The last 12 months have seen the Indians rotation undergo a massive overhaul. A year ago at this time, the rotation was nearly set in stone. One year later, almost nothing is certain.
Heading into last winter, CC Sabathia, Fausto Carmona, Jake Westbrook and Paul Byrd were fixtures in the first four spots in the rotation. The fifth spot was to be determined by a spring training competition involving Cliff Lee, Jeremy Sowers and Aaron Laffey. Twelve months later, the rotation looks like this: Lee, Carmona, question mark, question mark and question mark. The Indians have plenty of candidates to be answers to those questions, but as the offseason begins, only Lee and Carmona have guaranteed spots.
Westbrook is still recovering from Tommy John surgery and isn't expected back until sometime around the All-Star break next year. With regards to the Opening Day rotation, the leading in-house candidates for the three remaining spots are Anthony Reyes, Sowers, Laffey and Zach Jackson.
Of that group, Reyes has a slight edge on the other three, based on his impressive showing -- 2-1 with a 1.83 ERA -- in six starts after coming to the Indians in a midseason trade with St. Louis.
However, Reyes also had to be shut down for the last two weeks of the season because of a sore elbow, so he, too, is a question mark. Because of all that uncertainty surrounding their rotation for 2009, the Indians have as one of their offseason priorities the acquisition of a veteran starting pitcher.
