Mysterious Ways

Carlos Carrasco was officially put on the 15-day disabled list this morning and RHP Frank Herrmann was recalled to take the spot on the 25-man roster.

This does not solve the quandary of who will be the Tribe's starter on Saturday against Detroit.

In my mind there are three possibilities, excluding David Huff, who would have to come back on short rest to make the start.  We'll go from simplest to most complex.

(3)  No further roster moves are made.  Justin Germano slides into the starting rotation until either Carrasco or Mitch Talbot is healthy enough to return.  Boo hiss.  Germano hasn't made a real major league start (he started the season finale in 2010, but threw only 35 pitches) in two years and he was never very good at it to begin with (8-17, 5.50 in 36 GS).

(2)  Herrmann is returned to Columbus following Friday's game and Zach McAllister is recalled to start on Saturday.  McAllister has won his his first three starts for Columbus and is not the top tier sort of prospect that the team would worry about starting the arbitration clock on.  They also thought enough of him to add to the 40-man roster in the off-season and he has 30 AAA starts under his belt.  So far, I'm the only one suggesting this, but regard it is a possibility.

Why?

(1)  This is by far the most complicated.  This scenario involves Alex White making his MLB debut on Saturday.  Again, Herrmann would be demoted to clear a spot on the 25-man, but at least one more move would need to be made.  White is not on the 40-man, thus someone would need to be DFA'ed in order for him to come up.  Perusing the roster, the only name that seems reasonable is Jess Todd.  Though Todd competed deep into spring camp for one of the bullpen spots, his performance at AAA this year has been atrocious, 12.38 ERA atrocious.  So.... we have several factors working against White.  Maybe the Indians don't want to expose Todd.  Maybe they don't want to start White's arbitration clock.  Maybe they want to be sure that when he comes up, he's sure to stay.  What would the team do if White made three or four great starts and then Talbot and Carrasco were ready to come back.  Organizations often structure the recall of top prospects so that they are not shuttled back and forth.

This is all food for thought, though not for long.  Manny Acta tweeted that he will "probably" announce Saturday's starter after tonight's game.

Cheers.