September call-ups happen today, and the Cleveland Indians wasted no time getting Carlos Carrasco into the starting rotation. And to welcome him to the team, the bullpen blew what could have been Carrasco’s first major league win.
Perhaps the recent performance of Mitch Talbot had something to do with inserting the rookie into the rotation right away.
Talbot has been struggling for the last two months, and with Justin Masterson’s inconsistency and Josh Tomlin and Jeanmar Gomez being rookies, it makes Fausto Carmona the only starter that skipper Manny Acta has any faith in.
That’s probably why Acta has kept Carmona perhaps one batter too long in each of his last two starts. The bullpen has been taxed by the starters barely making it through five innings, so when Carmona takes the bump, the manager needs him to go at least seven frames.
Some other thoughts on the Tribe as they enter the last month of the season:
Another reason why the Tribe is so maddening to watch: Joe Smith. Smith has shown effectiveness since coming back from Columbus, but then he goes through a stretch like he’s in right now, where he walks too many.
He comes into games for one reason and one reason only, to get right-handed hitters out. So, in the last week, he’s come in three times and walked the first batter he faced. On Tuesday, Acta brought him in to face three straight righties, Alex Rios, Paul Konerko, and Carlos Quentin. He walked Rios, struck out Konerko, and then walked Quentin.
Please, let’s hope he’s not on the roster come 2011.
It appears that Jared Goedert will be this year’s Jordan Brown in terms of not getting added to the big league roster in September. Once again, more excuses from the front office about defense are the reason as to why he won’t be called up.
First, it’s not like the Tribe is getting gold glove play at the hot corner from Jayson Nix, Andy Marte, and Luis Valbuena. It is doubtful Goedert would be worse. And really, isn’t it possible that he could hit better than the .170 average put up by Valbuena. Just another reason to cast a jaundiced eye at Tribe management.
The White Sox used their first round pick in this year’s draft, southpaw Chris Sale, in the first game of the series this week, and actually used him to close game three! Can you imagine the Indians ever doing something like that under the current management regime? Heck, the Tribe’s first round pick, Drew Pomerantz, didn’t even sign until August 16th.
So as not to be all-critical, the recent issue of Baseball America listed three Cleveland farmhands as players to watch in 2011. It bodes well for the organization that 2B Cord Phelps, OF Nick Weglarz, the 2009 first pick for the Indians, right-hander Alex White were all mentioned.
The writer said that White has a better upside than any of the pitchers recently acquired in deals by the Tribe. He could be in the rotation as early as next season, although he likely will not open the season in Cleveland even if he throws 20 scoreless innings in Arizona.
Oops, there goes the negativity again.
KM
Cleveland Sports Perspective 