Tribe's staff is deep, talented

I like how the Cleveland Indians' pitching staff has shaped up for opening day, and beyond. Specifically, one week from today, when 20-year-old left-hander C.C. Sabathia makes his major-league debut.
The Indians' decision, and general manager John Hart said it was manager Charlie Manuel's call, to put Sabathia and probably 22-year-old Tim Drew in the starting rotation should be roundly applauded.
The future of the Indians' rests on the strong arms of Sabathia and Drew. It didn't make sense to me to send either youngster to Buffalo or Akron for an extra year of minor league seasoning. There's nothing they could do at the Class AAA or Class AA level that would further their development like a full season in the big leagues.
According to various reports, the Indians' starting rotation will look like this: Bartolo Colon, who will start Monday against the White Sox and again next Saturday against the Orioles; Chuck Finley, Dave Burba, Sabathia and Drew.
Moved to the 'pen: That rotation will push Steve Woodard and Steve Karsay to the bullpen, where they will serve in either long relief or as setup men for closer Bob Wickman.
The remainder of Cleveland's bullpen will consist of Paul Shuey, who just agreed to a three-year contract extension (another solid move) and will be counted on to pitch the eighth inning as the setup man for Wickman; left-hander Ricardo Rincon, Steve Reed and Justin Speier.
That will likely leave Willie Blair as the odd man out. Blair would have commanded as much as $1.1 million if the Indians kept him on their opening day roster.
That's a lot of money for a guy whose spring ERA is almost 8.
(Speier's is even higher, but he's considerably younger -- 27, Blair is 35 -- and cheaper. Besides, under the terms of Blair's contract he would not accept a minor league assignment.
On the D.L.: We should also mention Charles Nagy and Jaret Wright, who will start the season on the disabled list. If and when either man comes off, it's going to present quite a problem for Hart and Manuel. Both Nagy and Wright are starters, period.
Now, if Sabathia and/or Drew struggle, then they could be sent to Buffalo. But if they both pitch in the regular season like they have in Florida, then the big question becomes: What to do with Nagy and Wright?
A trade would be the logical solution, much more so for Wright. He's younger and has far more upside than Nagy, who's 33 and presumably on the downside of his career.
Nagy, from 1995-99, was one of only two major league pitchers to win 15 or more games every season. The other was Greg Maddux of the Atlanta Braves.
But, Nagy has never been thought of in Maddux's class, because his ERA was appreciably higher and he pitched for teams that always gave him great run support. While Maddux accumulated his numbers by winning games 3-1, Nagy's stats rose with 10-7 victories.
Release or trade? Nagy may face a crossroads in his career later this summer. If the Indians' youngsters are pitching well, he may simply be released, if Hart can't strike a deal to his satisfaction.
An outright release for Wright, however, would seemingly be out of the question. Only 25 years old, he still has a bright future in the big leagues. The only problems with Wright are his control, his maturity and staying free from injury. If he can get the first two taken care of, he'll be much sought after, should the Indians try to trade him.
There are, no doubt, tough decisions that await Hart and Manuel regarding the pitching staff. And, of course, if the staff suffers injuries like the 2000 season all of this prognosticating will be thrown out of the window.
But, assuming all the arms stay healthy, and Nagy and Wright are able to return to active duty, what a change in the scene from the early and mid 90s, when the Indians had a hard time scraping up five major-league caliber arms to form a rotation.
XRob Todor is sports editor of The Vindicator.