The All-Star break will take place after tomorrow afternoon’s games and it’s a good time for organizations to evaluate their rosters.
The Cleveland Indians are no exception.
The trade deadline will be here at the end of the month, so don’t expect any real activity until the week before July 31st.
However, teams can make internal moves, and that’s where Tribe GM Chris Antonetti may be active, because he has a very weak link in his starting rotation.
That would be Mitch Talbot, who for the most part has been getting hit hard every fifth day when it is his turn to pitch.
That’s not a big surprise, because Talbot was considered shaky coming into the season.
Although Talbot won 10 games last season (10-13 with 4.41 ERA), it was horribly weighted. The righty was 5-3 with an ERA under 3.00 in April and September, the two months when baseball people tend to discount statistics.
The rest of the year he was 5-10 with an ERA over 5.00.
That means that in nine months of big league pitching, Mitch Talbot has given the Indians two real good months, and seven mediocre ones.
For a team in a race for a division title, that’s simply not good enough. Especially when there seem to be better alternatives at Columbus.
First, you have right-hander Jeanmar Gomez, who is 9-3 with a 2.59 ERA. Gomez has stepped it up after being demoted to AAA earlier this season. He has strikeouts and just 29 walks in 94 innings of work.
He would appear to be the frontrunner to replace Talbot if the organization makes a move with the rotation.
Zach McAllister would be another candidate with an 8-3 mark and a 2.97 ERA. McAllister made his big league debut this week against Toronto, allowing three runs in four innings. He may have been victimized a bit by home plate umpire Dana DeMuth’s moving strike zone.
A third candidate would be lefty David Huff, who is 8-2 with a 3.84 ERA. Remember that Huff won 10 games at the big league level in 2009 with the Tribe.
Huff has been working on a cut fastball, and since he started using the pitch, his numbers have been better than his season stats.
He would bring a southpaw to the rotation, which the Indians currently do not have.
A dark horse candidate would be another lefty, Scott Barnes. Barnes is 7-3 with a 3.61 ERA and has 85 strikeouts in 82 innings. He doesn’t have any prior big league experience though.
He did pitch in the Arizona Fall League last year, and came to the Tribe from the Giants for Ryan Garko. Another case of the Indians getting a good prospect in a trade for a marginal veteran.
Based on the way Talbot has pitched recently, all of these guys would be able to keep the Tribe in games at the very least. Something Talbot hasn’t been able to do as of late.
The Indians need to continue to win to stay in this thing, and guys who can pitch six solid innings every fifth day are gold, particularly with the team’s bullpen.
And lately, that bullpen is showing signs of wear. Counting last Saturday, when Fausto Carmona left after two innings with an injury, Cleveland starters have failed to go five innings in four of their last seven game.
That’s taking a toll on some people, such as Tony Sipp and Vinnie Pestano.
It will be interesting to see if the Tribe starting rotation will have a different look when the season starts up again Thursday in Baltimore.
The bet here says it will.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 