half of this season. Talbot arrived in Cleveland from the Tampa Bay minor leagues for Tribe catcher Kelly Shoppach and the club hoped that he could give them some quality starts in his first real major league season. He has done a lot more than that and for the better part of May was the best pitcher in the rotation. Talbot has had a few rough outings lately, but there is no reason to believe that he will not turn things around once the second half of the season gets going. Like Masterson, the Indians are looking at Talbot to be a part of the rotation that will get them back into contention in 2011 or 2012. He is young and very tough and seems to be the right guy to eventually take over the second or third spot in the Tribe’s rotation.

The one guy that seemed to be major-league ready leaving spring training that we have yet to see in Cleveland this year is Carlos Carrasco. Carrasco has spent the whole first half of the season at Triple-A Columbus working on his control and his stamina. It is not likely that we will see him at the big league level until either Jake Westbrook or Fausto Carmona is traded, or unless there is an injury to any of the other starting pitchers. The Indians seem to want Carrasco to get as much experience as he can at the Triple-A level and do not want to rush him into their starting rotation. When he arrives in Cleveland (probably in late-August/early-September,) expect him to be the number five or maybe even the number six guy in the rotation. Carrasco seems to have all of the stuff to be a great starting pitcher in the future, but the Indians don’t want to toss him into the fire too quickly.

And so that’s that, a look at the first half of the season from all angles. The Indians have certainly not lived up to anyone’s expectations this season, but the second half will be positive for a few reasons. With the number of injuries that the club has endured, we’ve gotten a chance to see their younger talent play everyday at the big league level. The second half will be used to evaluate the guys who have been called up so far this season, and there will likely be some more call ups necessitated by trades of some of the old guard. If the team is going to contend in 2011, it will be very important to see if the guys they plan on fielding next season are strong enough to make that happen, because if they aren’t it may be another winter and spring of rebuilding in Tribe Town.

By Robert Gonzalez
Cleveland Indians Correspondent

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