Pitching Moves

You can accuse the Indians of a lot of things, but being unrealistic about their pitching staff isn't one of them. Shapiro was pretty direct in his comments to the media on Thursday, and he didn't wait long to shake things up. By now, you've read that Danny Graves was designated for assignment, Fausto Carmona was called up as a reliever, and Mota's moving to middle relief.

A lot of people had speculated that Steve Karsay, who's pitched well in Buffalo, would get the nod as Graves' replacement. But Karsay's not a guy who's going to give them a lot of innings, and the Tribe's moves show that their top priority is finding guys who can eat up some innings in relief.

The other thing about Karsay is that he's not on the 40 man roster, which means that the Indians would need to make another roster move in order to purchase his contract. They've still got Miller on the 15 day DL, so I guess moving him to the 60 day would be the likely move if they wanted to free up a roster spot. (Update: Sorry, I'm an idiot--They've got room on the 40 man. I forgot about Graves).

The Tribe's beleagured pitching staff did get some good news yesterday. According to this article, Betancourt's back has come around more quickly than expected, and he may be back as soon as Tuesday.