Cleveland Sports Forum

Since they are playing each other so much from now on, he may be right.

Indians put Talbot on DL, recall Carrera
By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com | 07/13/11 1:44 PM ET

CLEVELAND -- The revolving door that has been the Indians' starting rotation continues to turn in light of injuries. The latest pitcher to vacate his spot is struggling starter Mitch Talbot, who is now sidelined with a lower back strain.

On Wednesday, one day before Cleveland opens the season's second half with a four-game set in Baltimore, the Tribe placed Talbot on the 15-day disabled list with the back issue. For the time being, the Indians have recalled outfielder Ezequiel Carrera from Triple-A Columbus to provide some extra help off the bench.

The makeup of the rotation remains undecided.



What is known is that the Indians will open the second half with Justin Masterson, Josh Tomlin and Carlos Carrasco -- the team's most consistent starting arms during the first half -- working the first three games, respectively, against the Orioles. The Tribe will need to add a starter for Sunday's game in Baltimore.

The most likely candidate to be promoted for Sunday's outing is right-hander Jeanmar Gomez, who has pitched in four games for Cleveland and has gone 9-3 with a 2.40 ERA in 14 starts for Columbus this season. Gomez was scratched from Wednesday's Triple-A All-Star Game and was instead slated to pitch for Class A Mahoning Valley.

On Monday, the Indians are scheduled to play a doubleheader in Minnesota against the Twins. Cleveland still needs to name its starters for those two games as well.

It is expected that the Tribe will activate righty Fausto Carmona (strained right quadriceps) from the 15-day DL for one of the starts. Carmona suffered the injury during a fall while running to first base in the third inning of an Interleague game against the Reds on July 2. He is 4-10 with a 5.78 ERA in 18 starts this season.

Cleveland has candidates in lefty David Huff (8-2, 3.70 ERA at Triple-A) and Zach McAllister (8-3, 2.97 ERA at Triple-A) for the second game against the Twins on Monday. Huff pitched for the Tribe in each of the past two years, while McAllister made his Major League debut for the Indians on Thursday.

Talbot, who spent time on the 15-day DL earlier this year with a right elbow injury, is 2-6 with a 6.33 ERA in 11 starts for the Indians this season. Over his past five outings, the right-hander has gone 0-3 with a 9.49 ERA, allowing 26 earned runs on 41 hits over just 24 2/3 innings. Talbot was sidelined with a mid back strain in August of last season.

Carrera provides Cleveland with a versatile outfielder for the next few days. He hit .250 in five games with the Indians in May and has been a standout performer this season at Columbus. In 81 games for the Clippers, Carrera has hit .288 with a .373 on-base percentage, mixing in two homers, 25 RBIs, 35 stolen bases and 63 runs scored.

Gomez is supposedly pitching for the Scrappers tonight.

The Padres want "impact players in return for their movable pieces," tweets MLB.com's Corey Brock. The Padres' best trade chips are relievers Heath Bell and Mike Adams, though Ryan Ludwick, Aaron Harang, and Chad Qualls should draw interest.

Lonnie Chisenhall (cheek) told reporters that he expects to play Thursday against the Orioles.
Chisenhall suffered a sinus fracture when he was struck in the face by a pitch last Thursday, but the All-Star break has given him ample time to recover and he's aiming to return to the Cleveland starting lineup when the second half of the season resumes. The 22-year-old is 8-for-30 with a home run since arriving in the majors.
Source: Nick Camino on Twitter

The Indians are expected to recall Jeanmar Gomez from the minors to start Sunday against the Orioles.
He'll take Mitch Talbot's spot in the rotation. Gomez is starting for Class A Mahoning Valley on Wednesday night while Triple-A Columbus is on their All-Star break. The 23-year-old right-hander has a 2.40 ERA over 14 starts at the minor league level this season, averaging 7.2 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. He's been largely unimpressive when given opportunities in the majors before, so we'd wait and see in AL-only formats.
Related: Mitch Talbot
Source: Cleveland Indians on Twitter Jul 13, 1:47 PM

The Padres want "impact players in return for their movable pieces," tweets MLB.com's Corey Brock.

Really? Darn, I was hoping they wanted useless scrubs in return!

Very well timed injury to Talbot, eh?

"It's been a fun time," Masterson said. "It cracks us up sometimes as a team. We've been in or right at first place this entire first half and half the time, with the vibe outside the clubhouse, you almost check yourself like, 'We are in first, right?'"

According to Buster Olney this morning, the Tribe is not limiting itself to small budget options in the trade market.

I find that hard to believe.

Tribe needs big bucks if it is serious about signing the HS players it drafted.

They won't be picking up anybody with a big contract.

Gomez is supposedly pitching for the Scrappers tonight

Jeanmar Gomez pitched 4 innings last night for Mahoning Valley, since Columbus, Akron and Lake County all had the night off.

Tribe needs to take this series vs the Orioles and get the second 'half' off in the right direction.

Should I admit that I would like to have OC get a little tweak injury so they bring up Kipnis?

OC has made some good contributions, but the team needs some fresh energy and a guy who might hit above .250 with some pop.

If the Tribe had anyone that would take OC off their hands for a bag of balls, he would be gone.