Carmona: Will begin season as Indians fifth starter

Adam Miller's re-assignment to Minor League camp Tuesday means the battle for the fifth spot in the Cleveland rotation is officially over. "Fausto [Carmona] is our fifth starter," Indians manager Eric Wedge said, confirming what had been expected for several days.

Carmona, 2-1 with a 3.60 ERA in four Grapefruit League starts. In 10 innings this spring, the right-hander has given up 10 hits and three walks while striking out five. The 23-year-old Dominican went 1-10 with a 5.42 ERA in 38 games, including seven starts, for the Indians as a rookie last season. Like a lot of rookies, Carmona was inconsistent. During one stretch between April 30 and July 1, Carmona allowed just three runs and struck out 19 in 18 1/3 innings. On the other hand, opponents batted .374 against the right-hander, including .395 after the break. Wedge said Carmona's struggles at closer should not overshadow the great job Carmona did as a starter and the "unbelievable" job the youngster did in a setup role for six weeks.

Carmona, who was ticketed to open the season as the No. 1 starter at Triple-A Buffalo until left-hander Cliff Lee went down with an injury, has tweaked his delivery and believes the changes will help him during the coming season. The change helped improve Carmona's performance enough to convince Wedge and the Indians that the right-hander deserves to start in a season-opening rotation that will also include C.C. Sabathia, Jake Westbrook, Jeremy Sowers and Paul Byrd.

He’s worth consideration in AL-only formats, though it’s unclear what his role will be once Cliff Lee is ready to return from his abdominal injury.
Source: MLB.com