Injury to Corey Kluber a big blow
Corey Kluber suffered a non-displaced frature of his right ulna and will not be able to pitch for the Cleveland Indians for some time.
Corey Kluber has not quite looked like himself this season, but his presence will be missed. Kluber suffered an arm injury down in Miami pitching against the Marlins. A 100+ mph ball off the bat of Brian Anderson hit Kluber directly in the arm and the injury was apparent instantly. Kluber left the game and did not return. Later it was reported that Kluber suffered a non-displaced fracture of his right ulna.
The Indians are already without Mike Clevinger after he suffered an injury earlier this season. Now Cleveland will need to rely on the arms of Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco and Shane Bieber. Luckily for the Tribe Bauer and Bieber have pitched well so far and Carrasco appears to be turning things around. The problem is that Cleveland now has two find two starters to replace Kluber and Clevinger in the rotation.
There is already one candidate to come up and join the rotation, Jefry Rodriguez. Rodriguez started one game earlier this season and was fantastic. Granted it was against the hapless Marlins, it is still impressive. Rodriguez allowed one run on three hits and struck out three. After Rodriguez there is not a lot of options.
Of the names listed by Zack Meisel in his article Asher Wojciechowski may be the best option. Chih-Wei Hu and Shao Ching-Chiang were not exactly inspiring in Spring Training. Wojciechowski has an ERA of 1.67 in five starts for AAA Columbus. Hu and Ching-Chiang have ERA’s of 5.01 and 7.62 respectively in five starts each.
Rodriguez and Wojciechowski may not be Corey Kluber or Mike Clevinger, but if they can at least pitch at an average level the Indians should be able to weather the storm until they return.
Update
The Cleveland Indians have placed Corey Kluber on the 10-Day IL and will be re-examined in 3-4 weeks.
The fact that Kluber will not need surgery at this time is a good sign. Surgery would shut down Kluber for the foreseeable future. This shows that there is the potential for a return later this season.
It is also worth noting that the Tribe called up Jon Edwards to take his spot on the active roster. Edwards has appeared in six games earlier this season with an ERA of 1.80 over five innings. Edwards has also managed to earn two wins out of the pen. This could be a temporary move as they have their rotation set for this weekend and could make a move for a rotation arm after the series with the Mariners is complete.
