Justin Masterson: Starting Reliever

Source: Yardbarker.com

My demands were finally met, and Justin Masterson was moved to the bullpen for the remainder of the season to keep an eye on his innings.

Before you start whining to me about how he deserves to finish the season as a starter, how he’s shown flashes of brilliance lately, how he’s better than the Lefty Trokia from Hell (Aaron Laffey, David Huff and Jeremy Sowers) getting starts, I’d like to show you Masterson’s innings since 2008:

2008: 88.1
2009: 129.1
2010 (through Sunday): 173 (and counting)

Now, Masterson is only 25. He’s still a developing pitcher, and his arm needs to be protected. Placing him in the pen for the remainder of the season helps him stay sharp and get work in while keeping an eye on that climbing inning total.

So this plan is all nice an dandy, except for one thing: Mitch Talbot couldn’t stay on the mound on Sunday, and is day-to-day with right shoulder inflammation after he was pulled after 14 pitches.

Seeing as Talbot couldn’t get anyone out, and Manny Acta needed someone to eat up innings, he did probably the most sensible thing to do in this tough situation: He called in Masterson.

Masterson was hurt by a Luis Valbuena error, but all in all, he pitched 7 strong innings for the Indians. He also raised some questions about whether I might be wrong about him. I feel that Masterson will never be anything more than an inconsistent starter – glimpses of promise here and there with a whole lotta disappointment in between. However, I feel he can be a lock-down setup guy, and when you pair that with Chris (Pure Rage) Perez, that’s a pretty intimidating back end of the pen.

But more and more, Masterson has been answering my questions about him. His latest “starting reliever” role really impressed me, that he was ready to go and pitch without the preparation. I’m not entirely convinced he won’t eventually end up in the pen, but I’m starting to come around that maybe he does deserve the benefit of the doubt on a rotation spot next year. This is probably what the rotation will look like:

Carmona
Masterson
Carrasco
Gomez/Tomlin/FA signee
Talbot

Is that a playoff rotation? Hell no, unless Fausto is in 2007 mode and Carlos Carrasco is a legit front-end starter. But there are fewer questions in that rotation compared to 2010’s rotation, where we didn’t know what kind of pitcher Fausto Carmona would be, we didn’t know if Jake Westbrook could come back, we didn’t know who the hell Mitch Talbot was (and he IS a #5 starter, but still, the Tribe only gave up Kelly Shoppach for him) and we didn’t know if Justin Masterson could be a starter.

I’m a lot more comfortable with the idea of Masterson staying a starter in 2011 right now. I’d like to see him end this season in the pen for the sake of saving his arm, and then start next season in the rotation. Congratulations, Justin. You just bought yourself half a season from me, half a season free of my bitching. Make me proud.

And fine … Dan, maybe you were right about him.