Fausto Carmona

Through Fausto Carmona’s career, he has pitched a few great games, but he’s pitched a lot more ugly ones. The fact is that his team can’t rely on his inconsistency. Carmona needs to realize he has a strong defense backing him up. If he can’t get the strikeout, he needs to let the batter make contact and know that his defense can make the play. He is only one of nine players on the diamond, yet he plays like he’s the only out there.

The Indians dropped their second game in a row today in Minnesota, losing 10-3 to the Twins.  While two losses in a row may not seem like a big deal to most, many Indians fans are starting to worry.  Immediately after the game was over, numerous comments on the Cleveland Plain Dealer's website were blasting the Indians.  One person predicted over 90 losses while another called for a players only meeting.

Fausto Carmona and Carlos Carrasco have done a nice job giving the sparse crowds at Progressive Field their best impression of a pinball machine, getting lit up to the tune of 17 runs in 9.2 innings. While it's certainly disconcerting to see the No. 1 and No. 2 Tribe starters getting beat like a drum, it definitely shouldn't come as a surprise.

The Indians honored the memory of Bob Feller before their Opening Day game today.

If only they had honored it with their play as well.

It has been almost four years since the Indians last finished a season with record of .500 or better. The last time, in fact, was 2007, when the Indians won the AL Central with a record or 96-66. Since that time it has been all down hill for the Tribe,  81 victories in 2008, 65 in 2009, and 69 in 2010. Had it not been for a hot 7-3 finish the Tribe would have finished in the AL Central basement for the second consecutive season.

Bad news for Tribe fans: this season may not be much better than any of those.

The Cleveland Indians can’t possibly be much worse than they have been each of the last two two seasons. After going 65-97 in 2009, Cleveland improved slightly last season winning 69 games. They once again finished in fourth place in the AL Central, but could be looking at a last place finish in 2011.

Spring Training is well underway, and after assessing what the Indians have to offer in terms of position players here, it's time now to take a look at the team's pitching. 

A good starting rotation can cure many ills, and with the AL Central up for grabs like it normally is, whoever assembles the strongest rotation could easily take the division come September. There is some real pitching talent in the division, but we've also lost three of the last four AL Cy Young Award winners (CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Zack Greinke).

At the end of the year, whichever rotation fares best will probably get a chance to strut their stuff in the postseason. With that, let's take a look at how the AL Central's rotations stand up to each other.

As deep as the White Sox rotation is, the Indians' is equally shallow. Sports have been downright rough on Cleveland fans the past few years.

Sigh...

Fausto Carmona leads the way, followed by Justin Masterson and Carlos Carrasco and after that, well, the bottom kind of falls out.

Fausto Carmona was a legit Cy Young candidate in 2007 but got injured and lost his way in 2008 and 2009.   

In the rotation, they have (blank) and who else?

Where is Sizemore playing?

How long will Hafner be on the DL this season?

All of these questions have been asked in one form or another this offseason. That’s not what makes them interesting.

What makes them interesting is that they were actual questions raised on veteranpresence.com in the spring of 2007. Tribe fans everywhere remember that 2007 was the last year the Indians were relevant, and that was coming off a 78-84 campaign.