Fausto Carmona Demoted to the Desert to Straighten Himself Out

For some reason, I had it in my mind that Fausto Carmona was due for a big bounceback year. After a shaky 2008, I figured he would shake off the heavy workload that the Indians' run to the ALCS in 2007 created and use his power sinker to help take the Indians back to the top of the AL Central.

Boy, was I wrong.

With 12 starts under his belt, Carmona's 2-7 with an ERA of over 7.00, and Saturday the Indians announced they'd be sending him to Arizona to work on his struggles.

If you're like me, you read Arizona and went, "Well, the Indians Triple-A affiliate is in Columbus and their Double-A affiliate is in Akron and their advanced Single-A team is in Kinston, NC, and ... where did they send this guy?" They sent him to Goodyear, Ariz., where the whole of their minor-league staff is located, so they can focus on Carmona. Which means that they don't even really want him pitching games right now.

Reading the story, it kind of sounds like the Indians think that Carmona's problems are partially in his head. Maybe that's the case; he's actually walking more hitters than he's striking out this year with a whopping 6.1 walks allowed per nine innings. A quick glance at his batted ball numbers (the number of line drives hit against him is way up, as is the number of flyballs that turn into home runs) indicate that he's getting hit much harder this year than in the past, which means that hitters are sitting on him and waiting for strikes, pounding whatever he's putting over the plate.

In his place, the Indians will call up Tomo Ohka, who will probably be terrible, but can't really be worse than Carmona. They didn't give a timetable for Carmona's return, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them send him for a stint in the minors once they think they have him on the right track. It's obvious that they have to do something, though, I think this move indicates that not even the Indians are sure what it is.