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The Cleveland Indians gave their fans a lot to be excited about this weekend. Despite floundering through a series against the Seattle Mariners earlier this week, the Tribe went up to Michigan and made a statement. After spending years getting pushed around by the Detroit Tigers, the Indians swept their long-time rivals this weekend at Comerica Park.
After a series like that, Cleveland fans should be thrilled. And yet, there’s a dark cloud hanging over the team. Sure, the Indians put forth an impressive few games against the Tigers, but it didn’t come without a big loss.
Cleveland, a team built around its starting pitching, may be without one of its aces for an undetermined length of time.
Midway through the third inning in today’s 6-3 win over the Tigers, Carlos Carrasco was attempting to cover first base on a ground out. After turning awkwardly to catch a ball thrown his way, he fell to the ground in serious pain. Indians fans had to watch the unfortunate sight of Carrasco being helped off the field, unable to put weight on his left leg.
The early diagnosis is Carrasco suffered a hamstring injury. While it’s much better than any sort of knee injury, it’s still unclear how long he’ll be on the shelf. For obvious reasons, Cleveland is hoping it won’t be long. If the team has to deal with the loss of Carrasco for a significant amount of time, it could be devastating to its hopes of ending the postseason drought.
Carrasco is seen by many as the second-most important player in the Indians’ rotation, right behind former Cy Young winner Corey Kluber. After a rough first game of the year, Carrasco settled down and won his next two starts. It was a relieving sight to see him play so well, as this Cleveland team simply isn’t built survive without great pitching.
This is why Carrasco going on the DL is incredibly concerning for the Tribe. Sure, Kluber finally settled down yesterday, and Danny Salazar has had a great start to the season. However, losing one of the top pitchers in the rotation will be very difficult to overcome.
As mentioned, Carrasco avoided any sort of knee damage, which is a slight relief. The hope is he’s only dealing with a significant pull to his hamstring. Obviously any injury for him is bad, but if it’s something that only results in his missing a few starts, the Indians can survive.
It won’t be easy, but Cleveland does have the benefit of having an extra starter out in its bullpen. Trevor Bauer was a member of the Indians rotation for the past couple years, but was relegated to the pen to open the year. He came on in relief today once Carrasco went down, and ended up holding down the fort for the win.
The thought would be the Indians can just slot Bauer into Carrasco’s spot until the latter pitcher heals up. It puts a dent in the team’s pitching depth, that’s for sure. At the same time, it’s much better than having to call up an unproven rookie from the minors.
That said, the longer Carrasco is out, the direr the situation becomes. Bauer was already rumored to be getting his starting job back because Cody Anderson had been struggling mightily as of late. If Anderson continues to look shaky, Cleveland no longer has a backup option ready to replace him. While prospect Mike Clevinger is expected to see a call-up sometime later this season, it’s too early for this to happen now.
Again, Indians fans shouldn’t shift into doomsayer mode just yet. Carrasco is heading back to Cleveland for an MRI, and if he’ll only be out for a couple weeks, the team can survive.
Any longer than that and things get dicey. Right now, the Indians and their fans need to pray for a good prognosis. If Carrasco has a lengthy road to recovery, it might derail the team’s hopes of getting to the postseason.
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