CLEVELAND _ The Indians have one too many starting pitchers on the major league roster, but for at least a short stretch, will be sticking with a six-man rotation.
Danny Salazar was officially activated from the 10-day disabled list Saturday. Lefty Ryan Merritt, who was in the bullpen as insurance, was optioned to Triple-A Columbus. Still, it leaves the Indians with six starting pitchers and, most likely in the not-so-distant future, will warrant a decision on who is the odd man out.
The rotation includes Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Josh Tomlin, Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger and Salazar. According to manager Terry Francona, the Indians will see how it goes one time through the rotation with all six starting pitchers getting an outing. But, eventually, someone is likely to lose his spot because of the logistics of managing the bullpen through a long season.
"I can't see us staying like that forever," Francona said. "We may do it for the time being. My guess is that there will be a need arise that we have to get back to five just because if you're going six, there's no room for someone to have a hiccup, or you kind of get into your bullpen too much."
The Indians could be giving a six-man rotation a try in part because there isn't a clear course of action. Clevinger is the only one who could be optioned to Triple-A, but he's been fantastic since joining the rotation in Salazar's absence, posting a 1.36 ERA in his past six starts. It'd be difficult to alter his place on the club now.
That then leaves Josh Tomlin and Trevor Bauer. Tomlin has been better recently, in part thanks to his reviewing film with pitching coach Mickey Callaway, which revealed that he was overturning his leg toward second base in his delivery. Tomlin and Bauer _ along with Clevinger and Salazar _ have each pitched in the bullpen for a short time in their careers, though Bauer would likely benefit to a greater degree from being able to just pitch and not worry about getting through five to six innings. Bauer's stuff could play up more in the bullpen.
It won't necessarily only be the top five starting pitchers who keep their spots. How one might do in the bullpen, only focused on an inning or two at a time, is another variable.
"You can't just take the five that are maybe doing the best at the moment and shoveling one guy to the bullpen," Francona said. "That may not help over the course of the next month. Those are all things that we would certainly think about."
