As we noted over the weekend, the Indians pitching staff -- the strength of the team -- is in some serious trouble. They’re two starters down with Danny Salazar sidelined with forearm tightness and Carlos Carrasco breaking a bone in his hand on a comebacker on Saturday. Salazar is likely going to be out the rest of the year and the playoffs. Carrasco, almost certainly.
While the Indians still have four guys who could go -- Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Josh Tomlin, and Mike Clevinger -- Yahoo’s Jeff Passan is hearing something else:
Sources: Cleveland discussing three-man postseason rotation with Kluber and Bauer on short rest, Tomlin/Clevinger piggyback or alternating.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 19, 2016
The piggy-backing of two starters is kind of neat. If it’s alternating that’s sort of defacto four-man rotation. We’ve certainly seen some creativity in playoff rotations over the years. The Indians may need to employ some.