Opening Day 2010!

It's the beginning of a new era for the Cleveland Indians. As the beat writer for indians.com Anthony Castrovince so eloquently put it in his CastroTurf blog post: Acta One, Scene One - the first game of Manny Acta's tenure as the Manager of the Cleveland Indians. But not only is this the beginning of a new manager's tenure, it's a chance for the revival of four key players' careers - Jake Westbrook, Fausto Carmona, Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner. We'll start with the Pitchers.

First off, Jake Westbrook starts today for the first time since May of 2008. It's got to be a nerve racking experience, pitching for the first time in two years after Tommy John surgery to rebuild a pitching elbow, but I think that if anyone can bounce back to be as effective as he once was it's Westbrook. Consider that before the injury, from 2004-2007 Westbrook made at least 25 starts and kept his ERA under 4.50 for all of those years. If you just consider from '04-'06, as Westbrook was injured for a little bit of '07, he had win totals of 15, 15 and 14, pitched at least 210 innings, and had at least two complete games in each of those three seasons. He's also a sinker-ball pitcher, so it's not like he relies solely on his velocity and curveball to strike people out. Even though he's no spring chicken at the age of 32, I think his temprement and attitude should be just the right recipe for success this season.

Second in the rotation is Fausto Carmona. Now he has been known as sort of a head case who wears his emotions on his sleeve, but he has given every indication since playing winterball that he has gotten himself straight. He had an excellent spring, and Mike Redmond seems to know just how to handle him (as the now catcher of the Red Sox Victor Martinez used to do) and will be Carmona's personal catcher throughout the year. I'm all for anything that gets Carmona at least a little close to the dominant starter that he was in '07 when he went 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA in 215 innings from 32 starts. In that season, Fausto only walked 60 batters. In '08 and '09, seasons where he pitched 120.2 and 125.1 innings, respectively, he walked 70 batters each. That's part of the reason why Acta has stressed so much the importance of pounding the strike zone - walks are the enemy. But I do believe that Carmona has worked hard enough and shown a lot in Spring Training to give hope that he will once again show that form that got him votes for the Cy Young Award in '07 (which CC Sabathia won...although he had "."s in his name back then).

So here's hoping to a good season for the both of them. The '10 Indians starting rotation will definitely need their consistency and stability if they're going to be competitive this year. I'll be back later with my take on Hafner and Sizemore.