I don't know if Cleveland Indians starter Jake Westbrook has enjoyed all the time he's spent on the disabled list the last two seasons, but I know he's having a hard time staying away from it. Just a few weeks after returning from his latest stint, Westbrook felt a little soreness in is elbow after his last start against the White Sox.The Indians were hoping that it was nothing out of the ordinary, and that Jake would be fine in time for his next scheduled start tonight in Arlington against the Rangers. He won't be, as he's been placed back on the disabled list.
This poses an interesting problem for the Indians, as they have no idea who is going to take Jake's place in the rotation while he's down.
The club will make a corresponding roster move to bring up a pitcher from Triple-A Buffalo for Tuesday's game. Manager Eric Wedge said Monday night that Tuesday's starter had yet to be determined, and, with sixth starter Jeremy Sowers unavailable because of the seven innings he tossed Sunday, it was possible the Indians would use a host of relievers for the ballgame.
"We've got to talk about it," Wedge said. "We've got a couple different options, and we've got to get somebody on their way."
The problem is that the Indians are just running low on arms. Westbrook will be joining Fausto Carmona on the disabled list, and as mentioned in the quote above, the team's sixth starter Jeremy Sowers just pitched seven innings on Sunday so he isn't available.
Another option would have been Adam Miller, but he just had surgery to repair a tendon in a finger on his right hand, and he could be out for the rest of the season. There's also Brian Slocum down at Triple-A Buffalo, but he's pitched so well down there he just got himself demoted to the bullpen. Cleveland's other options are Josh Tomlin and Jeff Harris, but Tomlin was just called up to Buffalo to replace Slocum, and Harris is scheduled to start on Wednesday for Buffalo.
So it's entirely possible that reliever Tom Mastny will start for the Indians tonight, and that vaunted bullpen of theirs (and by vaunted, I mean terrible) will have to pitch the entire game.
