2010 Rotation Order

After looking at pitchers' offerings and pitch movement, I suggested breaking up Carmona and Masterson, and breaking up Carrasco and Tomlin. It looks like Manny is thinking along those lines.

2010 Rotation Order:
Fausto Carmona
Carlos Carrasco
Justin Masterson
Josh Tomlin
Mitch Talbot

Cleveland will not use off days to skip the fifth spot.

What to watch for:
Carmona - BB/9. Carmona needs that to be below 3, if he is to take the next step in his development. Infield defense. With Carmona, you should see tons of ground balls, few strikeouts and few fly balls. Strong infield defense can make Carmona very effective.

Carrasco - Carrasco admitted that he would panic when men got on base in his first call up. The thing to look for is him learning to limit the damage and work out of trouble. We have 2 small samples to look at with Carrasco's MLB career. In one, he struggles. In the other. he does well. There is a 5% difference in contact percentages and a 10% difference in o-swing percentages. So, these rates bear watching.

Masterson - Approach and pitch selection to lefties. It is well documented that Masterson struggles against lefties. It is the primary reason people think he should be a reliever. The burning question going into the season for Masterson is how he plans to get them out this year. He basically abandoned his changeup late in the season last year. It is the change that Carmona uses against lefties. Masterson has been featuring his 4-seamer against lefties.

Tomlin - First pitch strikes. Tomlin does not feature outstanding stuff. He needs to challenge hitters. He threw 60.5 % of his first pitches for strikes. That is slightly above average. He needs to stay aggressive and not fall behind in the count.

Talbot - Watch to see, if he is hitting the catcher's target. Talbot doesn't miss many bats but isn't an extreme groundball pitcher like Carmona. He likes to work down and way with his fastball and change to lefties. He will come back inside to them with his cutter. To righties, Talbot likes to work both sides of the plate. He doesn't pitch down much to righties. Talbot is a pitcher that needs a good game plan, and he needs to hit his spots.